Climbing Mount Everest can be deadly. Some Sherpa guides say the grueling work isn't worth it anymore.

01.06.2024 - 10:41 / insider.com

The following story is based on Business Insider's short film about Sherpas, an ethnic group known for their mountaineering prowess on Mount Everest. The film, "Why Some Sherpas Say There Won't Be Any Guides on Everest in 10 Years,"was directed by Prakhar Deep Jain and produced by BI's video team.

It's so treacherous to summit Mount Everest that human remains are a common sight on its frigid mountainside.

Among the frozen bodies are many ethnic Sherpas — an Indigenous people who make up the majority of Everest climbing guides.

Their job is to do everything possible to help mountaineers — who, from 2025, will pay up to $15,000 just for a permit to climb the world's tallest mountain — reach the summit safely. Duties include carrying heavy packs with supplies and assisting people through the most perilous sections of the mountain, such as the infamous Khumbu Icefall.

No day on Everest is a walk in the park, which is precisely why some Sherpas think the era of their people dominating the mountain as climbing guides is coming to an end.

Phurba Wangchhu Sherpa, a 48-year-old guide who has summited Everest more than a dozen times, said: "There will not be any Sherpas left in the mountain in 10 years." (Most Sherpas, including those interviewed for this film, have the last name Sherpa.)

Here's why.

Climbing Everest once and living to tell the tale is a feat — doing it more than once is why Sherpas are such a crucial asset on an expedition, according to climber Sam Rashid.

"When you're at high altitude, and they tell you 'It's OK, it's going to be OK,' said Rashid, who trained for over a year for his first attempt to summit Everest in 2023. "It's very reassuring that they've summited so many times."

If anyone is built to climb Everest, it's Sherpas.

In 2017, academics at the University of Cambridge published research indicating that over thousands of years, Sherpas have genetically evolved to use oxygen more efficiently and preserve muscle energycompared to people who live at lower altitudes.

Their bodies, down to a cellular level, are fine-tuned for the mountains. "There's certainly something really remarkable about their ability," Andrew Murray, who worked on the Cambridge study, told NPR.

Remarkable as they may be, Sherpas aren't immune to Everest's many dangers, which include unexpected avalanches, hidden crevasses, and falling ice and rock.

The Himalayan Database reports over 330 people have died on the mountainsince the early 1900s. One hundred and seven of the dead are Sherpas.

"A lot of amazing Sherpas lose their lives here every year," said Phurba Wangchhu,the guide who has summited over a dozen times."Many of my own friends have lost their lives."

Reflecting on an incident in 2023 where three Sherpas