Nepal Archive - Adventure Mountain

29. January 202529. January 2025

Helicopter rescue flights to the Everest region resume

Helicopter flying in the Khumbu region — Helicopter in the Khumbu region near Pangboche

There has been movement in the dispute over the large number of helicopter flights in the region around Mount Everest. Following a crisis meeting between the conflicting parties at the headquarters of the Solukhumbu district administration at the end of last week, the Airlines Operators Association of Nepal (AOAN) announced that it would resume helicopter rescue flights in the Khumbu region.

At the beginning of January, the AOAN had suspended all helicopter flights to the Everest region. The association was responding to protests by local organizations that had erected poles with prayer flags at helicopter landing sites in the Khumbu. The locals wanted to support the move by the Khumbu Pasanglhamu Rural Municipality. The regional administration had banned commercial helicopter flights in the Sagarmatha National Park from 1 January and only allowed rescue flights by appointment.

13. January 202513. January 2025

Helicopter dispute in the Everest region: “The whole Khumbu is united”

Blockade of a helipad in the Everest Valley

“Enough is enough,” Mingma Sherpa, chairman of the Namche Youth Group, tells me. “We locals have never spoken out against helicopter companies in general. But we are against the unnecessary helicopter flights. Last year alone, there were about 6,000 flights from Lukla (the gateway to the Everest region) to the Khumbu Valley. That’s too many for Sagarmatha National Park.”

19. December 202419. December 2024

Discussion again about ban on commercial helicopter flights in the Everest region

Helicopter takes off above Namche Bazaar

Same old, same old – it’s like in the Hollywood movie “Groundhog Day”. Once again, the regional administration of the Everest region has launched an attempt to restrict helicopter traffic. The Khumbu Pasanglhamu Rural Municipality has announced that commercial helicopter flights will be prohibited in Sagarmatha National Park from 1 January 2025. Only rescue flights will then be permitted, and these must be coordinated with the national park authority.

10. September 202410. September 2024

After the flood – donations for the schoolchildren of Thame

For many people in the mountain village of Thame in the Everest region, the zero hour struck on 16 August. As reported, large parts of the village were destroyed that day – by masses of water, debris and mud from two glacial lakes below Tesi Lapche La (also known as Tashi Lapcha). The 5,755-meter-high pass leads from the Rolwaling Valley into the Khumbu. According to the regional administration, the flood hit at least 18 buildings. These included an elementary school and an infirmary in Thame, both built and financed by the Himalayan Trust, the aid organization of the Everest first ascender Sir Edmund Hillary, who died in 2008.

16. August 202417. August 2024

Masses of water and mud hit the mountaineers’ village of Thame in the Everest Region

It took my breath away when I saw the pictures from Thame on the Internet today. The village lies at around 3800 metres in the Khumbu area, the region around Mount Everest. Masses of mud and water rolled through the village, which I visited in 2002 and 2019. According to the Kathmandu-based newspaper “The Himalayan Times”, around half of the village was severely damaged, especially the lower-lying areas. A school, a medical centre, seven houses and five lodges were swept away. Most of the houses were reportedly uninhabitable. At least one person is missing.

A stroke of luck: the water and mudslides hit the village in daylight. Most of the inhabitants were apparently able to reach safety in higher areas. The Gompa of Thame, one of the oldest and most important monasteries in the Khumbu, is located well above the village and is likely to have been spared from the disaster.