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

Blockade of a helipad in the Everest Valley
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.”

Pilots to be sent back on foot

Last week, the helicopter companies suspended all flights to the Everest region after locals began erecting poles with prayer flags on the landing sites up to Gorak Shep, the last settlement before Everest Base Camp. If a helicopter does land there, it will be confiscated and the pilot sent back on foot, the Ama Dablam Youth Club had announced.

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

The organization from the village of Pangboche, which is located on the trekking route to Everest at an altitude of almost 4,000 meters, had made a name for itself in recent years as an organizer of sporting events, especially volleyball. However, the Youth Club had also organized charitable activities, such as collecting garbage that others had carelessly thrown away. Pangboche is particularly affected by the aircraft noise in the Khumbu, says Mingma Sherpa from Namche: “Because the village is so high up, the helicopters fly quite low over the houses in the community.”

Porters only earn money only on the way to Everest Base Camp

As reported, the Khumbu Pasanglhamu Rural Municipality, the regional administration of the Khumbu, announced in mid-December that commercial helicopter flights in the Everest region would be banned from 1 January 2025. Only rescue flights would still be permitted, but they would have to be registered in advance. The excessive helicopter flights pollute the environment, cause noise and restrict the work opportunities of the locals, it was said.

Namche Bazaar
Namche Bazaar

More than 40 percent of the trekking tourists who hike to Everest Base Camp now have themselves flown back by helicopter: According to the tourist police office in Namche Bazaar, 10,367 tourists arrived in the main town of the Everest region in the fall season of 2024, but only 5,982 also made the return journey on foot. The rest flew out of the valley by helicopter.

“The trek to Everest Base Camp and back) used to take about 14 days, now it’s only five to seven days. Most of the porters who hike up have nothing to carry on the way back and are not paid. This is a big loss for the porters – and also for the guides,” says Mingma.

His Namche Youth Group is not a traditional youth organization, but rather a group of around two dozen young adults. “I am aged 50,” says chairman Mingma Sherpa. “But most of the members are around 25 years old.” The Namche Youth Group was founded in 2000 and has been committed to social issues ever since, sometimes together with other non-governmental organizations.

“Wilderness experience must remain”

In recent years, there have been almost regular attempts by the Khumbu regional administration to restrict air traffic. In the end, however, the tourism industry outside the Khumbu always prevailed. The number of flights had actually increased rather than decreased. This time too, the helicopter companies had announced that they would continue their flights into the Khumbu – regardless of the regional administration’s decision – because the government in Kathmandu alone was responsible for this.

Helicopter takes off from Namche Bazaar
Helicopter takes off from Namche Bazaar

However, the youth groups in the Khumbu no longer want to be fobbed off with this attitude. I ask Mingma whether he is optimistic that the resistance from the Khumbu could succeed this time. “We now have a very strong local government that insists on its rights. This is quite new for Nepal,” the Sherpa replies. “Our leaders are quite optimistic, and so are we. Enough is enough. The whole Khumbu is united and is on the side of the local government to prevent unnecessary helicopter operations.”

However, the people in the Everest region are certainly willing to compromise. “At some point, the locals and the heli companies will have to come to an agreement, because we need helicopters to carry out medical evacuations for Khumbu tourism,” says Mingma. “But on the other hand, we also need a kind of wilderness experience for trekkers and mountaineers. You can’t have that if you’re looking up at the sky every five minutes because a helicopter is flying by. Sagarmatha National Park is one of the most attractive trekking destinations in the world. And we want it to stay that way.”

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

  1. I 100% agree with this article. The number of helicopter flights must be restricted. Some compromise needs to be arrived at. Only senior citizen trekkers should be allowed to fly back ftom the trek.In the serene environment of Solu Khumbu incessant noise of helicopter must be disturbing and rob people of the special experience that they would otherwise have.

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