NMA Peak Permit Fees + How to Get a Peak Climbing Permit in Nepal

Nepal issues climbing permits through two bodies. The Department of Tourism (DoT), under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, sets the royalty for the big 'expedition' mountains, including Mount Everest (Sagarmatha, 8,849 m) and the other 8,000-metre peaks; those DoT rates are tabulated on our separate Nepal mountaineering and peak-climbing royalty fees page. The Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), a non-governmental body delegated the authority by the government, handles the 27 smaller 'trekking' and 'expedition' peaks that most first-time and mid-level climbers actually attempt.

These 27 NMA peaks all sit below roughly 6,600 m and include the country's most popular climbing objectives: Island Peak (Imja Tse, 6,160 m), Mera Peak (6,470 m, the highest trekking peak), Lobuche East (6,090 m), Pisang Peak (6,091 m), Chulu East (6,584 m) and Chulu West (6,419 m). The NMA splits them into two administrative lists — Group A (generally higher or more technical) and Group B (the classic trekking peaks) — though as of the 1 September 2025 revision the permit fee is now a single flat per-person rate rather than the older sliding scale by group size.

Crucially, the NMA does not sell permits to individual climbers over a counter. The permit must be arranged through a Nepal-registered trekking or expedition agency that is enrolled as a 'Resource Member' of the NMA. The agency submits the team's application, insurance and documents and collects the permit and garbage-deposit receipt on the climbers' behalf, which is why almost every NMA peak is climbed as part of an agency-organised package.

The NMA royalty (officially the 'service charge') is charged per climber and varies by season. Spring (March–May) is the peak window and costs the most; autumn (September–November) and the off-seasons of winter (December–February) and the summer monsoon (June–August) are cheaper. Under the schedule effective from 1 September 2025, a foreign climber pays USD 350 per person in spring and USD 175 per person in autumn, winter or summer for 25 of the 27 peaks.

Two peaks — Chulu East (6,584 m) and Singu Chuli (6,501 m) — carry a higher NMA rate of USD 500 in spring, USD 250 in autumn and USD 200 in winter or summer. This means the popular searches 'island peak permit cost' and 'mera peak permit price' resolve to the same standard figure: USD 350 in spring, USD 175 otherwise, for a foreign climber, since both Island Peak and Mera Peak fall in the standard band.

Nepali citizens pay far less, in rupees: NPR 20,000 in spring, NPR 10,000 in autumn and NPR 5,000 in winter or summer for the standard peaks, and NPR 25,000 / 12,500 / 6,250 for Chulu East and Singu Chuli. Nationals of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries have historically received a discount on Nepal's government climbing royalties; for NMA peaks, confirm the current SAARC rate with the NMA or your agency, as the NMA's published service-charge schedule lists the foreigner and Nepali rates above. Treat every figure here as indicative and verify the live rate before paying, since fees are set by Nepal Gazette notification and can change.

On top of the royalty, every NMA peak carries a refundable garbage-management deposit of USD 500. This single flat deposit applies to all 27 NMA peaks and is separate from the DoT garbage deposits charged on the bigger mountains (for example USD 4,000 on Everest). The deposit is paid to the NMA — in practice via a bank voucher through Nabil Bank Ltd. — at the same time as the permit fee, and the agency handles the transaction.

The deposit is returned only if the team brings its rubbish back down from base camp and the higher camps and leaves the campsites clean, in line with the NMA's rules that require base camp and all camps to be left 'perfectly clean' at the end of the climb. If the team abandons waste on the mountain, the deposit is forfeited. Because the deposit is refundable, it is not a true cost of the climb, but climbers should budget the cash-flow of paying it up front and reclaiming it afterwards.

Beyond the deposit, the NMA sirdar or guide is responsible for ensuring the team complies with waste-disposal rules and for reporting any violations, so environmental compliance is built into the permit conditions rather than being purely voluntary.

Because the NMA issues permits only through registered agencies, the practical process for an NMA peak is: pick your peak and season, book with a Nepal-registered trekking/expedition company that is an NMA Resource Member, hand over your documents and insurance, and let the agency file the application and collect the permit. Permits are typically issued quickly — often within a day or two of a complete submission — but leave a buffer before your climbing dates.

You will need a valid passport (with at least six months' validity) and its copy, your Nepal visa or a copy of it, passport-size photographs, and proof of the mandatory insurance described below. The agency also pays the royalty and the USD 500 garbage deposit through the bank and provides the bank voucher that the NMA requires to issue the permit. For peaks that lie inside a national park or conservation area — as most do — you must additionally hold the relevant entry permit (for example Sagarmatha National Park for Island/Lobuche/Mera-side routes, or the Annapurna Conservation Area for the Chulus), plus a TIMS card where required for the approach trek.

Every NMA-permitted team must be accompanied by a sirdar or climbing guide who is registered with the NMA; genuinely solo, unsupported climbing of these peaks is not permitted. The guide manages logistics, ensures the team stays within the terms of the permit, reports incidents to the NMA and enforces the clean-up rules. The permit is granted for one month; if needed it can be extended for a further two weeks, at an additional charge of 25% of the fee per week.

Insurance is a firm requirement, not an optional extra. The NMA's document checklist requires proof of accidental insurance to the value of NPR 20 lakh (2,000,000), medical insurance of NPR 4 lakh (400,000) and helicopter-rescue cover of USD 10,000 — and these apply to Nepali and foreign climbers alike. Foreign climbers should ensure their travel/mountaineering policy explicitly covers climbing above 6,000 m and high-altitude helicopter evacuation, and carry proof, because standard trekking insurance often excludes technical climbing.

Support staff must also be insured. Under the NMA's rules, all employees going above base camp must carry personal-accident insurance, and guides and porters are separately insured through the agency; foreign-staff insurance is arranged for a set premium plus a service charge. This staff insurance is a mandatory cost that sits alongside the royalty and garbage deposit.

Most NMA peaks lie inside a protected area, so a conservation-area or national-park entry permit is a compulsory add-on to the climbing permit. Island Peak, Lobuche East and the Everest-region peaks require a Sagarmatha National Park entry permit (plus the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality local permit); Mera Peak lies within the Makalu Barun National Park boundary on its approach; and the Chulu and Pisang peaks require an Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) permit. These entry fees are charged separately from the NMA royalty and should be built into your budget.

For the NMA to issue the permit, your agency must submit a bank voucher proving payment of the royalty and the USD 500 garbage deposit (paid to the NMA's Nabil Bank accounts), together with proof of the three required insurances and each climber's passport and photograph. Foreign climbers add a copy of their Nepal visa. Keeping clean digital scans of all of these ready in advance is the single best way to avoid last-minute delays.

It is important to understand that the royalty is only one line in the real cost of climbing a Nepali trekking peak. On top of the USD 350 (spring) NMA royalty for a peak like Island Peak, a climber pays for the conservation-area entry permit, mandatory insurance for members and staff, the guide's and porters' wages and insurance, climbing gear, and full trek logistics. A fully organised Island Peak or Mera Peak climb from a Kathmandu operator typically runs into the low thousands of US dollars once everything is bundled, with the government royalty a small fraction of the total.

Rates and rules are periodically revised by Nepal Gazette notification — the 1 September 2025 revision, for instance, raised the spring foreigner fee and simplified the old group-size tiers into a flat per-person rate. Always confirm the current figure and any new rules with the NMA (nepalmountaineering.org) or a licensed agency at the time of booking, and treat this page as a planning reference rather than the final quote.