Chinese tech giant DJI has successfully conducted the world’s first drone delivery to Mount Everest. Utilizing its DJI FlyCart 30, the drone carried a 15kg payload, demonstrating remarkable performance in the mountain’s extreme altitudes and harsh environmental conditions.
Traditionally, local sherpas have shouldered the burden of transporting supplies and removing waste for climbers, a role fraught with significant risks and dangers.
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Drones could significantly reduce the hazards sherpas face by handling light deliveries. DJI’s success on Everest hints at broader applications for these drones in other mountainous regions.
How was the drone delivery executed?
DJI, which stands for “Da Jiang Innovations” (translating to “General Innovations” in Chinese), has marked a pioneering achievement in drone delivery. In collaboration with Nepalese drone service provider Airlift, video production company 8KRAW, and local guide Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, DJI undertook preliminary tests.
These tests helped DJI engineers design a drone capable of enduring Everest’s extreme conditions, including temperatures from -15° to 5°C, wind speeds up to 15m/s, and altitudes exceeding 6,000m above sea level. They conducted extensive trials to assess the drone’s hovering and payload capacities.
The result was the DJI FlyCart 30. This drone was rigorously tested in April when it transported three oxygen bottles and 1.5kg of supplies from Everest Base Camp to Camp 1 and returned with waste materials.
“From the end of April, our team embarked on a groundbreaking endeavor to help make cleanup efforts on Everest safer and more efficient,” said Christina Zhang, Senior Corporate Strategy Director at DJI.
According to DJI’s official website, sherpas typically make over 30 perilous trips across the icefall each climbing season. Mingma Gyalje Sherpa highlighted the journey’s risks:
“Last year I lost three Sherpas. If we’re not lucky, if our time is not right, we lose our life there.”
Following the successful trials, the Nepalese government contracted a local drone service company to establish regular drone delivery operations around Everest. This initiative aims to enhance sherpa safety and streamline the delivery and waste retrieval processes on the world’s highest peak. The success of this project could inspire similar deployments in other regions.