For decades, Western companies sold the Everest dream to the world while Sherpas provided the labour. Agencies based in New Zealand, Britain and the United States marketed summit attempts to wealthy climbers and charged premium fees, while Sherpas carried oxygen cylinders through the Khumbu Icefall, fixed ropes above 8,000 metres, set up camps in avalanche zones and guided — sometimes even carried — exhausted clients to the summit.
That dynamic is now changing.
Expedition literature, from early British colonial attempts to the rise of commercial guiding in the 1990s, often reduced Sherpas to “porters, cooks, support staff,” placing foreign climbers at the centre of the story. Yet, the survival of these expeditions depended heavily on Sherpa expertise. In Into Thin Air, his account of the 1996 Everest disaster that killed eight people, including guides Rob Hall and Scott Fischer, Jon Krakauer wrote, “None of us would have stood a chance on Everest without the help of the Sherpas.”
Until around 2010, companies such as Adventure Consultants and Himex from New Zealand, Alpine Ascents International and International Mountain Guides from the US, and Jagged Globe from the UK dominated Everest expeditions, while Nepalis largely worked as employees.
The transformation that followed was turbulent. In 2013, Sherpa rope-fixers and three European climbers — Ueli Steck, Simone Moro and Jonathan Griffith — clashed at Camp Two after the climbers entered an active rope-fixing section on the Lhotse Face, causing ice to fall on Sherpas working below. A written agreement was later reached and the Europeans cancelled their climb. The incident came to symbolise Sherpas asserting greater control over Everest operations.
In Everest, Inc., author Will Cockrell wrote that the confrontation reflected Sherpas’ growing belief that they deserved greater ownership and respect within the Everest climbing industry.
A year later, an avalanche in the Khumbu Icefall killed 16 Sherpas, leading to strikes and demands for better compensation, insurance and worker protections. Sherpas submitted a charter of demands to the government, and the tragedy significantly altered the power balance on Everest. Sherpas increasingly began owning expedition agencies, controlling logistics and directing climbs themselves.
“Compared to a decade ago, 80 to 90% of the Everest mountaineering economy is under the control of Nepali companies,” said Medhavi Gulati, a former member of URField Lab-Kathmandu who studies mountains and Sherpa communities. “In a sector where international operators once dominated, Nepali operators have gained significant economic power, and foreign companies are slowly exiting.”
The shift also followed changing market trends. As climbers from India, China and Southeast Asia became a larger presence on Everest, many began booking directly with Kathmandu-based firms offering cheaper packages and greater control over the supply chain.
Nepal issued a record 494 Everest permits to climbers from 55 countries this season, including 61 Indians and 109 Chinese climbers, while the United States accounted for 77 permits.
Nepali firms now sell entry-level Everest climbs for between $30,000 and $45,000, undercutting many Western operators charging between $50,000 and $100,000. Luxury packages can cost as much as $300,000. Everest expeditions no longer need to be marketed primarily through London or New York, as cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Beijing increasingly deal directly with Kathmandu-based agencies.
Founded in 2009 by Mingma Sherpa and his brothers, Seven Summit Treks has become a major expedition operator with ventures in Pakistan and Tibet. The company is handling 85 Everest climbers entirely on its own this season.
“Many people who want to climb mountains used to contact foreign companies first; now they come directly to us,” Mingma said. “It’s not that people don’t come through foreign contacts anymore, but that number is small — of the 492 Everest permits issued this year, just about 100 have come through Western agencies while the rest came through direct contact with Nepali companies.”
Nepali firms have also expanded by taking control of the supply chain. Several operators now manage oxygen procurement, helicopter partnerships, equipment inventories, base camp infrastructure and teams of high-altitude Sherpas.
“The old narrative said only Western agencies possessed the professionalism and prestige to run premium expeditions,” said Nirmal “Nims” Purja, co-founder of Elite Exped and a former Gurkha and British special forces soldier whose 2019 climb of all 14 peaks above 8,000 metres was featured in the Netflix documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible. “We completely shattered that myth.”
Tashi Lakpa Sherpa, founder and CEO of 14 Peaks Expedition, said Sherpas are now moving beyond guiding. “For nearly a century, our people were the invisible backbone of this mountain range. We are no longer just guiding climbers to the top; we are building international corporations.”
Gulati said the expansion reflected a deeper transformation in training, skill and confidence among Sherpa operators who had spent decades mastering Everest before turning that experience into business leadership.
Companies such as Seven Summit Treks, 14 Peaks Expedition, Elite Exped, Asian Trekking, Pioneer Adventure and 8K Expeditions have increasingly moved from support roles to the centre of the industry.
Mingma David Sherpa, co-founder of Elite Exped, said the shift reflected decades of accumulated experience among Sherpas who once occupied the lowest rungs of the hierarchy.
“I started carrying the heavy loads of foreign clients through the Khumbu Icefall,” he said. “But over the years, we didn’t just learn how to climb — we learned how to operate.”
Formal training also accelerated the transition. Mountaineering schools in remote areas such as Humde and Phortse produced a generation of Sherpas skilled not only in high-altitude work but also in technical climbing, rescue operations and expedition management.
Their expertise allowed Nepali companies to run large commercial operations independently, while the global Sherpa reputation — built on climbing records, rescues and repeated Everest summits — strengthened their credibility with international clients.
“The people who best understand how to survive the mountain are now the ones running it,” Mingma David said.
