Congratulations, you have scaled the world’s highest peak. You battle through gasps of oxygen-deficient air and take in your surroundings, a wave of pride swelling up inside. Then, out of nowhere, a familiar smell. Victory? No. Human excrement? Yes, that’s what that fetid odour is.

Over the course of the last 62 years, since Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first summitted, over 4 000 climbers have reached the highest point on Mother Earth. An unfortunate by-product of all this human endeavour is a growing increase in litter in pollution, with the Washington Post carrying the following:

The two standard routes, the Northeast Ridge and the Southeast Ridge, are not only dangerously crowded but also disgustingly polluted, with garbage leaking out of the glaciers and pyramids of human excrement befouling the high camps.

But just how much shite is piling up exactly? According to one study a crazy 12 tonnes per season, with the majority disposed of in earthen pits near mountain village Gorak Shep. A group called the Everest Summiteers Association has said they believe there might be as much as 10 tonnes of trash still remaining on Everest.

The Nepalese government took action last year when they enforced a rule requiring that each climber bring down 18 pounds of trash during their descent – the estimated amount of waste each climber discards during each climb – or else forfeit the climbing team’s deposit of $4 000. Sounds grand, although apparently the rule has not been enforced strictly enough.

And here we were getting worked up about people flinging cigarette butts out of their windows. Jokes, those people are still wankers of the highest order.

[source:washingtonpost]