Dr Laxman Singh Dev
In 1953, when Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbed Mount Everest, they could hardly have imagined that within just four decades their historic expedition would turn Everest into an expensive hobby and a commercial industry. Today, the garbage spread by mountaineers on Everest is polluting this great mountain.
Mount Everest is located in the Mahalangur range of the Greater Himalayas. It lies on the border of China and Nepal, but Everest is primarily situated in Nepal. In the 1850s, a Bengali surveyor named Radhanath Sikdar identified Everest as the highest mountain in the world. It was named Mount Everest after George Everest, the then Surveyor General of India. Everest rises to about 29,029 feet (8,848 meters) above sea level.
Serious attempts to climb Everest began in 1921, when Tibet opened its doors to foreigners. Until then, entry into Nepal was extremely difficult for foreigners because the Nepalese government did not grant permission.
In 1921–22, two British expeditions went to Everest but both failed. On 29 May 1953, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay successfully reached the summit. Both were members of a British expedition led by Colonel John Hunt.
For most of the year, strong winds blow at Everest’s summit, and temperatures remain constantly below zero. Compared to normal land areas, oxygen availability is barely 30–40 percent, making the climb extremely difficult.
Winds slow down somewhat in May and September, making these months the best time for climbing.
There are 18 routes to climb Everest. From the Tibetan side, the ascent is about 35 kilometers, while from the Nepal side it is around 20 kilometers. Although Everest is difficult to climb, it is not the most technically difficult mountain. The hardest climb is considered to be K2, located in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, followed by Nanga Parbat, Annapurna, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, Nanda Devi, and others. In terms of difficulty, Everest ranks ninth among the world’s ten toughest climbs.
The most dangerous mountain to climb is Annapurna in Nepal, which has the highest death rate. Lack of oxygen can cause the brain to stop functioning, and in severe cases, death. In 1978, Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner climbed Everest alone, without Sherpa support and without supplemental oxygen. Very few people have since managed to climb Everest without oxygen because it is extremely dangerous.
The Sherpa community, famous as Everest’s porters and mountaineers, possesses genetic adaptations that allow them to function relatively normally in low-oxygen conditions. Sherpas migrated from Tibet to Nepal in the 15th century and settled around the Mahalangur Himal in relatively lower regions. Today, Sherpas have become synonymous with mountaineering worldwide. Mountaineering has significantly improved their living standards. Many Nepali Sherpas involved in this business earn millions of dollars, and some even own small aircraft and helicopters.
Nepal is a poor country. After remittances from migrant workers, tourism is its largest source of income, with a major share coming from mountaineering and trekking. Nepalese people have used this employment opportunity effectively. In Kathmandu’s Thamel market, there are over 500 stores selling mountaineering and trekking equipment, along with hundreds of agencies offering mountaineering, trekking, and rafting packages.
Cold-weather boots, jackets, and other gear made in Nepal are sold in abundance in Thamel. Many agencies offer ready-made packages to fulfill people’s dreams of climbing the world’s highest mountain. Besides Nepalese, foreigners also run mountaineering agencies. By charging large sums, they even help inexperienced people climb Everest. These packages cost anywhere from $40,000 to $125,000, excluding permit fees.
The Nepal government has fixed climbing fees for different mountains. For Everest, the permit fee is $11,000 per climber. Additionally, the government charges a $4,000 garbage deposit per team, refundable only if four kilograms of waste per climber is brought back to base camp.
Pollution caused by mountaineers has become a major problem on Everest. Each climber uses approximately 16 oxygen cylinders, which are often abandoned on the mountain after use. So far, about 8,000 people have successfully climbed Everest.
In 1996, an accident killed eight people, later depicted in the 2015 film “Everest.” In 2014, sixteen Sherpa guides died in an avalanche on the Khumbu Glacier. In 2015, an earthquake killed 22 people at Everest Base Camp.
In the race to gain fame after climbing Everest, many inexperienced people attempt the ascent through these agencies and often succeed. Nima Sherpa, who runs the trekking and expedition agency Seven Brother Summiteers in Thamel, told the author that many of his clients could not climb a mountain 8,000 feet lower than Everest, yet were successfully guided to Everest’s summit. Nima Sherpa is one of seven brothers, all involved in mountaineering, and all have climbed Everest. He himself has climbed Everest 19 times, which was once a record.
From the Nepal side, about 800 to 1,000 people climb Everest every year, while 600 to 800 climb from the Tibetan side, which is relatively longer. Indian newspapers frequently report that someone has climbed Everest. How has this become so easy?
A Sherpa company fixes ropes from base camp to the summit, which can be used by paying a set fee. Sherpas carry all equipment and even provide hot coffee, meals, and tea at altitudes above 20,000 feet. Wealthy European tourists often spend up to $125,000 per person for such services.
Many believe Everest has become a commercial mountain. According to Reinhold Messner, these climbers are not true mountaineers but tourists satisfying their egos. Messner, who first climbed all fourteen 8,000-meter peaks without guides or Sherpas, argues that Everest should be closed for a few years. He believes adventure cannot be packaged—true mountaineering means climbing without porters.
Driven by profit, tour operators take inexperienced and unfit people to Everest, creating further problems. More than 300 bodies of climbers lie along Everest’s routes. Most deaths occur due to exhaustion, cold, or falls. Retrieving bodies is extremely difficult; some have even become landmarks. Thousands of oxygen cylinders are scattered across the mountain.
Each season, around 80 tons of human excreta and garbage accumulate at base camp. This waste is collected in toilet-tent drums, then carried by Sherpas to nearby Gorakshep village and buried in pits. Open defecation has contaminated snow and ice in many places. Periodic cleanup campaigns are conducted, but they are insufficient. If this continues, Everest may become the world’s highest garbage dump, driven by people’s desire for personal glory.
In 2024, Nepal’s Supreme Court urged the government to reduce the number of Everest permits. Recently, the Nepal government decided to reduce pressure on Everest by making over 100 peaks above 6,000 meters in western Nepal free to climb. However, due to their remoteness and lack of fame, these lesser-known peaks are unlikely to reduce crowds at Everest Base Camp or other famous mountains such as Dhaulagiri and Kanchenjunga, because of the prestige associated with them.
*Dr Laxman Singh is an expert in Himalayan tourism
