Katmandu, Nepal ? You can’t get away from a cell phone call, even at the top of the world.

Thanks to 3G towers newly installed near Mount Everest’s base camp, explorers can surf the Web, tweet and post Facebook updates without worrying that their signals will disappear into thin air.

The new high-speed service, announced Friday by Ncell, a subsidiary of Swedish telecom company TeliaSonera, will allow mountaineers setting off to the summit of the world’s tallest mountain to access wireless Internet and make video calls to family, friends and supporters.

“You know, I think it’s kind of good and kind of bad, but to me it’s kind of inevitable,” said renowned climber Ed Viesturs, frequently described as the strongest U.S. high-altitude mountaineer.

The 51-year-old veteran of seven climbs to Everest’s 29,035-foot summit said the new technology is not for him.

“I’m kind of old school,” said Viesturs, who has climbed all 14 of the world’s highest peaks. “But you can imagine the newer generation saying, ‘No, bring it on. The more the better.”‘

Every year, thousands of trekkers from all over the world walk to Everest’s base camp at 17,000 feet, and hundreds of mountaineers take on the arduous and dangerous route to the summit.

Until now, they were forced to carry heavy — and expensive — satellite equipment to transmit information and images from base camp.