Did you ever imagine that even the most remote and inaccessible part of the world, like the region around Mount Everest, could turn into an open dump ?
This is precisely the reality that is experienced on the slopes of the most coveted summit, without exaggeration: tons and tons of waste accumulated over the years, which led to the closure of one of the accesses on the Chinese side. How did we get there? Simple, it was enough for the man to frequent the place assiduously …
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image credit: TheLipTV2/Youtube
Once upon a time, there was the mountaineer who loved the mountains and respected the environment. Once upon a time, because apparently this type of athlete no longer exists.
By incivility or by necessity, many of the mountaineers who have gone to Everest in recent decades have left traces of their passage, or rather waste. This behavior, multiplied by tens of thousands of visitors a year – in 2015, 40,000 mountaineers-tourists arrived at the Chinese base camp – led to the environmental disaster in which the highest peak in the world now stands.
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image credit: That’s A Great Idea!/Youtube
Unlike the first accessible base camp in Nepal, which can only be reached after two weeks of climbing, the one on the Chinese side is accessible by car: it is easy to imagine how this possibility has also attracted those who have not any connection with the mountain, just wanting to live an unforgettable experience, with a minimum of effort.
The government has said that the base camp will only remain open for 300 climbers a year, who will have to provide all the necessary documentation to prove their professionalism. For everyone else, a tent camp will be set up two kilometers from the old base. On both sides, however, there will be an obligation to take back any waste produced .
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image credit: That’s A Great Idea!/Youtube
Meanwhile, on the slopes of Everest, operations have already begun to clean the polluted area of all kinds of waste. In addition, it should not be forgotten that the degradation of organic matter is slowed down here due to the special conditions of temperature and pressure.
The Sherpas are paid 2 dollars for each kilo of waste collected from the base camps: an operation that will take a long time since the waste amounts to around 300 tons.