Sherpas base salary is about $2,000
Update, April 22, 8:15 am ET: Mt. Everest’s Sherpa guides decided late Tuesday to abandon the rest of the climing season, according to AFP. The decision came after a meeting with government officials in Nepal over insurance and financial aid for victims of last Friday’s avalanche on the mountain that killed 13 people.
Original story, April 22, 7:00 am ET: Sherpa mountaineers believe insurance and financial aid for families of victims is inadequate. The minimum insurance policy for the guides pays a death benefit of about $10,000 and the Nepalese government has announced a special payment of $415 to families in the wake of a tragedy. Average per capital income in Nepal is about $645 a year.
The sherpas who climb Mount Everest above the base camp, which is where the danger begins, make a base salary of about $2,000. But their pay is also determined by a bonus sytem for delivering loads to various camps. If they make the summit, they are paid $250 the first time. And every additional summit is worth $500, according to Conrad Anker, the world-renowned mountaineer who has scaled Everest several times.
“A good sherpa can earn between $4,000 to $6,000 in pay in one season,” says Anker. “But it is extremely dangerous work.”
Anker says the economics in Nepal, outside of the climbing season, is mostly subsistence agriculture.
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