It usually takes two weeks or more to complete the summit after arriving at base camp, where climbers will receive their bags.
Climbers crashing the mountain has been a problem for years. But as adventure tourism continues to boom, the mountain's snowy slopes and ridges are increasingly littered with human feces and other waste.. According to the Sagarmatah Pollution Control Committee's 2022 report, spring climbers produced more than 16,000 kilograms of feces on Mount Everest, Mount Lhotse and Mount Nuptse, three peaks in the Khumbu region.
It is an unsavory side effect of the climbing industry that – besides destroying the aesthetic beauty of the mountain – poses a health risk to local residents near the base of the mountain, and has led to increasingly deadly consequences for climbers and guides. Nepal has issued a record 463 permits to climb Mount Everest in the spring 2023 season, according to Reuters.
“By imposing strict waste management regulations, the local government hopes to claim and restore the natural beauty of the Mount Everest region and combat pollution,” Mingma Shiri Sherpa, mayor of Khumba Basangalhamu Rural Municipality, said in an email.
When people climb Mount Everest, they spend most of their time at the base camp, Acclimate to the altitude before starting the trip. The base camp has tents that resemble what looks like a “toilet” – basically a hole in the ground with barrels underneath that are emptied regularly. But once climbers start scaling the summit, it's a free-for-all.
Some expedition groups carry their own waste disposal barrels, or climbers dig holes in the snow to relieve themselves. Others, especially when they are going higher, may go anywhere they can go, even if it is out in the open. Freezing temperatures at altitude preserve a decades-old stool covering a wonder of historical and spiritual significance to the Nepalese communities that facilitate treks up the mountain.
“in the past, [climbers] “They would dig random holes near the camp or maybe put some snow blocks in for privacy,” said Daniel Mazur, a trek leader with the expedition group Summit Climb. “You basically go to the bathroom in a hole dug in the snow, and that hole will be filled in, and none of that human waste is taken out of the hole.”
Now, climbers will be given bags at base camp and are expected to carry the bags back down at the end of the trek.
The regulation is the latest in a series of efforts by local Nepalese officials and oversight organizations to manage the spiraling waste problem caused by overcrowding on the mountain, which has become a popular destination for Western guide companies since it was first formally outlined by Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay in 1953.
To reduce the physical waste produced by climbers – debris, plastic and other non-biodegradable waste – the Khumbu Pasangalhamu Rural Municipality requires groups to pay for their litter before they reach the summit, which is then returned when they complete the trek with at least 8 kilograms of litter. . In tow, according to Sherri. The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee has launched several campaigns and programs to clean the mountain since the 1990s, when commercial climbing started to take off.
“The Nepalese government has been implementing laws to stop littering on Mount Everest since 2015,” says Cherry He said. “We aim to make significant improvements to this World Heritage Site by enforcing faecal bag carrying and protecting it from future damage caused by pollution from human waste and non-biodegradable litter.”
It remains to be seen how bag use will be enforced, and whether climbers will be expected to weigh their own stool upon descent. Mazur, who works on the Mount Everest biogas project, said that as more people drop feces from climbing, more sewage will accumulate in Gorak Shep, an area near base camp where waste from tent toilets is disposed of. This would also increase pollution of the local community's waterways and environment.
“We are already carrying waste into this hole,” he said. The Mount Everest Biogas Project is trying to develop a system to analyze waste generated in the area as a result of the mountain's popularity. Currently, much of the stool remains untreated.
The problem of frequent stool is actually a problem for many people. Congestion The mountain has become more dangerous over the past 20 years With the commercial mountaineering industry rising to the top.
The economy of Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world, relies heavily on mountaineering and tourism. However, the more people – especially novice Western climbers – attempt to summit the mountain, the more dangerous it becomes. This was perhaps most evident in 2019, when a human traffic jam on the mountain killed 11 people.
by The end of the last climbing season In May, 17 people were presumed dead In one of the worst years on record since 2014, when several Sherpas were killed in an avalanche.
The local Nepalese government has not indicated that it will limit the number of permits For this year.
The cost of climbing Mount Everest can range from tens of thousands to more than $100,000 — and low-cost guiding companies have begun recruiting a new crop of less experienced climbers, potentially posing a deadly danger to guides and others trying to climb Mount Everest. mountain.
Other popular mountaineering sites, such as Denali, the highest point in North America, have implemented similar dog bag requirements to reduce waste, but the problem of overcrowding is becoming increasingly common..
“The things we've learned about how to manage overcrowding on Everest, we can extend the learning into how to manage overcrowding on other mountains,” Mazur said.
