ListNook

Certain_Shake_5157 Apr 3, 2026 +496

Misleading title. The scam is carried out by the whole local tourism industry. The guides were paid to poison the climbers. The hospitals were faking emergency treatments. The helicopter companies were faking the rescue.

496

BlacqanSilverSun Apr 3, 2026 +116

Greed is undefeated

116

ebulient Apr 3, 2026 +72

This is reciprocal greed - the “climbers” pay the guides to carry, set up and pretty much *do* everything for them and then they go on to claim that they’ve climbed Everest. The “leading guides” are usually foreign (white) men who charge over $50,000 from individuals and only give the actual guides and Sherpas about $500-$1000 TOTAL (if you’re lead Sherpa). The same sherpas who not only do all the hard work of carrying *everything*, but they also cook breakfast for them, tea on demand and fetch things for them through the day, and advise on weather viability etc while going ahead of the “climbers” to set up ropes/ladders etc for them. It’s pure exploitation for the sheer risk they take on and it’s no wonder they’re allowing more people to climb cos they have to make a living that lasts the year in one season! And therefore, it’s no wonder they’ve found other creative means to get more money via insurance fraud to screw over a corporation. Honestly, at this point the fraudsters are the people who claim they’ve “climbed/summited” Everest while letting the sherpas do everything short of lifting their legs to walk for them !

72

BlacqanSilverSun Apr 3, 2026 +37

From what you're describing the Sherpas have the leverage to make changes that would negate the need to build a defrauding system. Not to mention that "system" is surely giving kick backs to the helicopter pilots, hospital workers and transport agents that all are complicit in the scheme. Don't misunderstand me. I think the whole Everest climb fad is a rackett.

37

ebulient Apr 3, 2026 -22

They don’t know how to use their leverage because there’s a lot of subservience still built into the fabric of the culture cosa past colonial rule… they think foreigners know better or are smarter which is why they’re doing “better in life and can afford this luxury trip” - they are exploited because their default is to comply.

-22

jaggervalance Apr 3, 2026 +35

Nepal was never colonized. It seems to me you're making things up to fit your world view.

35

dwnvotedconservative Apr 3, 2026 +33

This is a ridiculous and infantilizing argument. Scamming tourists is a global behavior that existed a thousand years before colonialism. It's a dangerous job but Sherpas make around $4000 within a few months in the climbing season, meanwhile the average wage in Nepal is $700 **a year**. Imagine making 5x as much as everyone around you and still risking the chance of killing innocent people just to make more. Stop trying to force everything into a "everything evil in the world is actually colonialism/capitalism/whaterism" prism otherwise you'll keep winding up with deeply insulting opinions like "these people are so culturally backwards that they are subservient yokels with such broken moral principles that they can't tell poisoning people is wrong."

33

Wonderful_Bet_1541 Apr 3, 2026 +12

It’s insane how that comment is getting upvoted. Crazy superiority complex in full display, especially when the article quite literally debunks everything they claim.

12

LinusUllmark Apr 3, 2026 +12

Yeah this girls never been to Nepal. The sherpas that summit are basically rockstars in the country and are admired. The towns on the way to Everest are basically the country club of Nepal. The porters usually are Maze farmers that have to hand carry Maze from their farm in the mountains down to some town which is more dangerous. It pays like less than half of what they make in one season of porting which is only a few months long. I did the base camp trek and my porter guy had a girlfriend in every town. He would sometimes walk back 30 km to the previous town to party. We to the last town at around 5000m where you spend a couple days and the porters went all the way back to namche to party. They loved their jobs and loved to party.

12

BlacqanSilverSun Apr 3, 2026 +4

So like I said, greed is undefeated.

4

robbie_the_cat Apr 3, 2026

Wow.

0

Krewtan Apr 3, 2026

Abd overpowered. Really needs a nerf, it's ruining realism and has made gameplay an absolute grind

0

BindermanTranslation Apr 3, 2026 +9

>The guides were paid to poison the climbers. The hospitals were faking emergency treatments. The helicopter companies were faking the rescue. Okay something doesn't fit here. If the helicopters were faking the rescue, then who was being treated at the hospitals? If no one was being treated at the hospitals, because it was fake, then who were the guides paid to poison?

9

DefensiveTomato Apr 3, 2026 +12

The hospitals were also in on it, helicopter rides were real

12

253Tacoman Apr 3, 2026 +2

And it turns out … they were only after the dentists,.. recumbent bicycles…

2

cheetuzz Apr 3, 2026 +2

were the climbers in on the scam? or were they victims?

2

YazzArtist Apr 3, 2026 +1

They were victims being charged for each part of these fake medical emergencies

1

bruinslacker Apr 3, 2026 -6

Good for the whole local tourism industry.

-6

Mugling95 Apr 3, 2026 +5

Grow up

5

Fallouttgrrl Apr 3, 2026 +935

That is certainly one confusing headline

935

Anustart15 Apr 3, 2026 +612

Goes well with what looks like an AI generated article. >Reaching great heights of 10,000 feet, those who climb Mount Everest are often susceptible to altitude sickness For reference, the base of keystone resort in colorado is a little over 9000 feet and your average ski resort in the rockies goes above 10,000 feet

612

Fallouttgrrl Apr 3, 2026 +145

Based on the number of times I read basically the same line throughout the article, I'd agree with you

145

fury420 Apr 3, 2026 +230

Here's the original article that's being reported on: https://kathmandupost.com/money/2026/03/27/inside-nepal-s-fake-rescue-racket

230

Kitchen-Zucchini2057 Apr 3, 2026 +108

This article was great, thank you! Imagine your Everest dream were cut short by scammy trekking companies inflating their margins and padding their pockets. Like, so close, boots on the ground, then they tell you to take some altitude meds with a lot of water and then tell you the symptoms you’re feeling are deadly- meanwhile they aren’t deadly and wouldn’t even exist had they not pushed the pills + water

108

Affectionate_Oven_77 Apr 3, 2026 +61

Climbing Everest costs $50K+ already, and then someone does this to you..

61

Funnelcakeads Apr 3, 2026 +19

I don't think you can get to the top to Everest for less than 100 anymore maybe 90 is what I heard last time

19

dego_frank Apr 3, 2026 +9

They were doing this after summit attempt

9

Fallouttgrrl Apr 3, 2026 +23

Wow yeah, what was posted reads like an AI book report of this article

23

quaste Apr 3, 2026 +1

It is! Example: > authorities say [it] impacted 4,782 international climbers between 2022 and 2025 vs > Between 2022 and 2025, investigators identified 4,782 foreign patients treated across the implicated hospitals. **Of these, 171 cases were confirmed as fake rescues.**

1

jayrocksd Apr 3, 2026 +58

Yeah, base camp at Everest is 16,000 feet. I remember getting to base camp on Aconcagua at 14,000 feet and puking my guts out.

58

foghillgal Apr 3, 2026 +25

I’ve been to base camp of Everest twice and it’s along slog but you have time to acclimate if you’ve done it it the classic way, not rush to it straight from Lukla in a day (which is possible if you start real early ). Then you’d run a real danger of s as latitude sickness My main issues there were constant cough from the irritating mega dry cool -cold air , making sure you’re not eating something uncooked or unfiltered and the damn CO2 in the part of the huts were you est from those c*** small ovens that makes your lips blue .

25

82away Apr 3, 2026 +1

I went for a walk with a guy who has been travelling the world for the past 8 years and he said the highlight was Everest base camp. But his description and your description match in terms of the difficulties at the accommodations.

1

Bigfops Apr 3, 2026 +17

I spent a week at ski Portillo at the base of Aconcagua! Gotta love that view of Inca lake. It’s at 9,000 ft, at least a few folks had altitude sickness at that elevation.

17

QaddafiDuck01 Apr 3, 2026 +8

Thats why they chose the victims from sea level countries... like the UK I imagine.

8

blankarage Apr 3, 2026 +6

hell just a hike up to pikes peak (the short hike not the long one!) feels like death when you get close to the top.

6

jcpham Apr 3, 2026 +5

Yeah I was light headed at the top of pikes

5

shouldbepracticing85 Apr 3, 2026 +2

I *drove* to the top of Pikes Peak. Hubby and I were definitely light headed and not thinking very clearly. We didn’t stay at the summit long.

2

blankarage Apr 3, 2026 +1

i didn’t even enjoy the donuts that much because i was breathing so hard!!

1

GPStephan Apr 3, 2026 +1

Yea driving to altitude is much worse. I often hike from 500 meters to 2000+ (1500 ft / 6k ft) and your body adapts over those hours just fine. Never noticed anything. Last year did the same by car in an hour. Fittest guy of the group and everyone said I was breathing like I was dying during the night lol

1

bigexpl0sion Apr 3, 2026 +11

Everest base camp is close to 18000 feet I think

11

upachimneydown Apr 3, 2026 +1

17.6k

1

mystlurker Apr 3, 2026 +11

Isn’t the entire Tibetan plateau well over 10k feet (google says 14k)? You can get mild altitude sickness going to 10k feet if you came from sea level very quickly and are not in great shape / used to altitude. But for anyone even mildly experienced in climbing (or hell skiing), 10k is nothing.

11

Anustart15 Apr 3, 2026

>But for anyone even mildly experienced in climbing (or heli skiing), 10k is nothing. I thought I made that point pretty obvious by pointing out that the base village of a popular vacation destination ski resort is at 9k and most mountains in the rockies exceed 10k pretty easily

0

MechanicalGak Apr 3, 2026 +3

I think it’s more likely that the journalist just doesn’t give a f***. I saw an NBC News report today that claimed 7 people have walked in the moon. The actual number is 12. These people don’t get into journalism because they like research and fact checking…

3

cantproveidid Apr 3, 2026 +2

The other 5 were skipping.

2

Fallouttgrrl Apr 3, 2026 -1

12 is more than 7 so they aren't *wrong* Just incredibly bad at reporting

-1

krollAY Apr 3, 2026 +7

lol 10,000 ft isn’t even Everest base camp

7

Anustart15 Apr 3, 2026 +9

That's the point. It's an absolutely ridiculous sentence to include

9

Suspicious_Place1270 Apr 3, 2026 +1

it is true though, at 2500m above sea level you get first signs of height sickness

1

boot2skull Apr 3, 2026 +1

A great Rockies upheaval has shifted Colorado at or above Mount Everest!

1

TastySpermDispenser7 Apr 3, 2026 +1

Which means that anyone who can reach that high must be pretty tall. Impressive. NBA should be "reaching" out.

1

answerguru Apr 3, 2026 +1

Hell, I used to live at 8500 just 15 miles from my current location in Colorado.

1

shouldbepracticing85 Apr 3, 2026 +2

Eisenhower tunnel on I-70 is 11.4k or something. It’s not even 60 miles from downtown Denver.

2

Rescuepets777 Apr 3, 2026 +65

Some Nepali scammers are taking climbers and other travelers to restaurants that serve them food to make them sick. The scammers tell them that they need a helicopter evacuation to a hospital. People are charged way more than they're quoted in both places. The host of Everest Mystery on YouTube covers this well.

65

CrustyBappen Apr 3, 2026 -2

It’s pretty clear to me?

-2

THEBHR Apr 3, 2026 +6

Yeah, I've been finding it harder and harder to read headlines because of their general bullshit writing, but this one was straightforward. Albeit a crazy one.

6

Fallouttgrrl Apr 3, 2026 +9

Congratulations?

9

DeepThinkingMachine Apr 3, 2026 +54

this will make for a wild Netflix series

54

mequals1m1w Apr 3, 2026 +19

Sherpafellas?

19

Sam_Never_Goes_Home Apr 3, 2026 +9

A Nepalese Joe Pesci? Yes Please! “Hey Tenzing, go home and get your shine box!”

9

sodiumvapour Apr 3, 2026 +4

TheGoodSherpas

4

ginigini Apr 3, 2026 +1

I was thinking the same! What a crazy story it’s almost unbelievable. Don’t know how they got away with it for as long as they did

1

Kitchen-Zucchini2057 Apr 3, 2026 +59

Make them sick, trained staff scare them, pack multiple into one helicopter but bill as if they were all individual, change the paper trail to things more serious, hospital distributes cash to the companies that bring them trekkers.

59

TLC_15 Apr 3, 2026 +8

But what the heck are the guides thinking? They are literally scaring away their own customers?

8

cantproveidid Apr 3, 2026 +12

They have long lines of customers. People are dying to get to the top.

12

Peerjuice Apr 3, 2026 +2

There is a literal continuous line of people going to the top lmao it's crazy Disney land line at the top of Mount Everest type shit

2

OneWholeSoul Apr 3, 2026 +1

It's only a matter of time before they implement Everest FastPass™.

1

postfuture Apr 3, 2026 +36

We had professional Nepalese guides for a different mountain. After eating their awful cooking for five days (e.g. popcorn soup), my spouse and I switched to our emergency rations. Our health improved dramatically.

36

pastalover1 Apr 3, 2026 +1

Any chance you have that recipe for popcorn soup?

1

postfuture Apr 3, 2026 +1

You start with tainted mountain water. Add a handful of popped pop corn, a dash of dispair, and wave a chicken bullion cube over it.

1

felisnebulosa Apr 3, 2026 +28

I'm not surprised, they've been trying similar scams on tourists for ages now (though the poisoning is news to me). I hiked to Everest Base Camp in 2013 and on the third day my knee started complaining. I kept going but every morning my leg was quite stiff because it was swollen at the kneecap, though it didn't hurt much. A guide suggested that I could say I was in too much pain to continue, call for an evacuation and get a "free" helicopter sightseeing ride. He wasn't even my guide, just a random one I was talking to. I didn't learn about the whole scam later... That he, the hospital, and the helicopter pilot all take a cut of the insurance money. Or your money, if you're unlucky.

28

bbqyak Apr 3, 2026 +12

I'm surprised the insurance companies would still provide services to them at that point

12

Super_Scooper Apr 3, 2026 +1

When I did my trip to base camp you have to buy specific insurance for Everest because this scam is so prolific. Normal mountaineering/adventure type insurance wont cover it.

1

SoftSausage78 Apr 3, 2026 +7

At the end of our trip to Base Camp, the weather was preventing planes from taking off from Lukla. Had a guy ask me to claim insurance to get airlifted out of there. They'll have someone sign off on me having altitude sickness. I was like yeah nah I'll just go drink at the guest house until we're cleared to go. Got out of there at like 3pm

7

octopusboots Apr 3, 2026 +5

Agra. They poison tourists outside of the Taj, so they have to see the hotel "doctor" and stay longer.

5

Particular_Newt6659 Apr 3, 2026 +78

Yeah when we were here there were a bunch of "rescues" from base camp, where people basically walked up, couldn't be assed walking back down so they have a medical "emergency" and the chopper would fly up to take them back down. All billed to the insurance company.

78

a-Centauri Apr 3, 2026 +5

I went to EBC and there were very real evacs, with HAPE/HACE, khumbu cough and all

5

All_Hail_Hynotoad Apr 3, 2026 +14

F****** AI

14

JoeRogansNipple Apr 3, 2026 +21

Did yahoo use AI to bring the wordcount up? half of the article doesnt make sense

21

sexysexymelvin Apr 3, 2026 +2

Yeah. I thought i was having a stroke. That is some AI garbage.

2

SurfTheUniverse99 Apr 3, 2026 +7

I trekked around the Everest and Annapurna region for a month in Nepal in 2019 and there were allegations of this happening. Some tea houses had advertisements for helicopter companies for rescue and the story was the guides were getting kick backs for calling certain companies. You wouldn't have to fake anything. Almost everyone experiences some form of altitude sickness while trekking and you could simply encourage pushing forward when someone needed to stay another day or two before going up in elevation. Then when they are unwell, encourage them to call a helicopter.

7

jphamlore Apr 3, 2026 +11

> Nepalese authorities found that the guides would purposefully put baking powder into climbers' food to mimic the common symptoms of altitude sickness, then feign the need for emergency services, the outlet reported, citing police. > Climbers were allegedly given diamox (Acetazolamide) tablets, which are used to treat and prevent altitude sickness, with "excessive" amounts of water, per the outlet.

11

take-the-power_back Apr 3, 2026 +7

If an emergency is financially rewarded, a market for emergencies emerges.

7

Substantial_Milk8170 Apr 3, 2026 +67

Imagine paying $50k to climb a mountain just for your own guide to turn on friendly fire for the insurance payout. Bro really thought he found an IRL infinite money glitch. Actually diabolical work.

67

gumby_twain Apr 3, 2026 +37

Worse than that, they built/upgraded an entire industry on the scam.

37

Persimmon-Mission Apr 3, 2026 +17

You died on Everest. Not from exhaustion or freezing…from poisoning ☠️

17

14X8000m Apr 3, 2026 +16

I mean in a lot of cases it was baking soda to trigger an upset stomach and the Sherpa would say it's AMS.

16

viridian_plexus Apr 3, 2026 +11

What is the Gen alpha dialect called?

11

literallymoist Apr 3, 2026 +32

Fraudmaxxing? Lifemogging their customers?

32

viridian_plexus Apr 3, 2026 +7

Fraudmaxxing lol that's good.

7

sywofp Apr 3, 2026 +2

It's an AI written account. Listnook is filled with them now.

2

awkook Apr 3, 2026 +1

I was noticing that as well lol although thats more gen z than alpha i think

1

viridian_plexus Apr 3, 2026 +1

gen z ended at 2004 max, this is 2005 and beyond language.

1

Dogmom9523086 Apr 3, 2026 +6

Everest is hard enough on its own!

6

genxerrr Apr 3, 2026 +1

This has been going on for years and years. Trekking guides pushing people past their limits on treks and then calling out the air ambulance. Nepal is full of scammers.

1

salty_gemini74 Apr 3, 2026 +7

I could barely get thru reading the article. Good lord z

7

Alavaster Apr 3, 2026 +1

It summarizes the story like 6 times before saying what happened

1

APeacefulWarrior Apr 3, 2026 +2

Everything else aside, this sounds like a fantastic premise for a movie.

2

smallspeck Apr 3, 2026 +2

I imagine some folks who were evacuated are reading these articles and wondering if they were actually sick or if they got scammed.

2

stoneman9284 Apr 3, 2026 +2

I don’t get it. Were the climbers poisoned or not?

2

CoderGirl2007 Apr 3, 2026 +14

If you read the article, they were fed baking soda to mimic altitude sickness, then said to need emergency care, which was insurance fraud

14

stoneman9284 Apr 3, 2026 +2

Thank you

2

Careless_Jury154 Apr 3, 2026 +1

This is why I stopped being greedy. Too many sweats.

1

Over_Interaction_925 Apr 3, 2026 +1

I hope this isn't a group my urologist is in. He was so ecstatic going to base camp. Been training for a year for this. He was going to be gone for 2.5 weeks which isn't that long to even climb the mnt. Hopefully this isn't him or his group.

1

Consistent_Kale_3625 Apr 3, 2026 +1

There’s zero fucks being given from this direction, I fail to see the issue. This mountain is one of the only things today that only ever kills bad people.

1

Raksup Apr 3, 2026 +1

It was not only in the Everest region. It happened in several trekking routes. The rescue companies usually looked for low-budget foreign travelers to commit this fraud. They offered those travelers some money to go on a trek and get rescued. The companies couldn't do it by themselves without participants who had travel/medical insurance. This was going on for years yet nobody did much as everyone involved was profiting from it; except the insurance companies. Glad they are sorting it out.

1

Muraria Apr 3, 2026 +1

I remember when the same Sherpas were angry at Ueli Steck for not needing a guide.

1

WeakCartographer7826 Apr 3, 2026 +1

I'm not saying I think poisoning is a good thing, but I really don't give a f*** about insurance companies

1

raspberryharbour Apr 3, 2026 +16

See I think poisoning is great, and I love insurance companies

16

misty-mornings Apr 3, 2026 +3

I've been poisoning people for years. I did even know you could make money from it. Now I feel stupid

3

landomakesatable Apr 3, 2026 -8

This scandal compared to the bullshit America is pulling off right now... Not even batting an eye.

-8

binghamptonboomboom Apr 3, 2026

They probably poison the ones they know won't make it. Kind of a win win tbh

0

Few-Chipmunk143 Apr 3, 2026 -1

So... Healthcare is getting funded.

-1

Technical_Ideal_5439 Apr 3, 2026 -2

Girl guides are everywhere, it was no doubt the cookie as a protest.

-2

sebo_im_keller Apr 3, 2026 -5

But ... the guides might have saved a lot of lives that way?

-5

Mount Everest Climbers 'Poisoned' by Guides Prompting Mass Helicopter Rescues in $20 Million Insurance Fraud Scheme, Police Say

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