The sad truth about Mount Everest
More than three tonnes of trash and at least four dead bodies have been collected from Mount Everest since mid-April, with plenty more to come, according to recent reports.
During a campaign to clean the mountain, which began on April 14 in Nepal, decomposing bodies have been discovered among the rubbish, according to The Himalayan Times.
Officials expect that they will remove 11 tonnes of garbage by the end of the 45-day campaign period.
“Our goal is to extract as much waste as possible from Everest so as to restore glory to the mountain. Everest is not just the crown of the world but our pride,” Dandu Raj Ghimire, Nepal’s tourism director, said, according to The Hindu.
“Everything on Everest, other than rock and snow, will be brought back,” Tika Ram Gurung, secretary of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, said according to The Kathmandu Post. “The goal is to send the message that we should keep this mountain pollution free.”
According to ABC, 5,200 people have hiked to the top of Mount Everest and another 775 are planning to try it this year.
Several high altitude tourists, Sherpas ascending/descending at death zone of Mt #Everest on 22 May, 2019. https://t.co/LzeFw6AErk #Everest2019 pic.twitter.com/sNoXQsj00o
— Everest Today (@EverestToday) 25 May 2019
Because the trip is so challenging, some people meet a more harrowing fate, which has claimed the lives of almost 300 climbers. This is due to global warming, as the bodies are now coming to the surface.
“Because of global warming, the ice sheet and glaciers are fast melting, and the dead bodies that remained buried all these years are now becoming exposed,” Ang Tshering Sherpa, former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, told the news outlet.