Rubbish on Everest

[Crazycatladywithnocats]

This evening I saw a video showing the rescue of some poor hikers caught in a blizzard on Mt Everest and that led to another video showing drones collecting people’s rubbish that had been left lying about. The two were not related so I’m not saying these hikers had left the crap.

I mean, what the hell are people doing desecrating such a pristine environment? It should be one of the remotest places on Earth yet there appears to be nowhere that’s safe from this behaviour. For heaven’s sake people, just take it with you!

As the saying goes, “leave only footprints, take only photographs” .

It blows my mind that people would do this!

Yep least they can do is carry a bin bag back down of all their rubbish.

It’s too many people. No one should leave rubbish, but the amount of people visiting Everest now is having an impact in all sorts of ways.

I understand your thinking, but it is emphatically not a pristine environment. About one hundred and fifty thousand people go to Everest each year. It's not the remote wilderness you're picturing.

So they all need to remove their rubbish?

Doesn't matter if one person or a million. They shouldn't be littering

The Nepalese and Pakistani authorities have been working with tour guides to reduce waste for years and it’s had a good impact.

no excuse but people regularly die and get into peril up there. Bags spilling open/ things getting dropped etc is really the tame end of it in my opinion.

I've always been a bit fascinated with Everest and I think overall we shouldn’t be up there to the extent we are.
But who are we to tell the local people they shouldn't make money from this type of tourism from our high income country privilege? It stinks in many ways.

I’m all for supporting local economies and I’ve heard that ascending Everest is expensive, not to mention chronic altitude sickness!

I think Everest mountaineers are self-centred, single minded assholes. If they are happy to climb over dead or dying fellow climbers to summit then they are not going to GAF about litter.

You have to climb over dead or dying climbers, what else can you do?

I personally think each of the one thousand people currently trapped should be paying for their own rescues. People who climb Everest risk multiple lives by doing it. The whole mountain should be shut down it's on sacred land and deserves respect.

It's not just Everest, it's a problem closer to home too. I went to Dovedale in the summer and it's beautiful but soooo much litter. I met some lovely dog walkers who were litter picking as they went, out of the goodness of their hearts.

We could take a leaf out of their book. Be the change you want to see. Shouldn't be required of course but better than just complaining.

Not go up there?

They do pay for their own rescues- or their or their guides insurance does.

tbh people are left to die by default, rescues only happen when it’s feasible

Well, yes obviously 😂 but since they can and do go up there, stepping over bodies is just unfortunately part of it, a reminder of how unforgiving the mountain is really.

It’s littered with corpses and no one making the ascent has a problem passing them by, so I can’t see them giving a damn about any other detritus left behind.

I know it’s an unpopular opinion, there’s always some celeb or motivational speaker who waxes on about climbing Everest or K2 etc, but I think it’s a selfish act. Endangering yourself, Sherpas, other climbers, damaging a sacred environment, scattering litter and that’s alongside the utter callousness of leaving people to die in the snow. It disgusts me. The behaviour disgusts me.

There are about 200 bodies up there.

^ Spot on. They also don’t GAF about the local guides or follow their advice. It’s their “mission” whatever the weather. They threaten to leave bad reviews which could make or break a guide’s or guides’ livelihood, if they don’t climb.

Oh, come now, you couldn't possibly expect the sort of people who can bang out around fifty grand to bother themselves with bringing (or rather, getting somebody else to) back their shit off the mountain. They're far too dedicated/obsessed/special to do that sort of thing.

I actually think yours is a very popular opinion.

its a bit irrelevant though because no one can stop Everest tourism- it has been limited to various degrees, both through bureaucracy and cost, but especially with modern technology making it easier to climb, it’s not a box you can close back up.

I live rurally in the UK. So much rubbish - discarded junk food wrappers, drinks cans, dog poo bags. We do a twice yearly litter pick and get a depressing amount of stuff.
I do think most people are good but not all. Tourists should pay a tax to help with cleaning up. Everest’s tax should be very large, might also help to discourage people and reduce numbers.

Also to be fair there is a difference between simply dumping rubbish (which may happen) and things being dropped/ spilled that you are unable to retrieve. I suspect the rubbish problem is both, but certainly at the higher camps likely to be the latter. When you drop your oxygen tank down a crevice, you’re never going to go after it to pick it up.

It's an absolute disgrace. If they can carry it up they can carry it down.

I’ve mentioned it in real life before and got short shrift! People feel strongly about it I found.
Agree with you about the tourism being hard (and getting harder) to stop/cap.

I mean, this did make me laugh. On one hand we want Everest to be wild, rugged and sacred (all of which it is) and on the other we want people to die picking up rubbish and retrieving bodies, and we want Everest to be in a tax regime 😂😂