Tagged With "climbers"

Sadly there's nothing new with this. Everest has had problems with rubbish and human waste for over 50 years. The better tour companies have started packing out the rubbish using Sherpas and yaks (same ones who bring supplies in take the trash out), but the Khumbu has limited resources to handle all the wrapping and plastics and the like. Human waste is more of a problem as it requires warm weather to biodegrade and it just doesn't get warm enough here at Everest Base Camp (almost 4 miles...

It isn't only the Sherpas who have something to complain about, and it's not just the relative few who are there to summit. Many more tourists pay big money to be conducted to Base Camp 1 (I believe is the designation). Described to me recently by a friend, Travel Pal Jim, who was suffering the effects of food poisoning to compound the issue, along the way the facilities are exceedingly substandard "teahouse" accommodations and on the trail there are no toilets. One simply goes off the trail...

I've found similar nearly nonexistent toilet conditions in many of the poorer countries I've visited in my life. Again a difference here might be the altitude. Human waste decomposes quickly in a warm wet environment, but slowly in conditions like you find in the Khumbu. Sir Edmund Hillary's organization has done much to improve the lives of the Sherpa people, especially build good strong bridges across raging rivers, schools and medical clinics. Our Sherpa guide told us "Sir Edmund is our...

As the numbers of climbers rise to several hundred a year on Mount Everest, local guides and residents are complaining that the issue of human waste (for which there are no real facilities at the climbing camps) is creating a disgusting and unhealthy problem.