What Goes Up Doesn't Always Come Back Down From Everest. How The World's Highest Mountain is Becoming a Trash Dump
In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary managed to conquer the highest peak of Mount Everest, known as Chomolungma in Tibet or Sagarmatha in Nepal. Since then, thousands of climbers desiring to taste the fame of escalating the 8,848 meters of this famous mountain have abandoned in their attempts not only corpses but also heaps of garbage, equipment debris and of course lots of excrement.
Those who have lost their life in this extreme experience of conquering Everest surely have left behind the equipment they have with them, but it seems they are not the only ones to do so. Even those who succeed in returning from the peak alive very often are way "lighter" than they were at the beginning of the climb. According to Pemba Dorje's statement, a local Sherpa, Mount Everest is filled with tons of garbage and climbers excrement.
They often leave behind tents, broken equipment, empty gas canisters and whatever else becomes useless for the climb. Feces are also part of the mountains landscape now and in the opinion of the Serpa it has become disgusting.
However, Nepal and Tibetan authorities have taken important steps towards preventing such situations to occur in the future. For example, Nepal requires a $ 4,000 deposit for each team that escalates Everest, being totally reimbursed if each team member returns with 8 kilograms of waste, and Tibet has decided to fine the climbers with $ 100 per kilogram of waste left behind.
No law has yet been passed on the excrement situation, but even those mentioned above are very often overlooked by those who manage to return from the highest peak of the mountain alive. Since the funds of such a team are somewhere at $ 100,000 they prefer to leave behind that $4,000 deposit or pay the fines rather than transport their litter to the foot of the mountains.
However, the authorities and locals do not give up in preserving Everest. According to a study conducted in 2016 it seems that about 11,793 kilograms of feces were brought to the base of the mountain in just one season. Moreover, local engineers and locals are working to clean the mountain of waste and turn it into renewable fuel.
Reference: https://www.sciencealert.com/mount-everest-chomolungma-sagarmatha-tourism-pollution-tonnes-of-waste
Thanks for your attention,
Ace