Charges for climbing a hill or mountain.

Well, in a way, we Americans do pay a fee. A National Park Entrance fee is common, and perhaps back country permit fees.

I was interested to know of anyone anywhere in the world knows if the practice of charging hikers to climb a hill or mountain is widespread, in the western world anyway.

There has been a bit of local controversy here because a particular mountain in our local area is privately owned and the owner has started charging a fee of $23 (local currency) per person for an unguided climb. A guided climb would be much more.

This practice is virtually unknown in this country (New Zealand) and has created an outcry. Certainly locals are not prepared to pay this and will now not do this climb. The owner has said that he does not care about locals, he is after the overseas tourist market.

A friend of mine who has travelled and hiked extensively in Europe has said to me that he cannot recall anywhere where he has had to pay for an unguided climb. I was wondering how true this is and how would Europeans and Americans in the hiking scene, in particular, feel about this practice.

In addition to the park entrance fee, the U.S. has other peak climbing fees. For example Mt. Rainier charges a fee of $25 to every person climbing Mt.

And let's not forget the $150 per person fee the U.S. National Park Service charges to climb Denali or Mt. Foraker.

I'm assuming here, but dont those fee's go towards maintaining the parks and fund measures to protect the environment? It sounds like this guy pockets the fees.

..like I said, I'm assuming.

Jase

Well, it costs money to climb Ranier, Adams, and St Helens, about $15-25. And think about the permits for climbing Everest. Isn't it something on the order of $10-20K per person.

On Thu, 31 Aug 2000 14:51:04 +1200, 'Peter McKellar'

Hi CJ,

From what I have heard, the fee for Denali covers only a fraction of the cost the park service has to spend for the frequent rescues they have to start for the masses of people on that mountain.

I doubt that the guy in NZ will get your ass from his mountain with his chopper if you are in trouble.

So long, Ulli

From Nepal, it is US$ 10K per person; from Tibet, the fee is somewhat less. It is common in the countries of Himalayas and Karakoram to charge considerable fees. They depend on the height of the mountain; usually the mountains are divided into several classes like Trekking Peaks, Mountains from 6000-6499 m , 6500-6599 etc., with increasing fee. These are no national park fees, they are imposed by the government. The central Asian countries of the former Soviet Union also have climbing fees which are not as high as those in Nepal or Pakistan, but they are approaching that level.

AFAIK, there are no fees in Europe as well as in Latin America, with the only exception of Aconcagua which costs a national park use fee of US$80 to 130, covering the rangers' services.

Regards

just found the fees for Nepal, e.g. at: http://www.visitnepal.com/worldpeace/climbing/ geninfo.htm

I think a license to climb Mt. Everest runs something like $15,000-$20,000.

If my guess is right the mtn he's talking about is only 1000m & takes a couple of hours to get to the top. The price to drive up is about $75 a car + 20 per person. -Tarrawerra ?? Peter