According to foreign media reports on May 31, this week marks the 60th anniversary of the first successful ascent to the world’s highest peak, and environmentalists are calling for global attention to Everest’s environmental issues. Tons of trash and human waste left behind by climbers on the slopes of Mount Everest are turning the world’s tallest mountain into its highest garbage dump.
Now, let’s take a look at this mess through the numbers:
35
The number of expeditions attempting to climb the 8,848-meter Mount Everest in a year. “It’s crowded everywhere,” London-based mountaineer Ayesha Jessa told the International Business Times.
3500
A conservative estimate of the number of people who have reached the summit of Mount Everest over the past 60 years. Mountaineer Graham Holland said climbing Everest is no longer a “wilderness experience, but a McDonald’s experience.”
234
The number of people who reached the summit of Mount Everest in a single day in 2012.
13
The number of tons of trash cleared between the Everest base camp and the summit by the Eco Everest Expedition since 2008. Trash scattered across Everest’s slopes includes empty oxygen bottles, tattered tents, and plenty of human feces. “The two standard routes — the Northeast Ridge and the Southeast Ridge — are not only overcrowded but also disgustingly polluted.”
4.4
The number of tons of trash collected by the first joint Indian-Nepalese team this year.
2.5
The number of tons of waste classified as “ecologically hazardous.”
1.5
The number of tons of trash brought down from the mountain and collected by 15 Nepalese artists. Using the collected items — including oxygen bottles and the wreckage of a helicopter that crashed on Everest in the 1970s — they created 74 pieces of art. These works were sold for prices ranging from $17 to $2,400, with part of the proceeds going to the Everest Summiteers Association, the organization that led the first major cleanup effort on Everest in 2005.
240
The estimated number of people who have died during summit attempts. Most of the bodies remain on the mountain, frozen in the “death zone” above 26,000 feet (about 7,900 meters).
4000
The amount of U.S. dollar deposit currently required by the Nepalese government from climbers. They will lose this money if they do not bring all their waste back down the mountain.
10
The estimated number of tons of trash still remaining on Everest. “You can’t blame the climbers, especially those who are inexperienced, for littering,” Jenkins wrote. “Even under the best conditions, climbing the world’s highest peak is an exhausting and dangerous job. Dumping used items on the mountain instead of carrying them down saves precious energy and reduces weight. But this accumulated waste continues to damage one of the most unique places on Earth.”