Nepal officially enforced new climbing permit fees for Everest and other peaks on Monday, marking the first such hike in a decade.

The last revision came on January 1, 2015, when the government scrapped the group-based system and introduced a uniform fee of $11,000 per climber for the spring season on the normal route.

Himal Gautam, director at the Department of Tourism, the body that issues climbing permits, said the per person royalty fee for foreigners climbing Everest from the south route in spring (March–May) has now risen from $11,000 to $15,000.

“It has officially been implemented from Monday, the start of the autumn season,” he said.

Under the revised rules, the autumn season (September–November) fee has increased from $5,500 to $7,500. Winter (December–February) and monsoon (June–August) permits now cost $3,750 per climber, up from $2,750.

For Nepali climbers, the spring-season permit on the normal route has doubled from Rs75,000 to Rs150,000.

Other peaks have also seen hikes. The fee for mountains above 8,000 metres during spring has gone up from $1,800 to $3,000. In autumn, it has risen from $900 to $1,500, and in winter and monsoon from $450 to $750.

The revised mountaineering regulations also mandate hiring guides. Every two climbers attempting Everest or any other peak above 8,000 metres must hire one guide. For mountains below 8,000 metres, a guide is needed for every 15 climbers.

Everest is rarely attempted outside spring. No one has climbed it in winter since 1993, and the last autumn ascent was in 2010.

Gautam said the department has already started issuing autumn climbing permits at the new rates.

According to department records, 719 Everest success certificates have been issued this year, including 288 for fee-paying climbers. Support staff, such as Sherpas, are exempt from paying royalties. A few certificates remain pending, Gautam said.

With these, the official number of ascents from Nepal’s side since 1953 has reached 9,800.

That figure includes the controversial climb of four British mountaineers, who claim to have been the first to summit Everest using xenon gas to accelerate acclimatisation. They completed the ascent in under five days, skipping the traditional weeks-long acclimatisation process.

Their rapid ascent has drawn sharp scrutiny in Nepal—not for the feat itself, but for the reported use of xenon gas prior to arriving in the country.

“They [the four Britons] are yet to apply for their success certificates, though others in the same group have already received them,” said Gautam. “We don’t know why they haven’t approached us.”

He added, “We haven’t decided whether their climbs are valid. Once they apply, the higher authority will make an appropriate decision.”

The team comprised Major Garth Miller, Colonel Alistair Scott Carns, Anthony James Stazicker, and Kevin Francis Godlington. They summited the world’s highest peak at around 7:15 am on May 21.

Their journey began in London on May 16, reaching Everest Base Camp the following day. By 10:30 pm on May 20, they launched their final summit push.

Back home, the team had trained in hypoxic tents and undergone rigorous high-altitude conditioning. But the controversy centres on their use of xenon gas, reportedly inhaled two weeks before departure in Europe, to reduce the risk of altitude sickness.

Traditionally, Everest climbers spend more than a month on the mountain, beginning their trek in early April and completing several acclimatisation rotations between base camp and higher camps. Skipping this process is considered risky.

By contrast, the British team completed the climb in just five days—a feat previously unimaginable.

While their speed has fascinated parts of the global climbing community, it has sparked a heated debate in Nepal over safety, ethics, and the future of high-altitude mountaineering.

The expedition was organised by Austria-based Furtenbach Adventures. Its founder, Lukas Furtenbach, defended the climb, insisting the team followed all rules.

He told the Post then that the xenon treatment had been administered in Germany and that only standard supplemental oxygen was used on the mountain.

“What happens outside Nepal should not fall under the jurisdiction of the Nepal government,” he had said.

He defended xenon as a medically supervised innovation to prevent altitude sickness and argued it could make Himalayan expeditions safer. “Our company has a long-standing reputation for safety,” Furtenbach had said, expressing confidence that the investigation would find no wrongdoing.