New Road Connects Everest to Kathmandu
The road will open the area to thousands of more tourists moving forward, but will also make it cheaper for climbers to reach the area
There’s a new road in Nepal that connects the Everest region to Kathmandu, which offers an alternative to the once-essential flight to Lukla, marking a much-needed shift in accessibility to the world’s highest peak.
The 64-kilometre road goes from the village of Surkhe to Salleri, not far from Everest. “The road will make our lives easier,” said Jangmu Sherpa, the owner of a lodge on the route to Everest.
One upside is that instead of paying the nearly $500 plane ticket, climbers can now take a bus for around $20. The downside is that visitor numbers could skyrocket from 50,000 to 500,000 annually.
Environmentalists, however, warn of the ecological risks to the fragile Himalayan ecosystem. “Mass tourism is very bad in such a delicate environment,” activist Pasang Sherpa said. No matter what happens, there will be a lot more people heading to one of the world’s most famous backcountry areas this year.
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