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Nepal has climbers pick up trash on Everest. Image: NBC News
Mount Everest has been left with piles upon piles of garbage at Camp II in it’s short 2018 season, including human waste, tents, and other discarded gear. The mountain gets between 70,000 and 100,000 visitors each year.
Trash left on Everest 2018 season. Image: Planet Ski
More than 700 climbers made it to the summit of the mountain this season, and another 1,000 spent 2 months in the region above base camp. In accordance with a government mountaineering rule established in 2014, each climber is meant to bring back at least 8 kilos of garbage, including their own. While each climber should be responsible for keeping Mount Everest pristine, the fact that the government has failed to implement it’s rule exacerbates the growing problem.
2018. Image: Planet Ski
A climbing guide commented that it was difficult to find space to set up a tent from Camp II to South Col because of the piles of feces. Many villages and towns established below Everest rely on glacier runoff as a water source. As the glaciers melt under the mounds of garbage and waste the water becomes contaminated, making it unsafe to consume. People getting sick from water contamination is becoming a regular occurrence in the region.
Image: VICE News
A number of Everest climbers are realizing the problem and hope to do their part to help aid the removal efforts and spread positive messages about the amazing mountain and the importance of packing out waste.
climbers so weak that they can’t fulfill their ethical responsibilities. climbers weak in body and mind and lacking skills and power. money motivates all aspects of large Everest expeditions, if you can call them that; more an ego shit show. It sucks. the entire industry should be very ashamed.