Poop Problem on Mt. Everest
Sagarmatha has a serious manmade problem
Introduction
Mt. Everest is known as the highest mountain in the world with a height of 8848.86m. It is located in the Mahalangur Himal range of the Himalayas between the Tibet- Nepal border. Mountaineers claim that those who climbs this giant mountain once can sacrifice anything to come here again.
The first mountaineer to climb Everest was Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzin Norgay on 29 May 1953. After that, till this time about 4000 people have climbed this mountain. Every year about 800 people including guides climb this mountain.
What is the issue?
When a person goes climbing, he carries the things of his basic requirements like tents, canisters, food materials, etc. Many a time these things are not brought back by the climbers and thus clutters the mountains. These wastes are in their place, but today, Everest is facing a new type of waste problem which is fecal of climbers.
There is 8000Kg of fecal waste on Mt. Everest, which is not a less amount.
In a podcast called “The Ranveer Show”, a vegan mountaineer, Kuntal Joisher, who has climbed Everest twice, revealed that Everest cannot be climbed in one go. A person goes through some pre camps to acclimatize his body to Everest.
Firstly, a person goes to the base camp, from there he goes to the first camp for 3–4 days and comes back to the base camp to recover, then he goes to the second camp for 3–4 days and comes back, then for the third camp and comes back again. The third camp is the last camp before climbing Everest and all camps are happened to prepare a person’s body to climb such a huge mountain and to prepare a person to tolerate such inverse conditions. When all camps are finished the climbers wait for the news of good weather to climb the mountain and then they go for it and come back. So, this whole process takes about 55 to 60 days.
During base camp, it is easy to set some barrels for the waste on the camp and decompose it by carrying the waste with the help of a helicopter to the nearest decomposing site. But, as the first camp begins it is impossible to set the barrels due to the snow. So the climbers dig the snow, make a hole and excrete their fecal material and this process continues till Everest and back.
Sometimes climbers carry their waste from these camps to the base camp in a bag. But nowadays, it is said that many climbers are there who are not that much fit to carry their waste along with them and bring it back. Moreover, it is said that it’s rare for a person in camp three and on Everest to feel like going for the poop. The reason can be extremely cold conditions and the fear of a climber to face that cold condition.
Why the fecal waste is a Problem?
On Everest temperature remains minus throughout the year. This temperature makes Everest a natural refrigerator. Even a 100–150 years old dead body remains the same in the snow. That is what happens to everything over there. So the poop also remains non-decomposed. But the problem begins when the snow takes the form of glaciers. Glaciers are the main source of water for many rivers and thus for the people. We say that flowing water is always clean but what if that water from its source gets contaminated.
Moreover, it is a problem for climbers too. They use the snow as a source of water for each purpose while camping. If the snow is not clean it can cause disease to the climbers as well. Thus if mountains are not clean the huge mass of the population cannot stay healthy.
What can be the solution?
The permanent solution to this problem is “awareness” of the people. Awareness of each person who is in this process. The organizing company, the guides, the climbers, the associated government.
Climbing Everest is a dream for many people, it is also a source of economic growth for the associated countries, so climbing Everest cannot be prohibited. But, with the proper discipline, the situation can be ameliorated.
The climbers should be given proper training, the license should be approved for these companies only who assure the bring back of the same amount of materials which was carried along with the group.
Nowadays many steps are being taken to clean Everest like, more garbage bins are being set up in the nearby areas, waste is being brought from the mountain, extra money is being given to the guides to bring everything back, fines are being imposed if the waste is not brought back, etc.
Lastly, it is just not the case of the world’s highest mountain but each mountain there in the reach of humans is facing a waste problem. Now it’s our responsibility to hand over to our next generation the pleasure of the same beauty as we are having today.
Thank you.
