A world-record skysurf above the Everest region and a new full-time permit in Pokhara have put Nepali skydiving in the news twice in one season. Here is what each jump actually involves, what it costs in USD, and which one makes sense for you.
Skydiving in Nepal: Photo by Hardy
On the morning of November 10, 2025, a helicopter lifted off from a grass strip at Syangboche, a plateau at 12,402 feet in Nepal’s Everest region. Inside was Olga Naumova, a Russian skysurfer with 15 years in the sport and more than 17,000 jumps. At 20,945 feet (6,384 meters), with Everest filling the horizon, she stepped out of the AS350 B3 with a board strapped to her feet.
She fell 8,000 feet before opening her parachute, surfing the air the entire way down, and landed back at Syangboche. In January 2026, Guinness World Records certified it as the highest-altitude skysurf jump ever performed. The record was set during the 18th annual Everest Skydive event, supported by Fishtail Air and Explore Himalaya Travel and Adventure.
Two days after Naumova’s jump made local headlines, Nepal’s skydiving story grew again at the other end of the country. Simrik Air, through its partner In Sky Skydive, received approval from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to run skydiving in Pokhara on a full-time basis rather than under seasonal special permission the step operators had been requesting for years.
So Nepal now offers two genuinely different skydives. One is a once-a-year expedition above the Khumbu that costs as much as a car. The other is a bucket-list jump over Phewa Lake that costs about as much as a good trekking package. They share almost nothing except the Himalaya. This guide breaks down both so you can decide which one belongs on your Nepal itinerary.
Last verified: August 2026. Skydiving prices in Nepal change season to season always confirm the current rate with the operator before booking.
The Everest Skydive: an expedition, not a day trip
The first thing most people get wrong about the Everest Skydive is imagining a quick helicopter hop from Kathmandu. It isn’t. The official 2026 itinerary is an 11-day trip: you fly into Lukla, trek through Phakding and Namche Bazaar over three days, acclimatize, and walk up to the Syangboche drop zone before you ever put on a rig. The trek is not optional padding. At these altitudes your body needs the acclimatization days to jump safely.
The jump itself exits at around 21,000 feet from an AS350 B3 helicopter, with landings at Syangboche (12,402 ft) or Ama Dablam Base Camp (15,000 ft) the highest drop zones in the world, inside Sagarmatha National Park. Because the air is so thin, the operation uses oversized 300–400 sq ft main parachutes, and canopies open high, between 16,000 and 18,000 feet. Supplemental oxygen and helicopter transport to altitude are part of why the price looks the way it does.
It happens once a year, in November. The 2026 edition runs November 5–15 from Kathmandu, with an optional 9-day Everest Base Camp extension trek. Since the event began in 2008, only around 400 people have jumped here fewer than summit Everest in a single busy season.
What it costs (2026, as quoted by operators):
- International solo sport jump: from around $15,000 USD
- International tandem jump: from around $22,000 USD
- Nepali citizen tandem: around NPR 550,000
Earlier seasons were quoted higher (older published rates ran $22,000–$25,000), and packages differ in what they include Kathmandu hotels, domestic flights, trekking support, media packages. Treat every figure as a starting point and get the full inclusion list in writing.
Who it’s for: tandem passengers need no experience, but solo slots require a current skydiving license and logged jumps. If you’re deciding between spending this money on the skydive or on a climbing permit, that comparison is fair this costs more than most 8,000-meter expedition packages apart from Everest itself.
The Pokhara jump: Nepal’s accessible skydive just went full-time
Pokhara’s skydiving operation is a different sport in a different setting. Jumps run from about 13,000 feet out of a Simrik Air helicopter, with the Annapurna range and Machhapuchhre as the backdrop and landings at the Air Sports Practice Ground at Pame, west of Phewa Lake.
Skydiving in Nepal
The news that matters for trip planners: In Sky Skydive, working with Simrik Air, can now operate year-round under its new CAAN approval instead of only during short seasonal windows. Historically, jumps ran in two blocks roughly September–November and March–May, which are also Pokhara’s clearest mountain-view months. Even with the full-time permit, those remain the windows to aim for; monsoon weather (June–August) grounds most aviation activity in Nepal regardless of paperwork.
The team is notable in its own right. This is Nepal’s first locally led skydiving operation, staffed by Nepali instructors licensed in the United States, including a safety commander with more than 2,500 jumps.
What it costs: tandem jumps in Pokhara have been advertised from roughly $750 to $1,200 USD depending on package and season, with video add-ons extra. That’s 20 to 30 times cheaper than the Everest jump. No trekking, no acclimatization days you can jump in the morning and be paragliding off Sarangkot by afternoon.
Which jump should you book?
Choose Pokhara if you want the experience of freefall over the Himalaya inside a normal Nepal trip budget and schedule. It slots into any itinerary that already includes Pokhara, and for most travelers the Annapurna backdrop delivers everything they imagined a Nepal skydive would be.
Choose the Everest Skydive only if the specific fact of jumping beside Everest on the world’s highest drop zones, as one of a few hundred people ever is the point, and the five-figure cost is acceptable to you. You are paying for an expedition with a skydive at the top of it, not a jump with some trekking attached.
Two warnings that operators rarely lead with. First, standard travel insurance almost never covers skydiving, and policies that cover skydiving often cap the altitude for the Everest jump you need a policy that explicitly covers the activity at above 4,000 meters, the same trap that catches high-altitude trekkers. Read the exclusions before you pay a deposit. Second, everything here is weather-dependent. The Everest event builds spare jump days into its itinerary for a reason, and Pokhara jumps get postponed when clouds sit on the valley. Build slack into your schedule.
Nepal’s adventure tourism has spent a year collecting aviation firsts a Guinness record above Syangboche, a permit that turns Pokhara into a real drop zone. For travelers, the practical takeaway is simpler: the world’s most expensive skydive and one of its most scenic budget-friendly ones now operate in the same small country, ten days and one domestic flight apart.