DJI recently released a new video which both highlights a striking technical achievement – the DJI Flycart 30 thermal drone being used in the unforgiving conditions of Mount Everest – and really begs some serious questions about the fact it's doing it at all.
The film shows how the drone is helping Sherpas clear the staggering amounts of garbage that climbers simply abandon on the sides of 'the top of the world'. It also tells of the lives Sherpas have lost doing this largely uncredited work in the past, and watching it might just give you a new perspective on mountaineers.
The film begins with the striking fact that, as of last year, 6664 people had summited the famous mountain, leaving behind an average of 17.6 pounds / 8kg of garbage on the hillside. That attitude might have been acceptable in an adventurous first, but imagine what a national parks authority would have to say about it?
The math will tell you that's about 53 family-sized cars worth of junk lying on the side of the mountain, much of that air cylinders, left for local Sherpas – and they're not immune to the danger. In 2014 16 were killed in a single ice fall on the Kuhumbu glacier.
In April 2024, DJI began drone delivery tests with 8KRAW and a local company to establish whether the drones could handle the conditions, and it turns out the enormous 42.5Kg (93 pound) drone – and that's without batteries – was up to the challenge.
The drone is able to handle a payload of around 30Kg in ideal circumstances, and tested in the low temperatures of -20 degrees (-4F), high cross winds and relatively thin air of Everest it was still able to successfully make deliveries between camps.
This meant it can be programmed to do so with a simple press of a button to follow the route using GPS, so multiple return and drops could replace many potential life-threatening Sherpa journeys, while the drone can also be used in S&R situations.
The drone tech is undoubtedly amazing, but I also couldn't help but ask myself how many people really need to climb Everest? Am I wrong? Perhaps the video a concern I should have had and showed me it was being solved all at once though!
Our guides to the best camera drones and the best thermal drones might not be for devices quite so hefty, but you'll find some to help with most situations.
