The spring climbing season for Mount Everest could face challenges due to a resurgence of COVID-19 infections, erratic weather, and overcrowding with new climbers, according to expedition organisers in Nepal. Bookings and inquiries have indicated that nearly 500 climbers may attempt to summit the world’s tallest mountain this season, which begins in the second week of May. In 2021, the Ministry of Tourism of Nepal issued a record 409 Mount Everest climbing permits; however, the number dropped to 325 in 2022 due to the Russia-Ukraine war preventing would-be climbers from those countries from travelling to Nepal. Recently, China lifted three-year restrictions and re-allowed its citizens to visit Nepal, but Beijing has not opened Mount Everest to foreign climbers for the fourth year in a row. The revised policy during Nepal’s trekking and mountaineering season could bring huge business opportunities to Nepal’s tourism industry, but concerns have grown over possible overcrowding, as what happened in 2019 when photos of a line of climbers waiting to reach the summit went viral. New climbers and a possible quota system, which is up to the expedition organisers to manage the crowds, have raised concerns of such incidents repeating. The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Board, an agency authorised to install ropes and ladders at Everest Camp 2, said that its team of “glacier doctors” had completed the trek from the base camp to Camp 2 via the Khumbu Glacier, while Imagine Trek and Expedition Nepal has won the bid to prepare a route from Camp 2 to the summit. As of April 7, the Tourism Bureau has issued 178 Mount Everest climbing permits and collected a fee of $1.84 million.