A team of soldiers and indigenous Sherpas, funded by the Nepalese government, removed 11 tons of trash, four bodies, and one skeleton from the world’s highest base camp, South Col, near the summit of Everest this year, according to the Associated Press.
According to the leader of the Sherpa operation, Ang Babu Sherpa, it will take many years to clean the 40-50 tons of trash at South Col, the final stop for climbers before reaching the summit, where they often spend days acclimatizing to the extreme altitude.
At the South Col base camp, situated at an altitude of 5,364 meters, climbers prepare for their ascent to the summit of Everest.
The Sherpas gathered debris and bodies from higher-altitude regions while the soldiers worked at lower elevations and the base camp area for weeks during the spring mountaineering season when weather conditions were more favorable. They primarily found old tents, food packaging, cartridges, oxygen bottles, backpacks, and ropes among the debris.
In recent years, the Nepalese government’s mandate for climbers to carry out their trash, coupled with climbers’ heightened environmental awareness, has significantly reduced the amount of waste left behind. However, this hasn’t always been the case, which explains why most waste dates back several decades.
