The 2025 climbing season on Mount Everest is off to a busy start this week, with expedition groups departing for the village of Lukla, at the foot of the Himalayas, to begin acclimatization hikes and climbs on their way to Base Camp.

　　All signs point to another extremely crowded year on the mountain. While most expedition companies will finalize their permits in the coming weeks, officials with Nepal’s Department of Tourism believe that this year could break the record set in 2023, when 478 paying clients climbed Everest from the Nepal side. Last year, the numbers dipped slightly to 421.

　　“We are well ahead of the numbers we saw at this time last year,” Rakesh Gurung, Director of the Nepal Department of Tourism, told Outside. “I expect that the total number will cross 500 this year.”

　　The uptick in permits again raises concerns about safety on the mountain, since gridlock on the fixed ropes can create hazards and slow down rescue attempts. In addition to being the busiest year on Everest, 2023 was one of the deadliest, with 18 recorded fatalities.

　　When asked about managing the increased crowds of summit-seekers and ensuring safety on the mountain, Aarati Neupane, director general of the tourism department said that it was up to the climbers to police themselves.

　　“Good mountaineers practice mountaineering ethics,” she told Outside. “As a developing country we don’t have the resources to create a rescue team or to enforce all the rules on the mountain. We hope that skilled climbers come with experience, climb safely with our Sherpa teams, and respect the environment.”

　　Crowds, safety, and permits are some of the biggest storylines to follow on the roof of the world in 2025. But there are other dynamics within the industry of Everest mountaineering, and notable planned ascents, that are also attention-grabbing. And for 2025, Outside will have a front-row seat for for these stories and others: I will be headed to Everest Base Camp in late April to report on the climbing season.

　　Here are some of the storylines that I will be following on the worlds highest peak.

　　Flying Drones Get the Green Light

　　Nepali rules will again require climbers and expedition operators to carry their own feces down from the mountain in biodegradable bags. But Nepali officials in 2025 are also rolling out new infrastructure aimed at reducing waste.

　　The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, the non-governmental organization that focuses on Everest’s environmental health, is planning to use heavy-lift drones to move garbage down from Camp I to collection centers in Base Camp. This move comes one year after the SPCC tested a FlyCart 30, a cargo drone made by Chinese firm DJI, on the peak.

　　“It’s always been a major challenge to bring the waste down off the mountains.” says Tsering Sherpa, CEO of the SPCC. “The drones are for safety, but also to help us use modern technology to bring waste down off the mountain in the most cost effective way possible.”

　　The drones can carry about 35 pounds of gear at high altitude, and while that may not sound like much, the speed at which they can transport it could be a game changer. It often takes a porter several hours to ascend from Base Camp at 17,500 feet elevation through the Khumbu Icefall to Camp I at 19,900 feet.

　　A flying drone, meanwhile, can complete the journey in just 15 minutes, according to The New York Times.

　　Tsering Sherpa told Outside that the drones may also be used to shuttle oxygen cylinders up to the higher camp. This strategy could reduce the number of trips high-altitude workers need to take through the Khumbu Icefall, improving safety by trimming down on the number of trips a porter will make.

　　A Dry Winter Increases the Danger

　　After an unusually dry winter, numerous wildfires have blanketed Nepal in a thick haze which has diverted international flights and led to some of the worst air quality on the planet.

　　These dry conditions have also impacted climbing conditions. Without any new snow to shore up dangerous features in the mountains, rope-fixing teams are facing increased risk of being hit by falling rock and ice.

　　Expeditions on nearby Annapurna, typically the first 8,000-meter peak to see climbers summit each year, aborted their initial ascent due to exposed crevasses and dangerous conditions.

　　On the second summit bid, the team succeeded without using fixed ropes on the last section. Veteran expedition leader Mingma G, who led the rope-fixing team to the summit, wrote on Instagram: “Dry conditions, more crevasses, hanging seracs made it more difficult. The deathly avalanche between Camp 2 and Camp 3 always scared me. So today I made my final Goodbye to this beautiful mountain. I won’t be leading any expedition on it in future. This mountain is just too risky. Annapurna’s beauty always attracted me but I can‘t risk my life here anymore.”

　　Unfortunately, Mingma G’s words were prophetic: on Monday, April 7, two experienced climbing sherpas were swept down Annapurna by an avalanche. The two climbers, Ngima Tashi Sherpa and Renge Sherpa are still missing as of publication.

　　Tsering Sherpa told Outside that these conditions are already impacting the speed of rope fixing teams on Everest. The dry conditions could create more danger for climbers heading through the Khumbu Icefall on their way to Camp I.

　　“It’s much more dangerous this year. Without any snow, the ice is much less stable and more likely to collapse,” he said.

　　The SPCC’s team of elite ‘Icefall Doctors’ have chosen a route through the icefall similar to the one used in 2023 to avoid some of these dangers, but progress remains slow. “Rockfall and high winds have slowed the Icefall Doctors,” Tsering Sherpa said. “But we don’t have any other options we’re taking the safest route based on their judgement and experience.”

　　Ultrarunners Target Everest Speed Records

　　This year’s significant record attempts seem to be focused on speed. After spending three months at altitude in Quito, Ecuador, American ultrarunner Tyler Andrews has moved his training to Khumbu in the lead-up to his attempt to break the record for the Fastest Known Time (FKT) from Nepal’s Base Camp to the summit of Everest without using supplementary oxygen.

　　That ascent takes in 11,434 vertical feet. Currently, the speed record for this climb is 20 hours and 24 minutes was set by Kaji Sherpa in 1998. Andrews thinks he can make the climb in under 20 hours.

　　“I can confidently say that I am in the best shape of my life,” Andrews told Outside in an email. “Im super stoked to be able to get back into the rhythm of regular training in one of the most beautiful places on Earth.”

　　Andrews also mentioned that he met with Kaji Sherpa and previous speed record holder, French alpinist Marc Batard, in Kathmandu. Andrews said that both men will be present at Base Camp to send him off on his attempt.

　　But Andrews isn’t the only ultrarunner targeting the Everest FKT. Swiss-Equadorian mountain athlete Karl Egloff, who previously set an FKT on Denali, has come to Nepal on the tail of setting a new speed record on Aconcogua chasing his goal to set speed records on the tallest peaks of all seven continents.

　　Like Andrews, Egloff will be climbing without oxygen—but his record attempt is from Base Camp to the summit and back. According to Explorersweb, Egloff will climb with his partner, Nico Miranda, who will carry emergency oxygen in order to maintain compliance with Nepal’s ban on solo expeditions.

　　All Eyes on the Xenon Expedition In March, Outside wrote about an expedition led by Austrian guide Lukas Furtenbach that will bring four clients from the U.K. to the top of Everest and back in just one week. All four are undergoing an experimental treatment using xenon gas prior to the ascent to help them acclimatize to the altitude.

　　In recent weeks the four climbers have also revealed additional details of the trip. All four are elite British Army veterans, and they are calling the trip “Mission: Everest.” All four are raising cash for veterans’ charities with the climb.

　　“Ive got a really busy job, as do the other people on the expedition.” Mission: Everest team leader Al Carns told Outside when asked about the climb. “Being able to do it at this speed opens up Everest whole other sectors of society. This is how we push forward in science.”

　　The use of xenon prior to the trip has generated headlines across the globe. In addition to other benefits, xenon is shown to boost the body’s production of erythropoietin, or EPO, which increases the bodys production of red blood cells. Xenon has not been tested for use at altitude in a clinical trial and is a banned substance for Olympic competition by the World Anti-Doping Agency. The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation has also issued a statement against the use of xenon, claiming that “there is no evidence that breathing in xenon improves performance in the mountains, and inappropriate use can be dangerous.”

　　But the Mission: Everest mountaineers have argued that the treatment is safe. And they say their rapid ascent will diminish some of the drawbacks of traditional Everest climbs.

　　In a statement to Outside, expedition member Garth Miller, who is an airline pilot, wrote: “The criticism from armchair mountaineers, or those with little experience of the realities of climbing 8,000-meter peaks doesn’t deter us, and we accept that what we are setting out to do and why has been poorly communicated to the public.”

　　“It is all part of the evolution of the sport,” he added.

　　Outside in Base Camp

　　I leave Kathmandu on April 25th for Lukla, and just like the Everest climbers, I’ll be completing the ten-day hike to Everest Base Camp before spending the next three weeks at the foot of the world’s highest peak.

　　I’ll be filing daily content: written stories, online journal entries, and video posts about Everest. My plan is to take you on an inside tour of the biggest stories of the 2025 climbing season—including the ones I mentioned here, and many others. I’ve lived in Nepal for over 25 years, including many years in the Khumbu valley, and it’s important to me to share with you the incredible cultural and historic places I visit along the way, and bring you exclusive interviews with the most compelling and influential climbers, expedition operators, and Nepali officials who are impacting life on Everest.

　　It’s not going to be an easy assignment, but it’s going to be an incredible one! So follow along on OutsideOnline and on our social media handles.