How Crowded Has Mount Everest Become?

Everest Is Busier Than Ever

Key Takeaways

• Average annual Everest summits rose from about 100 in 1995–1999 to about 720 in 2021–2025.

• Since 2000, more than 99% of recorded Everest summits have occurred during the spring season.

• A record 1,519 people were recorded on Everest in 2025, with hired workers accounting for more than 60% of the total.

Mount Everest is seeing more human traffic than at any point in the last three decades of available data.

Successful climbs are now overwhelmingly concentrated in the spring, when favorable weather can funnel hundreds of climbers toward the summit within a matter of days. Meanwhile, the workforce supporting expeditions has grown alongside the number of people attempting the mountain.

The data comes from The Himalayan Database, which tracks registered expeditions across the Nepal Himalaya. It shows how the scale, timing, and composition of Everest climbing have transformed since the 1990s.

Everest’s Climbing Boom

The number of people recorded on Everest has surged alongside the number reaching the summit.

In 2025, The Himalayan Database recorded 585 visitors and 934 hired workers on the mountain, for a total of 1,519 people. That’s nearly four times the 395 people recorded in 1995.

YearVisitors on the mountainWorkers on the mountainTotal

1995247148395

1996338194532

1997337198535

1998271160431

1999221131352

2000406247653

2001371230601

2002237192429

2003491352843

2004394269663

2005480394874

2006492392884

20075955051,100

2008402314716

2009492404896

2010466444910

2011458491949

20125215131,034

20134925541,046

2014403300703

2015519444963

2016454481935

20175455571,102

20185736641,237

20195846821,266

2020322860

20214585881,046

20223956361,031

20235137371,250

20244937891,282

20255859341,519

Visitors include clients and independent climbers, while workers are hired expedition staff, most of whom are Nepali Sherpas.

Of those on the mountain in 2025, 878 reached the summit. Across 2021–2025, Everest averaged about 720 summits per year, more than seven times the annual average of roughly 100 in 1995–1999.

Everest Has Become a Spring Mountain

Decades ago, successful Everest climbs were spread much more widely across the calendar. In the 1980s, The Himalayan Database recorded 87 spring summits and 77 autumn summits, along with successful climbs in both winter and summer. That pattern has almost completely disappeared.

PeriodSpringAutumnWinterSummer

1980-1989877799

1990-199973913560

2000-20093,3463000

2010-20195,561600

2020-20253,6341400

From 2000 through 2009, more than 99% of recorded summits occurred in spring. The concentration became even more extreme in the 2010s, when the database recorded 5,561 spring summits compared with just six in autumn and none in winter or summer.

Since 2020, the pattern has remained virtually unchanged.

Hundreds Can Summit on the Same Day

Even within the spring season, summit attempts cluster around short periods of favorable weather, particularly in May.

This can create extraordinary spikes in traffic near the top of the mountain.

YearTotal summits

199582

199698

199785

1998119

1999116

2000145

2001182

2002158

2003264

2004335

2005307

2006483

2007611

2008428

2009463

2010532

2011541

2012574

2013680

2014133

20150

2016678

2017680

2018850

2019899

202049

2021462

2022704

2023685

2024870

2025878

On May 23, 2019, 354 people reached Everest’s summit from Nepal and Tibet combined, the highest single-day total in the dataset.

These traffic spikes are largely driven by Everest’s extreme weather. Summit attempts typically occur when the jet stream shifts away from the mountain, creating periods of lower winds before the summer monsoon arrives.

As a result, hundreds of climbers who have spent weeks acclimatizing can converge on the upper mountain during the same handful of favorable days.

The Workforce Behind Everest’s Climbing Boom

The growth of Everest climbing has also transformed who is on the mountain. In 1995, The Himalayan Database recorded about three hired workers for every five visitors.

By 2025, there were roughly eight hired workers for every five visitors, with hired workers accounting for more than 60% of all people recorded on Everest that year.

Long before most clients attempt the summit, high-altitude workers carry supplies, stock camps, and help prepare the route. Commercial expeditions also rely on guides and other staff to support climbers during weeks of acclimatization and the final summit push.

The risks faced by that workforce became especially visible during two catastrophic seasons. In 2014, all 17 deaths recorded in the database were hired workers. In 2015, when the Nepal earthquake triggered a deadly avalanche at Everest Base Camp, workers accounted for 11 of the 14 deaths recorded on registered expeditions.

YearTotal deathsVisitor deathsWorker deaths

1995413

199615123

1997963

1998440

1999440

2000220

2001541

2002330

2003431

2004770

2005660

20061174

2007761

2008110

2009532

2010330

2011440

20121073

2013844

201417017

201514311

2016550

2017651

2018523

201911101

2020000

2021523

2022321

202318126

2024862

2025422

These were exceptional disaster years rather than typical seasons, but they underscore the occupational hazards faced by the workforce supporting Everest expeditions.

The Growing Human Footprint

More people on Everest also means more waste to manage. Nepal requires expeditions to remove waste, but doing so at extreme altitude is difficult and expensive.

In spring 2024, the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee collected 85 tonnes of waste from Everest Base Camp and higher camps, including 27.53 tonnes of human waste.

Everest’s Crowds Are Also Big Business

Everest is also a major source of income for Nepal. In 2025, the country increased the spring climbing permit fee for foreign climbers from $11,000 to $15,000, with the new rate taking effect in September.

Climbers also support guides, porters, lodges, and other local businesses, making Everest an important source of income alongside the pressures created by growing traffic.

As the highest mountain on Earth, Everest remains uniquely appealing to climbers. Three decades of data show just how much the human presence surrounding that pursuit has grown.

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Source: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mount-everests-crowding-problem/