Poop problem on Everest
Human waste left by hundreds of foreign climbers scaling Mount Everest each year is threatening to spread disease on the world’s highest peak and needs to be addressed as a health hazard.
As per a report on Quartz, the chief of Nepal’s mountaineering association, Ash Tshering made the comments at the start of the climbing season which began this week and runs until May. The 2014 season was forced to close after 16 local guides were killed in an avalanche in April.
Tshering told reporters the more than 700 climbers and guides each season leave large amounts of faeces and urine, but has not been addressed by officials.
As per the report, Tshering is urging Nepal’s government to enforce climbers to dispose of the waste properly in order for the mountain to remain pristine.
“Climbers usually dig holes in the snow for their toilet use and leave the human waste there,” Tshering said the website reported, adding that the waste has been “piling up” for years around the four base camps.
The report quoted Dawa Steven Sherpa, who has been leading Everest clean-up expeditions since 2008, as saying the issue is now a “health hazard”.
New rules were imposed on climbers last year requiring them to 8kgs of trash back to the base camp or risk losing their climbing team’s US$4000 deposit.
Over 4000 climbers have scaled Mount Everest since 1953 and hundreds have died in the attempt.
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