To be enraged by a photograph of a Sherpa picking up litter from Mount Everest

[MyGastIsFlabbered]

I know there are bigger problems to get angry about but I've seen this today and it's infuriated me.

Going up Mount Everest is a privilege available to very few people and they can't respect it enough to take their litter with them. Bloody people

Utterly awful. Looks like a queue for a bus on Oxford St. Time to close it o the public and let it recover.

I trekked to the base camp in the 90s. It resembled a slum in Calcutta.

notmy no - I'd have loved to but the sherpa I was all set to interview died in an avalanche....

In other news many prostitutes are also keen to state how much they love their work and the money it gives them to buy food for their children...

@thecatsthecats I highly doubt that the guides who helped your friend climb Kilimanjaro were Sherpas

Three more have died:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-48395241

@occamsrazor - this is my picture of base camp from 2016 - not a speck of rubbish or human waste to be found. The only thing man made or man produced there, was a sign and some prayer flags.

There's an article about this in the Guardian today. Although a lot of this litter has been dropped, apparently a lot is as a result of the avalanches a couple of years back. I believe they've started a new initiative where they're dropping off litter bags and asking climbers to collect some rubbish on their ascent & it'll be collected by the helicopters that drop off the climbing ropes. The Sherpas are also being paid (a ridiculously meagre amount) per kg of waste/litter they bring down too.

m3lon as I suspected, you think you know more about the culture of the mountain folk of Nepal than they do, because you’re a westerner. It’s not about them “enjoying” anything. They are mountain people, it is in their blood. It doesn’t perpetuate a culture of human trafficking, violence and misogyny like prostitution; it’s a stupid analogy. By your logic no one would ever be able to be employed doing anything risky.

Watch the film, Everest.
It shows how priveldged they all are, but also how dangerous it is and how conditions can change very quickly.

Everest is a good film. There are a number of great Everest/ K2 films

I don't know of any more, could you reccomend some please?

Humans are a blight on the face of the planet. I recently completed the West Highland Way (bit different to Everest I do realise!! ) and the amount of litter I saw along the way was disgusting. My group absolutely subscribe to the 'leave only footprints' school of thought. Unfortunately the group of lads who were drinking cans, chucking them in the bushes, then blaring music out, via speakers, at top volume did not. God forbid anyone just enjoy the sounds of nature.
It was an 80/20 split, with the vast majority of hikers being respectful of the surroundings, and each other, but it's a sad fact that the more popular a route becomes, the messier it becomes. Interestingly, at the campsites, those of us who were camping and carrying our gear (including our rubbish) left no trace, in comparison to those who were using baggage transfer/glamping pods etc.

Maybe they intended to collect it on their way down but never made it?

I think it should be off limits to people. It's a money making industry now though, so I don't suppose it ever will.

The litter and bodies are disgusting, absolutely horrible. I despair of humans.

Everest is a drama and has been embellished for the screen. It's also about a tragedy 20+ years ago, so things aren't the same as they are now. Watch "Mountain" for a very real view of what spending time in the mountains does for us - both positive and negative, and doesn't shy away from the environmental impact. Free Solo, on last night on Channel 4 (may be able to get it in All4) is an amazing view of why people climb and how obsessive it can get. Also look at the Mountain Film Festival listings - always so,e good stuff on at those that you should be able to download.

Report on Today this morning that there was a queue of 300 climbers waiting to get to the top and have their selfie recently.

6.5% of the climbers don't make it back. So about 18 of those people. Scary. I don't get it myself. I think when I reached the first body (I think he's called "Green Boots"), I'd turn around and go back down.

Well yes @chockaholic72
Its a drama, but it gives a wee bit of insight.

Ant Middleton filmed a documentary last year where he climbed Everest with a small team of climbers and they organised it themselves. Seeing him struggle physically as in finding it difficult to put one foot in front of the other really brought it home how difficult it is.

His team made it to the top and the rest headed down 2/3 minutes ahead of him. They made it past the bottleneck but Ant didn’t and had to wait. He realised that pausing at the top meant he would be spending hours longer in the death zone and the decision could cost him his life. He arrived back at Camp 4 hours after his team in a bad state. He rested for a short period but then they had to get him down the mountain ASAP he could barely see coming down and was guided by his Sherpa. Ant acknowledged that he owed his life to him as the Sherpa didn’t leave him.

The film showed other climbers who couldn’t climb at some of the practice sessions before heading higher up. It was a great film and showed how dangerous it is and that you cannot expect anyone to be able to help you - you are solely reliant on yourself and team.

I honestly don’t think selfies are important to people climbing Everest. Even rich bucket list people know they have a decent chance of being killed.

(I could be wrong though)

Chick I would love the high of the mountain. I’ve never done it, don’t even know where to start but have been an avid mountain reader/ watcher most of my life

I don't know of any more, could you reccomend some please?

Ihavebrillo watch a documentary on Ueli Steck who climbs the north face of the Eiger in a few hours. He was an incredible climber who tragically was killed on Everest in 2017.

Fun facts that are pretty irrelevant to the op, but...over 200 people have died climbing everest, and apart from 1977 more than one person has died per year. Its shockingly dangerous, and the crowds up there during the climbing season (which is very short as the weather and time of year / daylight hours restricts to often only a few climbing days per season) means that a bottlenose forces people to stay in the death zone/at dangerous altitudes for much longer than necessary and ups the risks hugely (see the and Middleton documentary). Apparently it is 'etiquette' that if you find someone in trouble on your ascent you should try to help them, but the incredible difficulties of actually doing so (and also summit fever! ie 'I have paid thirty grand for this experience so I'm not aborting to help I WANT TO GET TO THE TOP!') means that the person in trouble is often left to die, or leads to pretty shitty decision making which can endanger others. Although to be fair its not quite as simple as 'helping' as the dangers are far too great most of the time to do so. Its fairly impossible to help someone in trouble. The bodies are often used as landmarks (I know ) for people trekking the mountain. Look up greenboots, amongst others if you're interested). Bodies are often impossible to retrieve and I think I read somewhere that to retrieve a body takes something like 10 sherpas on average. The risk is too great, although there is now actually big money to be made in the retrieval of bodies. The mountain also isn't caĺled everest.

More related to the op, as others have said, the issue isn't really with the mountaineering community in the case of everest. Its the mass tourism of it that is causing problems with the pollution of the mountain.

I’d you have amazon prime there are lots of films- if you search K2. Tbh the titles are all very similar and merge onto one!

Meru is an excellent climbing film if you're after one. And valley uprising (my fav). See also dirtbag. Not everest but seriously excellent climbing films.

Thanks, I'll look them all up.
I'm fascinated by it.