How many people climb Everest each year?

About a thousand summits a year now. Spring 2026 set the record with about 1,008 summits, all from Nepal, because China kept the Tibetan side closed. Roughly half of each year's summits are made by Sherpas and other hired climbers, many of whom summit more than once a season, so the number of paying climbers who reach the top is closer to five hundred.

Almost all in a few days of May

Everest is mostly climbed in spring. To the end of 2024, 97.5% of all summits were in spring, and 81.5% between 15 and 27 May, when the jet stream moves off the summit ahead of the monsoon. Autumn adds a few dozen at most, and some years none.

How it grew

In the 72 years from the first ascent in 1953 to the end of 2025, the Himalayan Database recorded 13,737 summits by 7,563 different people. More than two thirds of them have come since 2008. Nepal sets no limit on permits; China caps its side at around 300 a season, which is one reason most of the traffic moved to Nepal.

The totals, the split between Nepal and Tibet, and the seasons are in How many people have climbed Everest?. The month each of our finishers stood on top is on the statistics page.