Digital infrastructures, practices and social agency on the trail to Everest

This chapter examines two emerging transformations in Everest tourism due to recently improved digital infrastructures in the Solukhumbu region. First, there has been an increase in production and circulation of images through digital technologies that shape how tourists imagine and experience Everest. Drawing on fieldwork conducted with guides, porters and tourists, I argue that mobile and visual communication are part of tourist experiences, but they are also part of the strategies for meeting aspirations of life projects for workers in the tourist industry. Second, map applications (apps) on smartphones have increasingly become integrated into tourist trekking practices. Regional expertise and knowledge of guides are seen as less of a necessity and reduce the demand for guiding work. Further, geographical information available through map apps is largely generated by open-source contributors based in countries in the Global North. The implications of map apps include reduced representation and valorization of regional knowledge in trekking navigation. The chapter contributes to the Handbook of the Himalayas by considering enduring themes of Everest as counter-culture, solitude and adventure that have emerged historically, and their persistence through digital practices. Digital infrastructures represent regional development, but further marginalization and neo-colonial processes for populations whose livelihoods intersect with the tourist industry.