With a record 408 permits issued to climb the 8,848.86-metre mountain despite the pandemic, Sagarmatha (Everest) is crowded. The highest number of permits issued before this year was 381 in 2019. There were no mountaineering expeditions in Nepal last year as the country remained closed to foreigners because of the pandemic. Each foreign permit holder usually has one high altitude guide to help him get to the top, meaning that there could be some 800 summiteers if all get to the top.
During the first good weather window from May 10 to May 12, around 150 had reached the summit.

Note: Not everyone may be able to make a push for the summit given the quota and the crowd despite having spent as much as $90,000 (NPR 1 crore and 5 lakh approx) that a climber forks out to climb the mountain, including $11,000 (NPR 12 lakh and 84 thousand approx) for the permit.