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According to the Ministry of Commerce website, The Kathmandu Post reported on August 5 that Nepal will deploy heavy drones produced by Chinese drone manufacturer DJI Innovations in high-altitude areas to undertake tasks traditionally handled by Sherpas. This is the first commercial operation of drones in the region.

Traditionally, local Sherpa guides are responsible for transporting oxygen cylinders, tents, food and other supplies between the mountains and cleaning up garbage. They need to cross very dangerous icefalls more than 30 times each season. Between 1953 and 2023, nearly 50 people died on the icefalls. In early tests, DJI drones can transport 234 kilograms of garbage per hour. Previously, it took 14 porters about 6 hours to complete a similar amount of garbage.

Some people worry that the use of drones will reduce related jobs, but Nepali officials and climbers regard drones as life-saving tools and believe that reducing casualties in dangerous areas is the most important thing. The drones will be operated by trained Sherpas.

Experts said that in recent years, climbers have brought more equipment to the Everest Base Camp, which has become the "world's highest garbage dump" due to overcrowding and piles of garbage. At the same time, more melting water caused by climate change has exposed the garbage and corpses buried on Everest for many years, polluting the environment. Experts from East China Normal University believe that drones can replace helicopters as a low-risk supply and transportation tool on the plateau, which greatly expands the application space of drones.