According to a famous American mountain guide, the world’s highest mountain is in danger of being covered in trash, and Nepal needs to do a better job of policing the mountain.
In less than three weeks, the guide accomplished the rare feat of climbing Mount Everest and two nearby peaks.
According to Garrett Madison, 44, who summited Everest for the 13th time last week at an altitude of 8,849 meters (29,032 feet), the higher camps on the mountain are littered with trash from climbers.
“We need to find better ways to bring the waste down,” Madison said after returning from the mountain in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital.
Better enforcement is required to ensure that each team properly disposes of its trash.
Climbers are required to remove all trash from the mountain and return it to the government in exchange for a $4,000 garbage deposit.
Monitoring camps at nearly 8,000 meters (26,246 feet) altitude was described as difficult and ineffective by expedition organizers and hiking officials.
Authorities collected 13 tons of trash from Everest and the nearby Lhotse peak this year as part of an effort to keep the mountains clean.
Despite his concerns about trash, Madison, the owner of a Seattle-based mountaineering company, expressed optimism about the future of mountaineering in Nepal, which is home to eight of the world’s fourteen tallest peaks.
“I think Nepal is the Switzerland of Asia in terms of its potential to develop mountaineering,” he said, adding that the country provided better emergency helicopter services for climbers than Pakistan and the Tibet region, which house the world’s six other highest peaks.
Madison achieved the rare “triple crown” of climbing Everest, Lhotse (the world’s fourth tallest peak at 8,516 meters/27,939 feet), and Nuptse all in the same season.
Mountain climbing contributes significantly to Nepal’s economy; 478 permits were issued during the March-May climbing season (when permits for Everest cost $11,000).
Among the hundreds of climbers who attempted the mountain this season, dozens died and five went missing.
