For the first time ever a drone has made a delivery on Mount Everest. Chinese tech firm DJI, in partnership with Nepalese Airlift, video producers 8KRAW and Sherpa guide Mingma Gyalje, carried out the trial flight in April 2024, aiming to prove that drones are safe and efficient to use for taking supplies to those on the mountain.
A 700-metre ascent
The feat involved DJI’s FlyCart 30, flown to an altitude of 6,000 metres. Able to carry a payload of up to 15 kg on the test flight, the FlyCart was equipped with three oxygen bottles and 1.5 kg of other items, according to a press release. The supplies were taken from Base Camp to Camp 1, an ascent of 700 metres over the Khumbu Icefall – a leg of the climb riddled with deep crevasses and avalanche risks and considered so dangerous it is regularly assessed by so-called “Icefall Doctors”, who delayed 2024’s season by 12 days due to its condition.
The use of drones is proposed to make deliveries safer, allowing the Sherpa guides who would normally undertake such risky carrying tasks around 30 times a season to focus on other work.
We need to spend 6-8 hours each day walking through this icefall. Last year I lost three Sherpas. If we’re not lucky, if our time is not right, we lose our life there.
Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, Imagine Nepal mountain guide
Having reached Camp 1 and dropped off its load, the drone was given garbage to carry back down to Base, showing that conservation can be part of its remit. What’s more, drone technology can facilitate clean up work taking place on Everest to rid the mountain of the estimated 8 kg of trash created by every climber.
Tested to the extreme
To prepare for the Everest trial, the FlyCart 30 was put through its paces at altitude and in conditions ranging between -15°C and 5°C, with wind speeds up to 53 km/h. Weighted hover tests were carried out as well as wind resistance, low-temperature, and capacity tests ahead of the Everest run.
Hailing the success of the trial flight as a “groundbreaking endeavor”, DJI’s Senior Corporate Strategy Director, Christina Zhang, said, “We are thrilled to share that our DJI FlyCart 30 was up to the task. The ability to safely transport equipment, supplies, and waste by drone [can] revolutionize Everest mountaineering logistics, facilitate trash cleanup efforts, and improve safety for all involved.”
Since hitting the market in early 2024, DJI FlyCart 30 has been used for a range of sustainability-focused tasks around the world. As well as scientific research in Antarctica, the drones have been used in other steep and treacherous environments, such as planting saplings and line pulling in Japan, solar panel installation in Mexico, deployment during mountain fire rescues in Norway.
