Trash on Mt. Everest

[BBL]

How can you rectify something like this? An abomination....

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mount-eve...033148000.html

[JTL31]

Very sad to see, especially since many who attempt the climb respect the difficulties & personal sacrifice to pursue that goal. They definitely should be more responsible & respectful of the “footprints” they leave behind! They are cheapening the beauty & experience for others. [rant over...lol]

[Dr.Brian]

They need to charge all the climbers an additional fee for clean up teams.
Maybe another $4000 in addition to the $4000 deposit.
Of course if you can pay the guy weighing the trash at the end $1000 to overlook the whole team and refund everyone’s money, that’s another problem.

[dddrees]

Unfortunately I think the only way to clean this up is to use clean up crews. I very much doubt you’ll get people to clean up after themselves unless the fine is extremely expensive.

[Blansky]

Charge a healthy deposit to climb.

Check their stuff on the way up. Put a tag or sticker on every article for every group with a number for their group.

Check on the way down.

Charge for the clean up. And back charge for stuff with their number on it found later.

Let's face it some of the stuff is left after quick departures due to weather etc, but charge them anyways.

Its no different than renting a house or boat.

[Abdullah71601]

Blame the Nepalese authorities and the guide services, not the climbers.

You can’t take a poo in some US parks without packing it out, but the government there permits this dumping. The guide services don’t even plan for any waste removal. The money only flows one way. It’s a planned sh1thole on an enterprise level.

[BNA/LION]

That is Bull ! People are more concerned about the conquest of the mountain than the mountains themselves.

Each climber should have to pay X-amount of dollars to have this and their trash taken back down the mountain.

[RichM]

That’s only one part of it. How about the bodies left up there.

[Chewbacca]

One could argue this is all rolexeses fault.

1) the wait list is making people with moolah kill time by climbing things

2) wilsdorf marketing sir Edmond hillary’s climb

3) Rolex stuck in analysis paralysis deciding whether a cleanup initiative through their foundation would be good marketing for hillary’s bday on July 20.

[SG56]

That is sad indeed :(

[BBL]

I agree with everyone, current and future generations so affected at local and environmental level overall.
DM

[swils8610]

I’ve read several books on climbing Everest. Trash is a major issue as are human remains left behind. The book by John Krakuer who climbed and lived through the disaster of 1996 is amazing. There are currently over 200 frozen bodies on Everest. Many claim the task of removing them is to dangerous so they are left behind. Many climbers have a hard enough time getting off the mountain themselves without removing a frozen body. The trash is wrong. What goes up should come down. I’m guessing a fair amount of the trash was from people that perished during the climb. It’s hard enough getting up and down Everest and living...trash is sadly left behind. Like others have said...increase the fees/penalties for leaving trash behind. Good luck trying to hire climbers to go up and get trash left behind. It’s been known that Rob Hall is dead on the mountain wearing his Rolex. His wife asked a climber friend to retrieve it for her to give to his daughter who was unborn when Rob died. The climber reached Rob’s body but couldn’t bring himself to taking the watch off of him.


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[gettocard]

I don't feel like I want to blame climbers,but rather local sherpas and various adventure companies etc. A climber pays something between $40K to $60K a pop to climb Everest,I know expenses to climb are outrageous for companies that provide this service but honestly for those kind of money the only thing as a customer I should think about is first of all survive,and then enjoy the adventure. How to avoid trash on Everest ? Leave Everest alone..

[Widows Son]

Originally Posted by Rich Mickol

That’s only one part of it. How about the bodies left up there.

I was thinking the same thing!!!! I've seen some gruesome photos.......

[dddrees]

Originally Posted by gettocard

I don't feel like I want to blame climbers,but rather local sherpas and various adventure companies etc. A climber pays something between $40K to $60K a pop to climb Everest,I know expenses to climb are outrageous for companies that provide this service but honestly for those kind of money the only thing as a customer I should think about is first of all survive,and then enjoy the adventure. How to avoid trash on Everest ? Leave Everest alone..

Well, that’s exactly why the trash is getting left behind.

But if those who were actually commercializing and profiting from it had any forethought they would do something about it.

[SDRider]

The only reason to climb Everest at this point is pure ego. If you pack stuff up there, you should be required to pack it all back down. It is disgusting how much trash is left up there from these expeditions.

[toxicavenger]

The climbers pay a substantial amount to climb the mountain. The government and sherpas are the ones who don't clean up the mountain with that money. No fault of the climbers.

[dddrees]

Originally Posted by toxicavenger

The climbers pay a substantial amount to climb the mountain. The government and sherpas are the ones who don't clean up the mountain with that money. No fault of the climbers.

So in other words the substantial amount that I pay for my car and the taxes I pay entitles me to litter the highway.

[Laszlo]

I saw this yesterday and it made me very, very sad. :(

[Rock]

If you are a town/region/state operating a paying tourist industry, you have to take responsibility for the state of your facilities. If you don't they will be unhygienic.
Everest is no different from any tourist park anywhere. I don't buy into this "Everest is sacred" stuff. Litter and filth is inevitable anywhere that people go - local authorities just have to take responsibility and address it.

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by dddrees

So in other words the substantial amount that I pay for my car and the taxes I pay entitles me to litter the highway.

When you go on vacation and stay in a hotel, do you take all your trash, food scraps, and in sundry waste away with you? That's exactly what you're asking of the climbers.

The service providers (hotels, parks, restaurants, etc.) and the government take care of all the trash and waste in every other holiday setting. So, why would we expect the holiday goers to do it on Everest?

[Kostas]

I agree with abdullah , they don’t exactly have all the amenities.

How about all those plastics in the middle of the pacific , now that’s terrible.

[MonBK]

Originally Posted by dddrees

So in other words the substantial amount that I pay for my car and the taxes I pay entitles me to litter the highway.

No but It allows you to drive your car on the littered highways.

[dddrees]

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

When you go on vacation and stay in a hotel, do you take all your trash, food scraps, and in sundry waste away with you? That's exactly what you're asking of the climbers.

The service providers (hotels, parks, restaurants, etc.) and the government take care of all the trash and waste in every other holiday setting. So, why would we expect the holiday goers to do it on Everest?

I was in the military and I have a real good understanding what a burden it would be to pack and carry one’s own trash. That’s not why I responded as I did to that particular statement. Just because someone spends a great deal of money doesn’t mean that alleviates them of all their responsibilities. So although it may not be practical for them to cart all of their trash maybe they’ll have to follow certain guidelines and very possibly maybe they should have to pay more to have someone take care of it for them.

[AzPaul]

There are efforts being made, but it's going to take time.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/20/w...ash-nepal.html

And of course, once you get the garbage down, then what?
It has to be taken somewhere else where they're equipped to recycle and dispose of that volume of garbage.

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by dddrees

I was in the military and I have a real good understanding what a burden it would be to pack and carry one’s own trash. That’s not why I responded as I did to that particular statement. Just because someone spends a great deal of money doesn’t mean that alleviates them of all their responsibilities. So although it may not be practical for them to cart all of their trash maybe they’ll have to follow certain guidelines and very possibly maybe they should have to pay more to have someone take care of it for them.

If the agreement with the guide service doesn’t require them to pack out trash, why would they? They paid for a particular service, which doesn’t include trash hauling. It’s no different than any other vacation destination.

The government and service providers need to price the trash removal into the fees and vacation price, then make sure the residues are removed from the mountain.

[dddrees]

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

If the agreement with the guide service doesn’t require them to pack out trash, why would they? They paid for a particular service, which doesn’t include trash hauling. It’s no different than any other vacation destination.

The government and service providers need to price the trash removal into the fees and vacation price, then make sure the residues are removed from the mountain.

I think that’s a good solution.

Again, my comment was in response to a statement which tries to absolve one from any personnel responsibility.

[Colin G]

They need to impose very heavy fines for anyone or teams leaving crap up there. Everest should be no different than backpacking in the woods. You bring out what you take in and leave no trace.

Disgusting.

[GoingPlaces]

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

If the agreement with the guide service doesn’t require them to pack out trash, why would they? They paid for a particular service, which doesn’t include trash hauling. It’s no different than any other vacation destination.

The government and service providers need to price the trash removal into the fees and vacation price, then make sure the residues are removed from the mountain.

This. They can turn this into a business. Factor a number into every expedition (a tax of sort) this goes towards removing trash and debris. You gotta pay to play. They can actually make money if well run.

[CRM114]

I suggest collection points at the various Camps and summit and at the end of every climbing season the trash and human waste will be slung under giant hydrogen-filled balloons and launched into the stratosphere.

Using trackers to monitor drift and remote-controlled valves to adjust altitude, the Poo Balloons will positioned into favorable upper winds that will carry them far out into the Pacific Ocean until just east of the Marianas Trench at which time igniters inside the hydrogen balloon sac will be energized resulting in a series of spectacular high-altitude explosions.

The weighted slings containing the garbage will then fall to into the water and sink to the ocean floor at depths nobody except for the most adamant and short-sighted sliver of environmentalists will care about, eventually being covered by silt, and at some point in the next few million years carried back into the mantle of the earth due to the westward subduction of the Pacific tectonic plate underneath the Marianas plate whereupon the trash-poo will be crushed by the earth's crust and incinerated, broken-down into it's basic elements by pressure/heat and re-circulated in whatever way Gaia intends.