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The Hustle

11 mins | May 13, 2020

How Mount Everest became a multimillion-dollar business

It's one of Nepal's most valuable commercial assets - so where is all the money going? "In the last 20 years, Everest has seen nearly a 10x increase in traffic — with more than half of all 10,055 summits coming in the last decade. In 2019 alone, a record-setting 876 summiteers caused a traffic jam that contributed to 11 fatalities." Zachary Crockett, writing in the Hustle, explains why growing crowds have turned the world’s tallest mountain into an immensely profitable business.