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

I really enjoyed this thread

Me too! Fascinating reading.

chockaholic72 nice photo, it is good to see that base camp has been cleared of rubbish, i was shocked by my friends photos in the 90's at the mess.

Just listened to a podcast to a podcast that spoke about Everest and the amount of dead bodies on the mountain. Apparently there are over 200 bodies and half of them are of Sherpas who went to try and locate them but also perished themselves.

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

There is a really good Storyville episode on Climbing the North face of the Eiger, fabulous watch.

Also a Storyville (I think) on K2 and the disaster that killed lots of people.

Incredibly interesting.

Mountaineering is something that holds no allure for me, I’m not into suffering. However I can understand the pull of the mountains.

It feels very closed minded to see so many women on here just dismissing it as ‘stupid selfish people what do you want to be doing that for why not just stay home and be normal and live a mundane and easy life like me’

Reminds me of my unhappy and closed minded grandmother who had a similar response to anything outside her known life. I’m off camping to France ‘what do you want to be doing that for, can’t you just go to Scarborough?’

Like Alex says in free solo... anyone can have a nice life at home with friends and family. That’s easy. Nothing exception comes from people staying home.

The Storyville on K2 is brilliant. I don’t think I’ve Seen the other! Will find straight away

I find this fascinating & frustrating about humans how as a species were are relentlessly stupid and lack self preservation, no other animal would pay a fortune to almost kill themselves, walk past many other dead, just to say they've done it, something needs to be done.

I'm fascinated by Everest and have read many books, watched films etc, it's never black and white though like most things. The country is something like the 5th poorest in the world you can't just say stop it overnight as so many people's livelyhoods depend on it. I definitely think more of the permit money should go towards rubbish disposal when it is eventually brought down though. As for those saying bring their rubbish down they are up there for weeks! It would be completely impossible and impractical.

Another report of another death in the news today
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-48407433

To my knowledge the mountaineering community has been concerned about the commercial exploitation of Everest for years, companies taking up climbers ill trained and unprepared for the route for money - there are a number of books written about climbing Everest and commercialisation of the route that make very interesting reading and mean I’d never sponsor someone to go to base camp etc.
I agree.
A lot of people who genuinely enjoy being in the mountains, hiking, climbing etc tend to avoid base camp and Everest because it's full of people who want a holiday of a lifetime, have all their kit carried by sherpas so they can blabber on endlessly about how they 'did' Everest, and think saying they're doing something 'for charity' means people should pay for their experience.

Maybe I'm cynical, but in my experience the hiking, climbing, mountaineering community are very environmentally aware on the whole. It's the commercial group trips for people with almost no experience but want to tick off their bucket list who are the worst offenders as they're more about their experience and photos than they are the environment.

I think what is appalling is people trying to climb Everest with pretty much no experience whatsoever. Climbers who've never even worn crampons practicing for the first time when they get there, I mean wtf?? That is beyond wrong. Each climber should have to prove that they have some technical ability and to have climbed I don't know, say another 6000 metre peak at least.

In the ultra running community, there are many races that you have to qualify to run in, you need to accrue points in lesser races to prove that you are capable to take part in the more demanding one. The idea of anyone with money just rocking up at EBC with the hope of summiting is just abhorrent

fresh
But the idea of people making sure they're competent before doing challenges seems to be beyond the realms of possibility for some things now.

Every year I see runners lose out on places for half marathons and marathons to people who've done no training and want to walk most of it wearing a tutu at the back (or decide to put down a sub 2 hour time and then walk within the first 5km talking and taking selfies and generally getting in the way).

People who've barely cycled round the block decide they're doing lands end to John o groats for charity and then are surprised that they're with people who can manage a day in the saddle.

Some people want to tick an experience off their bucket list without taking the time to develop the skills and competencies to do them properly.

I agree Lola but at least they aren't endangering their lives or anyone elses. It really is a matter of life or death on Everest and the statistics are bad enough without all the incompetent climbers blocking the way.

This thread is so interesting-I’ve been reading about the Eiger and other large mountains and the stories and tragedies behind the famous climbs.
I cannot personally see the attraction AT ALL probably because I dislike heights but despite this I have developed an eerie fascination with the whole thing.😂 I can see how people become fixated on conquering these mountains but I’m absolutely certain I’ll never be one of them🙈

‘No Way Down’ and ‘Buried In The Sky’ are both very good books, would recommend. On a slightly different note, Andy Kirkpatrick’s ‘Paychovertical’ is a very good exposition of how the mind of an extreme climber works (though he’s not known for high altitude Himalayan climbing).

motherheroic

Murderino?

@steff13

They’re literally queuing up to die on Everest this week.
If they’re so careless with their own lives I’m guessing rubbish isn’t high on their list of priorities.

I think Everest has had its day.
I wouldn’t sponsor or admire anyone who climbs it, the ugly truth has washed away the awe.

I’m surprised at the amount of people talking about sponsoring someone (or not) even now, with record breaking summits, there are around 750 people a year out of the worlds population submitting. Is it really realistic to expect you’re going to be asked to sponsor someone?

7th person confirmed dead this week,

I feel like a lot of sympathy is lost as its mainly rich westerners buying there way up, but it's still a human life, and also there's sherpas dying aswell, carrying peoples, kit, it's just so grim. But the people handing out permits have blood on their hands, when you know they are unexperienced and you know how dangerous the mountain is, as someone said on BBC breakfast this morning, theres corruption on both sides.

There is no conquering of any mountains going on here, if you're lucky the mountain will let you back down with your life.

I've never been asked to sponsor anyone climbing any mountain but I wouldn't sponsor them if I were asked.

I would be fuming if anyone in my family decided this was a good idea but thankfully they all have far too much sense to do so. What a stupid waste of a life

motherheroic and steff13 may I join in the secret handshake?

Just as a side note, I live at the bottom of Mount Snowdon and you would be astonished (disgusted) at the amount of litter. It's heartbreaking, and that's a relatively small mountain. Every year, our lovely little village is turned into what feels like a dumping ground, even things like our carefully planted verges (by community volunteers) being destroyed because people don't want to pay to park in the car parks.

The tourism industry - and that is what people climbing Everest are, tourists - is responsible for an awful lot. I'm not saying it doesn't pay, because it does, but the areas that people want to visit will slowly be turned into landfills and wastelands if people aren't more responsible with their possessions. There really is no excuse on a mountain like Snowdon either, when you can get up and down in six hours!

Hello Pass. Two points:

1. a lot of people go and don’t make it to the summit.
2. a lot of people seek sponsorship for the trek to base camp. Not summiting.

Hope that helps in your understanding!