Your safety and success are the top priorities, in that order.

An expedition company should invest heavily and plan extensively for your safety. Look for safeguards and redundancies (for example; positioning highly experienced Sherpa and extra oxygen at the South Col for rescues)

Their leaders should be seasoned experts and their strategy should be patient, conservative and well planned which will give you the best opportunity for success. They should be using the best weather forecasts and leaning on their experience to be able to “thread the needle” when it comes to picking the best summit window and helping you to navigate crowding.

Remember that the mountain is always there so your safety must come first.

Planning a summit climb of Mount Everest is a hugely expensive undertaking and it is easy to be swayed by the lowest price on the market because what’s the difference? Surely you’re climbing the same mountain?! Let’s break it down so it is a bit clearer:

Why is climbing Mount Everest so expensive?

An Everest expedition is an enormous logistical exercise.

On average a reputable operator will plan for a year, employ up to 400+ local staff over a 2-3 month period, have hundreds of tonnes of equipment flown by helicopter (or carried by foot) to the mountain and then stage it where it is needed (all the way up to 8000m!) hire the best guides and bring them in from around the world, fork out tens of thousands for state of the art equipment and weather forecasts, transport, feed and accommodate their teams and climbers and that’s before the approx. 13K per climber in both permit and government fees, amongst a myriad of countless other hard costs. You can see how quickly things add up.

So when you see a low price tag please ask what is being sacrificed to get the price low?

• Are they cutting corners around redundancy and equipment and therefore safety?
• Are they foregoing hiring expert staff who in turn command good wages?
• Are they skimping on oxygen allowances, solid forecasts, good food and infrastructure?

Being such a competitive industry it is important to ask how low cost operators are able to offer those prices. Sadly the answer is they are under-resourced.

Often their strategy is ‘quantity over quality’. They will accept anybody and everybody – regardless of whether they have the experience to be safe and successful on Everest – to fill bums on seats and make their quota. They cut every cost they can, giving bare bones logistics marketed as full service guidance.

Climbers are drawn in by the low price tag believing they are getting a good deal, but it is a false economy, which leads to greater expenditure. Without the right infrastructure in place to facilitate a safe summit climbers need to return again for a second try.

You may think you are saving $10K but you might end up costing yourself $50K in the long run.

Even worse is the lack of safety that this severe cost cutting creates. Many climbers have found themselves in serious danger when it is most crucial. There’s no denying the correlation between low cost operator and higher incident rate.

On any 8,000-meter peak you want to do it once, you want to do it right and you want to do it safely.

On the other hand you will also find very expensive Mount Everest climbing options on the market (sometimes 20 – 50K more expensive!) and it’s equally important to ask questions as to what extra “unique” service they are offering that justifies such a huge increase in price?! More often than not it is spiffy marketing on an overpriced product to make it look more boutique vs. actual delivery of any tangible advantage.

It’s vital that you do your research and compare and contrast the different operations. Try to speak to other climbers who may have used a particular operator in the past and get their insight into their set ups.

This extra time invested will give you a solid understanding of the difference and similarities behind the services and which ones offer the best value, potentially saving you tens of thousands of dollars.

We couldn’t be this straight forward with you if we weren’t confident that we offer the highest quality services on the mountain for the best price. 

So how do we keep our prices so fair and reasonable?

Simple, we don’t skimp on the mountain, our staff or on our infrastructure but we do hustle to reduce our overall business overheads. We’re a family run business who doesn’t have to appease big stakeholders and we would rather keep our overheads low and invest those profits back into improving our programs. We also want to give you great value in the hope you will return to climb other peaks with us.

When you are examining an expedition company look for three things in their team:

1) The caliber of their guides
2) The structure of the team
3) The Sherpa team

You want your 8,000-meter guides to be highly experienced, personable, professional but above all else – you want them to be GUIDES.

There’s a common saying in the mountains that not all great climbers make great guides and this has never been more true.

Being an accomplished climber and a media personality, doesn’t automatically qualify someone as a good guide.

Guides have spent years, if not decades perfecting their craft of leading people in the mountains. Of course they must be strong, have medical and emergency training, diligently assess conditions and know how to troubleshoot when things go sideways, but above that, a good guide will be able to identify the X factors that are going to help their client be successful.

This isn’t just physical, it’s also mental.

The best guides have the right mindset for guiding. They are patient, encouraging, humble and intrinsically motivated to help you achieve your dreams. They enjoy being the “Supporting Act” to your goal. Beware the climber chasing their own fame and ambitions who use clients as a means to their own ends under the guise of being a guide.

Ideally on Mount Everest they have summited themselves, (preferably numerous times) but regardless they need to have a very strong, proven track record at altitude. (Last year our Mount Everest guide team averaged five summits each and one of our guides’ boasts 13x!).All of our Mount Everest guides have been selected for those traits and are great people who we trust to have your back.

Many expedition companies shortcut their staff by combining their Expedition Leader and Lead Guide into the same person. To physically and mentally climb Mount Everest at the same time as managing a large team of both staff and climbers whilst staying on top of logistics, threading a needle with the weather etc is a herculean, multitasking effort.

Think of your dedicated Expedition Leader as the Air Traffic Controller and the Guide as a Pilot. It’s difficult for the pilot to be 100% present in the cop-pit flying the plane whilst keeping perspective and abreast of all the other planes in the sky. Something has to give.

As a business we consciously made the decision to not spread too thin and allow our Guides to focus on their climbers’ well being and our Expedition Leader to focus on running a smooth expedition.

The Sherpa team is a keystone to any expedition and as such the best ones are in high demand. Pick an expedition who has a loyal, proven Sherpa team who they work with season after season. Not just because of ‘team cohesion’ but also because if the Sherpas are happy to return to the same company, year after year, you can bet they’re going to be good operators who care for their staff and their clients.

We purposely pay our Sherpas more than anyone on the mountain so that they are happy to go the extra mile for our clients and to attract the best. Once they’ve been hand selected, they go through intensive training and a 5 day review process every season which includes mountain medicine, client care, technical rescue, and guiding principles before being ok’ed to work.

Have you heard of our Marginal Gains philosophy?

The idea is that by capitalizing on every little hidden advantage, 1% here, 1% there, gains quickly compound into a huge overall improvement.

CTSS prides itself on this kind of innovation. We optimize both the big details like staffing, oxygen systems, weather forecasting, camp hygiene all the way through to the tiny comfort details.

People may dismiss these little luxuries as ‘soft’ but in fact we invest in them because they are highly strategic.

For instance; we hire a dedicated, professional chef for the whole season to prepare fresh, nutritious and delicious meals. It’s not about having instagram worthy dishes but about fueling people’s bodies at altitude as best we can.

One of the most critical parts of mountaineering is eating well.

Most climbers lose a huge amount of weight on Everest because altitude effects appetite and suppresses hunger. People just don’t “feel” like eating, the very thing they need to do given how much energy the body expends on Everest – even at rest! We pull out all the stops to tempt our team to eat. Compare that to most camps who churn out basic, highly repetitive and unappetising food – canned fruit, rice, spam, and other long life options over and over again.

Our goal is to help our climbers keep their energy, strength and stamina high throughout the expedition. Hence the chef.

For breakfast this morning our Everest team had Eggs Benedict with shiitake mushrooms and truffle hollandaise, last night dinner was steak and fresh sautéed garlic vegetables with espresso chocolate marquis and toasted toffee almonds for desert!

The Big House Geodesic Dome – is designed to feel like a second home, a giant living room where you feel the most comfortable.

Sure, the world’s highest cafe serving limitless cappuccinos and freshly baked brownies while people play ping pong, watch movies, or work on their laptops overlooking the icefall might seem a bit over the top, but let’s think it out. You are spending 6 or more weeks tackling the greatest physical and mental challenge of your life, how would you feel freezing cold in damp, cramped, dark tents with nothing to do all day? Do you think you would you have a better frame of mind if instead you were in a fun, warm, open place that encourages rest and recovery?

Boredom is actually a major obstacle for climbers on Mount Everest.

Generally speaking you only spend an average of 10-14 nights above Everest Base Camp and yet the expedition takes 2 months! That’s A LOT of downtime. Downtime is a critical part of your climb as it allows your body to make the physiological adaptations (increasing lung capacity, blood cells, capillary growth etc) to acclimatize to the extreme altitude. The problem with lots of downtime is that people get uncomfortable, depressed, anxious, homesick, physically sick, and more.

If you were an Olympic-level athlete feeling like that, do you think their performance would be impacted? Absolutely it would. Our climbers are no different. We treat them like the athletes they are and we take their frame of mind as seriously as we take their physical fitness.

We entertain them, we make them comfortable, we create purpose and play in downtime. Climbers have fun, socialize and enjoy the facilities. See our blog post on the World’s Highest Ping Pong Tournament.

They are happy and healthy and well rested and as a result, they climb better, stronger and faster.

Having added height in your tent isn’t about the ‘luxe’ factor, it’s so you can stand up and put your harness on, inside an even surface where you can see so you don’t twist an ankle. The 6inch mattress isn’t just about a pillowy sleep, it’s to keep your body further off the cold ground so you don’t expend precious energy keeping warm at rest.

The list is endless on how we do this – but what you need to know is that we’ve spent time thinking about it and everything has been engineered to make you feel your best, so you can focus on climbing at your best.

Be wary of a ‘one size fits all’ approach to climbing Mount Everest that many operators employ.

As mountaineers ourselves, we know not every climber is the same. Your expedition should suit your experience, climbing style and budget.

If in doubt, our advice is to lean towards a higher level of guidance than you think you need, as it will always improve your chance of success.

Think of a good guide like a good coach. Even the most elite athletes lean on their coaches, just as the most seasoned climbers can benefit from a great guidance.

Please look through the various options on our Climb Options page and chat to us about the options available so we can help tailor your climb to you.

Steer clear of ‘Summit or Free’ guarantees!

If you are hiring a guide or a guide service – you are hiring them for their experience and expertise making decisions in the mountains.

Beware of guides or guide services that guarantee a Mount Everest summit – as incredulous as that is! Guarantees like that negate the critical decision making process and create an enormous conflict of interest.

The last thing you want is a guide who is choosing between risking your life in reckless pursuit of the summit, or taking an enormous financial hit to stick within safety margins.

Buyer beware, this egregious attitude of “summit or die” has absolutely no place on Everest and puts you at extreme risk.

You have to question the ethics here, yes it may draw you in, but at what cost?

Does an operator have strong values?

This is sometimes a little harder to identify as it’s more a feeling than a sales pitch, but you should get a feel for a company through their little interactions, their care factor, their attention to detail, their corporate social responsibility, their response to you.

When the stakes are high and you have two long months on the mountain you can expect things to be a little stressful at times so you want to pick an operator who has strong core values and a team mentality that aligns with yours so that when things get challenging as they are bound to do, you can rely on open lines of communication, knowing you will work together and they will do what they can to support you.

It is this team cohesiveness that flows through to each individual climber and helps them stand on top.

Don’t be afraid to seek objective perspectives from other climbers.

When you are interviewing a job candidate, or canvasing a new tenant etc, you always ask for references. You can do the same thing when picking an operator. Ask to speak to a recent climber about their experiences within a team to get objective information straight from the horse’s mouth on things like safety, guides, service levels, experience and amenities.

For instance Bruce (below) will tell you what his experience with CTSS was like in comparison to another Mount Everest operator.