The highest camp on the world’s highest mountain is littered with rubbish that will take years to clear, according to a Sherpa who led a team working to clear rubbish and dig up dead bodies that have been frozen for years near the summit of Mount Everest.
The team of soldiers and Sherpas, funded by the Nepalese government, removed 11 tonnes of rubbish, four dead bodies and a skeleton from Everest during this year’s climbing season.
Ang Babu, who led the Sherpa team, said there could be as much as 40 to 50 tonnes of rubbish at the South Col, the last camp before climbers attempt to reach the summit.
“The waste left there was mainly old tents, food packaging and gas cartridges, oxygen cylinders, tent bags and ropes used for climbing and tying tents,” he explained, adding that the waste is in layers and frozen at 8,000 meters above sea level, where the South Col camp is located.
Since the summit was first reached in 1953, thousands of climbers have scaled it and many have left behind more than just their footprints.
In recent years, government requirements that climbers pack out their waste or lose their deposits, as well as increased environmental awareness among climbers, have significantly reduced the amount of waste left behind. However, this was not the case in previous decades.
“Most of the waste comes from older shipments,” Ang Babu said.
The team’s Sherpas collected trash and bodies in the higher areas, while the soldiers worked on the lower levels and in the base camp area for weeks during the popular spring climbing season, when weather conditions are more favorable.
Ang Babu said the weather posed a major challenge to their work in the South Pass region, where oxygen levels are about a third of normal, winds can quickly turn into blizzards and temperatures plummet.
“We had to wait for the good weather for the sun to melt the ice layer. But waiting for a long time in this attitude and in these conditions is simply not possible,” he explained. “It is difficult to stay for a long time with the very low oxygen level.”
Digging up the waste is also a difficult task, as it is frozen in ice and breaking the blocks is not easy.
It took two days to dig up a body near the South Col, which was frozen upright, buried deep in the ice, he said.
Halfway through, the team had to retreat to lower camps due to deteriorating weather conditions, then resume once the situation improved.
Another body was much higher, at 8,400 metres, and it took 18 hours to transport it to Camp 2, where a helicopter recovered it.
The bodies were flown to Tribhuvan University Hospital in Kathmandu for identification.
Of the 11 tonnes of garbage removed, three tonnes of decomposable items were transported to villages near the base of Everest and the remaining eight tonnes were carried by porters and yaks and then trucked to Kathmandu.
The items were sorted there for recycling at a facility operated by Agni Ventures, an agency that manages recyclable waste.
“The oldest waste we received was from 1957, and it was rechargeable batteries for flashlights,” said Sushil Khadga of the agency.
Mr. Khadga explains why there is so much waste.
“At this high altitude, life is very difficult and oxygen is very low. So climbers and their assistants are more focused on their own survival,” he said.