Nepal in a bind as US-China drone war reaches Everest

The superpowers are competing for a technological foothold on the world’s highest peak, pushing Nepal towards a geopolitical chessboard.

Kathmandu, Nepal – On May 1, a team of officials from the United States – led by President Donald Trump’s special envoy for South and Central Asia, Sergio Gor – took a helicopter to the base camp of Mount Everest.

Located at an altitude of 5,364 metres (17,600 feet), the base camp is where Everest climbers acclimatise to the thin air before heading towards the 8,849-metre (29,032ft) summit in Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 10 highest peaks.

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The US team had reached the camp to test the capacity of their home-made Alta X Gen 2 drone in carrying supplemental oxygen bottles, ladders, mountain gear and food from the base camp to Camp I on the mountain’s southern ridge at an altitude of 6,130 metres (20,112ft).

It is a task the Chinese-made DJI FlyCart 30 drones have already been performing since 2024.

For its test, the US team hired Seven Summit Treks, an expedition agency, and local drone pilots were called to the base camp. But as Gor and his team reached the base camp, the US plan hit a snag.

Nepal’s Ministry of Home Affairs refused to issue a drone flight permit to the US officials. The ministry’s internal memo, obtained by Al Jazeera, said the permit was refused due to “drone flying procedures” and “security sensitivity”.

The Alta X Gen 2 drone never flew near Everest, and the US officials returned to the capital, Kathmandu.

Why the US wanted to test its drone

The controversy has trapped Nepal in a tussle between the US and its archrival China, turning the world’s highest peak into a new theatre of the tech war between the world’s most powerful economies.