Mount Everest is drowning in garbage, corpses and old batteries

The camp at the South Col – Sørskaret – is the last stop before you attempt to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Recently, a team of Nepalese soldiers and Sherpas have cleared the rubbish that accumulates at an altitude of 8,000 metres.

– The highest camp before climbing Mount Everest is full of rubbish that will take many years to clean up, says Ang Babu Sherpa to the AP news agency.

He led the team that cleared the camp. They collected the rubbish and dug up dead bodies near the world’s highest mountain peak.

Four bodies and one skeleton

The clean-up operation led to 11 tonnes of rubbish, four corpses and one skeleton being taken down from Everest this year. According to Ang Babu, there may still be 40-50 tons of trash left at the South Col camp, which is located at 8,000 meters above sea level.

– The rubbish mostly consisted of old tents, some food, gas cartridges, oxygen bottles, tent pegs and ropes that were used to climb with and tie up the tents, says Ang Babu.

Thousands of climbers have attempted to climb the world’s highest mountain peak. according to High Adventure Expedition 6,664 had climbed Mount Everest until December last year. Including repeated ascents by the same climbers, Mount Everest has been climbed 11,996 times. Up to January this year, 327 people have lost their lives. Of these, 217 are climbers and 110 Sherpas.

Most of the rubbish is old

They have left their mark. In recent years, littering has decreased following demands from the government to take the rubbish back. At the same time, the climbers’ awareness of the environment has also reduced the amount of rubbish considerably.

– Most of the rubbish originates from old expeditions, says Ang Babu.

The Sherpa cleared rubbish and remains in the highest areas. Soldiers worked at a lower altitude. According to the sherpa leader, the weather was the major challenge during the work in and around the South Col. The oxygen level is only a third of normal.

– We had to wait for good weather, where the sun melts the ice coating. But it is not possible to wait so long for melting at these altitudes. It is difficult when the oxygen supply is so low, says Ang Babu.

Two days to retrieve the body

It is difficult to dig out the bottom-frozen rubbish.

– It took two days to dig out a corpse that was frozen in a standing position. When we were halfway there, we had to return because of the weather, and then resume work when the weather improved, he says.

Another body was much higher up, at 8,400 meters above sea level. It took 18 hours to tow the remains to Camp 2 where they were retrieved by helicopter. The remains were flown to the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu for identification.

Hundreds of climbers still have to pass dead bodies on their way up the mountain.

Difficult work

In 2006, the British climber David Sharp was found dying in Green Boots’ Cave at an altitude of 8,500 metres. The place has been named following the Indian climber Tsewang Paljor, who died at the same place ten years earlier. Known as Green Boots because of his green boots, he became a macabre landmark on the way to the top.

At the request of the family, Sharp’s remains are being removed.

I reportasjen «Death in the clouds: The problem with Everest’s 200+ bodies», gikk BBC in 2015 into what it takes to retrieve a dead mountain climber from the world’s highest mountain.

– It requires six to eight Sherpas who have to work at the risk of their own lives. Even picking up a candy wrapper is strenuous because everything is frozen and you have to dig it out, said Ang Tshering Sherpa, who then led the climbing company Asian Trekking.

Rechargeable batteries

Of the 11 tonnes of rubbish collected, three tonnes of compostable materials went to nearby villages. The remaining eight tons were transported by porters and yaks until trucks might take it on to Kathmandu. Agni Ventures operates the recycling facility where the Everest trash was sorted.

– The oldest rubbish was from 1957. It was rechargeable flashlight batteries, says Sushil Khadga from the cleaning company.