Nepal made 97 mountains free to climb. Two seasons remain.

Api Himal rises 7,132 metres above the far-western corner of Nepal. On clear mornings, people see it from across the Indian border. Almost nobody climbs it.

In a country that sells more than a thousand climbing permits a year, the far west is a rounding error. In the spring season before the government intervened, Nepal issued 1,168 climbing permits. More than half were for peaks above 8,000 metres. Karnali and Sudurpaschim sold close to nothing.

On 17 July 2025, the cabinet tried to change that with one line of policy. It removed the government climbing royalty from 97 mountains across those two provinces, 77 in Karnali and 20 in Sudurpaschim. The peaks range from 5,870 metres to 7,132 metres. Many have never been summited.

The waiver ends on 17 July 2027. That leaves two workable climbing seasons: autumn 2026 and spring 2027. Before you book one, it helps to know what the free part is actually worth.

What the waiver removes, and what it does not

The waiver covers the royalty. That is the government’s per-climber expedition fee. On these particular mountains, it was never the expensive line.

Bradley Mayhew, a Nepal travel writer and Outside contributor, put the figure plainly when the policy was announced. These peaks carried fees of around $500, against $11,000 for Everest at the time. In his words, it is “not quite the saving it might seem.”

Everest’s spring royalty has since risen to $15,000. That widens the gap on paper and changes nothing about your bill in the far west.

Everything else still costs money. You pay for Department of Tourism registration, a liaison officer where one is assigned, a garbage deposit, rescue and medical insurance, guides and high-altitude staff, food, fuel, and the approach. Insurance alone routinely costs more than the royalty ever did.

Some of these peaks also sit inside restricted areas. Humla, Upper Dolpo and Byas in Darchula all carry restricted-area status, which means a separate per-person permit arranged through your agency. Not all 97 are affected, so confirm the status of your specific objective.

You cannot arrange any of this yourself. No foreign climber can apply for a Nepali climbing permit directly, whether they are an alpinist going light or a client on a commercial 8,000-metre trip. The application goes through a registered Nepali operator, and that operator’s fee is part of what the waiver does not touch.

The Nepal Mountaineering Association made the same point when the policy landed. NMA president Nima Nuru Sherpa welcomed the decision, then noted that royalty fees are not what keeps mountaineers out of these regions. The infrastructure and trained expedition staff still need building.

The scepticism is not confined to Nepal. In October 2025 the UIAA, the international federation that governs the sport, welcomed the decision while acknowledging the obvious objection. Several climbers had pointed out that waiving permit fees does little against the cost of access and the state of the infrastructure. The federation’s position was that the initiative still deserved support for easing pressure on crowded routes. That is a more measured endorsement than the promotional coverage suggests.

(For how a fully supported 8,000-metre expedition prices out by comparison, see our breakdown of Cho Oyu expedition costs.)

The three peaks that change the arithmetic

Of the 97 mountains, three exceed 7,000 metres: Api at 7,132 m, Api West at 7,076 m, and Saipal at 7,030 m.

That threshold is the whole story, because of a bill moving through Nepal’s parliament. A new Tourism Bill would require anyone applying for an Everest permit to have already summited a 7,000-metre peak inside Nepal.

Be careful with the status of that rule, because a lot of websites have it wrong. The bill passed the National Assembly, Nepal’s upper house, in February 2026. It is not law. It was not in force for the 2026 spring season. It still needs lower-house ratification and the president’s signature, with a grace period expected before it takes effect. The final list of qualifying peaks could also change.

If it does pass, the arithmetic looks different. Nepal has 86 peaks between 7,000 and 7,999 metres. Foreign royalties on them run $500 to $800 in spring and drop by half in autumn. Api, Api West and Saipal would be the only qualifying mountains you could climb with no royalty at all.

The saving is still a few hundred dollars. The value is not the discount. Three of the mountains most likely to satisfy a future Everest prerequisite happen to sit inside a window that closes in July 2027, in a region where operators are actively looking for clients.

The other 94 peaks are a different proposition. Many are unclimbed, which is genuinely rare and genuinely appealing if that is what you came for. They are not training grounds with fixed lines and a base camp doctor.

The full list of 97 peaks

Most published versions of this list are wrong. Operator sites and social graphics circulate compilations with invented names, duplicated peaks and elevations that fall outside the scheme’s own range.

The Nepal Tourism Board released the official schedule with names, provinces and elevations. What follows is that table, reproduced as published.

Source: Nepal Tourism Board press release, 15 August 2025.

Two things are worth noting about the official table.

Forty-seven Karnali entries and four Sudurpaschim entries carry an “NC” suffix in the province column. The Board has not published a key for it. Until it does, treat those peaks as needing extra confirmation on access and permitting before you plan around them.

Saipal appears under a shared Karnali and Sudurpaschim heading rather than in either province alone. Several media reports place it in Sudurpaschim only.

What it actually costs to get there

Access is the budget. The permit is not.

Flights run from Kathmandu to Nepalgunj for Karnali approaches and to Dhangadhi for the Api and Saipal side. After that it is road, and then it is walking. Karnali and Sudurpaschim sit roughly 400 to 535 kilometres from Kathmandu, and the last stretch is not a highway.

When the waiver was announced, stakeholders raised the same objections repeatedly: poor roads, thin air connectivity, and not enough accommodation. None of that has changed quickly.

Ask any operator quoting you for these peaks to itemise four things separately. The approach transport. The rescue and evacuation plan. The staff who have actually worked in that district before. And what happens to your money if the road is cut.

Helicopter evacuation from far-western Nepal is slower and more expensive than from Khumbu. Your insurance needs to cover the real altitude and the real remoteness.

Expect a fully supported expedition on Api or Saipal to cost several times the royalty saving in access alone. Get a written quote rather than working from any published estimate, including this one.

The seasons you have left

Autumn, roughly late September through November, and spring, roughly April through May, are the workable windows. Monsoon brings rain, snow and landslide risk on the approach roads. Winter is possible for experienced teams and unpleasant for everyone else.

That leaves autumn 2026 and spring 2027 inside the waiver. A spring 2027 attempt runs close to the 17 July 2027 expiry. Permits are issued before the climb, so confirm the cutoff logic with your operator rather than assuming.

(Planning around weather windows instead? Our guide to the best time to trek in Nepal covers how the same seasons behave across regions.)

Can you climb Everest for free?

No. Everest is not in the scheme, and its royalty went the other direction. From 1 September 2025 the fee rose to $15,000 for spring, $7,500 for autumn, and $3,750 for winter and monsoon. The waiver exists partly to move climbers away from that mountain.

Is any of this suitable for beginners?

None of the 97 is a beginner objective. The lowest peak in the scheme is 5,870 metres, in a region several days from a hospital, with no established rescue infrastructure and, on most of these mountains, no route description to work from.

If this would be your first Himalayan summit, the waiver is not a reason to choose the far west. Mera, Island and Lobuche East have staff, rescue coverage and known conditions. The royalty on a Nepal Mountaineering Association trekking peak is $350 in spring and $175 in other seasons. Paying that for a supported first climb is better value than saving $500 on a mountain three days from help.

The verdict

Go west if you want a rarely climbed 7,000-metre summit, if you are building a Nepali climbing record ahead of the Everest rule, or if unclimbed terrain is the entire point. Those are good reasons. The word “free” is not one of them.