French alpinist Marc Batard says his alternative line to Everest's Camp 1, routed around the Khumbu Icefall below the Nuptse buttresses, is now equipped to 70% and should be finished by May 2027. He plans to return to Nepal in mid-March with a new team of rope technicians, French and Nepali climbers, medical staff and camera crew. The Nepali government has contributed 20,000 euros, and a public fundraiser is seeking at least 88,100 euros.
Marc Batard has put a date on the Everest project he has been working at for years. He told the Alpine outlet Nos Alpes that the work should be complete by May 2027, and that the line is currently equipped to 70%. The interview was published on 6 November in French and in Italian.
The idea is a different way of reaching the first camp on the Nepal side. Instead of crossing the Khumbu Icefall, the line works around it along the buttresses of Nuptse. Sections of mountain terrain are being fitted with ropes and other fixed gear so that the passage holds its shape and sits clear of the glacier's movement. Batard has named the route "Sundare Sherpa – Marc Batard", after a rope partner of his who died in 1989.
Why the icefall is the target
The Khumbu Icefall is the part of the standard south side approach that nobody can control. Seracs collapse and crevasses open on their own schedule, and the exposure falls hardest on the people who cross it most. Sherpa staff and other Nepali workers make many carries through it in a season, moving equipment, tents, gas cylinders and supplies to the camps above.
Batard dates the start of the project to seven years ago, after he looked at how many deaths the Khumbu sector had recorded. Among the events he points to is the avalanche of 18 April 2014, which killed 16 Sherpas working on the mountain. His stated aim is to save the lives of Nepalis who take large risks for the mountain economy. He is also openly critical of permit policy, arguing that the Nepali government issues too many permits for the summit under commercial pressure.
He is explicit that the new line is not meant to bring more clients onto the mountain. His position is that the only purpose is to make an increasingly risky passage safer and easier to pass.
What happens in March
Spring 2025 was supposed to be the decisive season for finishing the route. The work stopped instead, and a new team had to be put together. For the next phase that team includes rope technicians, French and Nepali climbers, medical staff and people handling the filming.
Batard says they return to Nepal around the middle of March. Two jobs come first: an inventory of the material already on the mountain, and a helicopter overflight to check how far the work has got. That expedition is the one that will show whether the alternative itinerary can actually be finished and used.
There is a second test after that, and it is slower. A fixed line only proves itself when loaded teams use it repeatedly, in the conditions of a real season. The figure worth watching is how many carries move off the icefall once the route is open, and that number will not exist until a spring has run on it.
The money and the films
The Nepali government has backed the project with 20,000 euros, which Batard reads as official recognition of a safety initiative. Completing the work needs more. He has set a minimum target of 88,100 euros, part of which goes to finishing the film L'Everest en partage, directed by Théo Livet.
The fundraiser runs on the HelloAsso platform and is managed by the association Montagne & Humanisme, chaired by Frédéric Thiriez. Batard says Livet's documentary will be followed in autumn 2027 by a second film about the project, and that a third book about his adventures is part of the same publishing plan.
Where this sits
We think the premise is sound. The icefall is the single stretch of the south side route where skill buys the least protection, and the people most exposed to it are the ones being paid to be there. Anything that cuts the number of crossings is worth the effort, even if the alternative turns out to be slower or harder work.
The open question is not the intention but the terrain. Rock and mixed ground below Nuptse has its own hazards, and a line that is safer in April may behave differently in late May. That is what the March work and the first season of use will answer.
It is also worth separating two things that often get mixed together in Everest coverage. A safer approach to Camp 1 is a labour safety measure for Nepali staff. It is not a change to the difficulty of the mountain above, where the Lhotse Face, the South Col and the summit ridge are exactly where they were. Readers planning the south side can find the standard stages in our Everest guide, and the altitude questions that come up most often are answered in the FAQ.
For anyone comparing south side logistics, the companies working on each peak are listed by mountain on our operators page. Whether an alternative to the icefall becomes part of a normal commercial season depends on the permit holders and the Sherpa teams who would have to use it, and on what the Nepali authorities decide after March.
The facts as they stand
The route is reported at 70% equipped. The return to Nepal is set for mid-March 2027, with completion targeted for May 2027. Funding stands at 20,000 euros from the Nepali government, with a public appeal for at least 88,100 euros. Those figures come from Batard himself, in a single interview published this month.
This story is part of This week on the 7 summits: 2–8 November 2026, the week's news in brief.
Header photograph: Waiting their turn.jpg by AngeliSherpa, CC BY-SA 4.0 (licence), via Wikimedia Commons.