No, Everest Climbers Are Not Being Poisoned By Their Guides

Nepal’s helicopter rescue scam isn’t what you think.

On March 22, charges was filed against 32 people in the Kathmandu District Court in connection with a fake rescue scam to earn kickbacks from insurance payouts. After eight years of investigations, these 32 tour managers, rescue coordinators, hospital owners, doctors, and trekking guides face charges under the Organized Crime Prevention Act. The defendants operate across Nepal, including in the Everest region. The crime in question? Organizing unnecessary helicopter flights for non-emergency clients. The allegations state that these individuals called for “fake” rescues, forged passenger manifests, and manipulated medical records in order to boost claims to their clients’ rescue insurance and split the profit.

Why fake news is spreading about poisoning on Everest

The 748-page charge sheet, which Climbing obtained, makes it clear that insurance fraud is well-evidenced. This holds especially true in three Kathmandu hospitals, where at least nine doctors accuse scammers of forging their signatures. But this week, dozens of media outlets, including the Economic Times of India, Fox News, People, and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, published headlines focused on one specific detail: the allegation that some trekking guides laced their clients’ food with baking soda or gave them acetazolamide (Diamox) in order to make them sick or dehydrated, thereby justifying a helicopter rescue. However, while certainly scarier than fraudulent paperwork, this allegation does not appear to be supported by any forensic or other evidence.

“To date, the official investigation has not found any evidence of ‘poisoning,’” the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal told Climbing via email this morning. The CIB’s lengthy investigation and arrest of 10 individuals served as the basis for the rescue scam charges.

On April 3, the CIB has also released a press release to address the inaccuracies. “The CIB’s serious attention has been drawn to news reports broadcasted across national and international media regarding the fake rescue of tourists,” it reads. “These reports allege that trekking guides in the Everest region made tourists ill by mixing poisonous substances into their food to facilitate ‘fake rescues.’ During the investigation conducted so far, no facts have been found to suggest that poisonous substances were mixed into food.” The statement bears the signature of Shiva Kumar Shrestha, the senior superintendent of police.

So where did the poisoning rumor come from?

In the charge sheet overview, prosecutors claimed that guides were lacing clients’ food with baking soda. But in the list of specific allegations, none of the defendants were charged with tampering with clients’ food.

In sharp contrast to the thousands of pages of screenshots, text messages, passenger manifests, and medical records to overwhelmingly prove insurance fraud, the only support for the poisoning claim is that several trekking guides have encountered it as rumor. “I have heard that foreigners are made ill by mixing baking powder into their food,” said guide Udhav Bahadur Thapa, who is not a defendant in the case. Thapa’s sentences are repeated—often word for word—in the statements of at least four other unaffiliated guides in the charge sheet. No other guides or witnesses offer any more specific testimony regarding the poisoning allegation.

The only defendant facing charges for direct client interactions

Most of the defendants, who are tour operators or rescue personnel, did not interact with clients until after a helicopter had been called. In fact, only one of the 32 defendants faces charges for a direct interaction with a client. In this single case involving Tenzing Sherpa, no charges specify poisoning or intentionally weakening a client in any way. Tenzing Sherpa, who guides for Panorama Himalayan Trekking and Expedition, is accused of calling an unnecessary helicopter for a Canadian woman, Sylvie Aubier, last November.

“We were denied the right to descend on foot as we intended,” wrote Aubier and her trekking partner, Karine Chassagne, in an email to CIB in January 2026. Aubier’s insurance company received a $8,200 helicopter bill, which remains outstanding, plus a $1,302 statement for hospital treatment. She emailed her complaint to CIB after returning from her trip and learning about Nepal’s rescue scam from Facebook. Climbing has reached out to Aubier and Chassagne for comment.

Read more about our recent coverage on the complex reality behind the rise in Himalayan rescues, and stay tuned for more coverage of Nepal’s helicopter rescue fraud trial.

This is a developing story that will be updated as new information becomes available.

The post No, Everest Climbers Are Not Being Poisoned By Their Guides appeared first on Climbing.