Paul Salopek is 68 years old. As a teenager, he read about Mount Everest in books. In adulthood, this German kept running marathons, practiced rope climbing on ice fields, and successfully summited both Mount Kilimanjaro at 5,893 meters and Argentina’s Aconcagua at 6,962 meters.
But ultimately, a German traveled all the way to the Himalayas—not to fulfill his dream of reaching the summit, but to climb up and clean up the mountain’s trash.
What kind of spirit is that?
Well, let’s put the discussion of spirit aside for a moment. In fact, although aerial photos show Everest covered in snow, climbers know there is a massive amount of trash hidden there—“it’s practically the highest garbage dump in the world.”
It is widely believed that in 1953, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary achieved the first human conquest of Everest. During their perilous journey, Hillary hired 1,200 porters to carry equipment, each climber’s oxygen bottle weighed 15 kilograms, and even the coins used for shopping along the way filled 25 wooden boxes. Hillary admitted he left that equipment on Everest, and thousands who summited after him did the same.
According to statistics, from 1921 to 1999, 615 tons of trash were dumped on this sacred snow mountain. A top Nepalese explorer found that people had left behind oxygen bottles, prayer flags, ropes, and tattered tents. Sometimes, even tuna can lids were lying openly on snow just a ten-minute walk from nearby villages. “And as far as I know, there are two bodies of failed climbers that have been there for a year. This roof of the world is losing its beauty.”
Compared to the past, today’s explorers are more conscious of their behavior. They are required to pay a 4,000 USD deposit before summiting, promising to leave nothing behind except footprints. However, an official from the local pollution control committee said, “Climbers are always careless. Although they bring trash bags, they still leave all kinds of waste behind.” During the annual climbing season, around 30,000 climbers and tourists visit the Everest region. Calculating six liters of water carried per person per day, the number of discarded mineral water bottles alone is “staggering.”
The cold weather there also greatly extends the decomposition time of trash. People might find tin cans from 1962 on Everest, and sometimes, a crampon step might hit a can discarded 20 or 30 years ago. The trash was once encased in thick layers of ice, but with global warming intensifying, these discarded items are resurfacing.
Salopek is not the only mountaineer concerned about this issue. Over a decade ago, a group of 44 people from Japan, South Korea, Georgia, and other countries formed the High Mountain Clean-up Team. Its founder, Ken Noguchi, observed, “The countries whose climbing teams litter on the mountain also have serious environmental waste issues, while those who respect the mountain’s environment come from clean countries.”
Last year, the Nepalese government and civil organizations launched the “Save Everest – Waste Management 2011 Operation.” The campaign lasted over a month, with participants including 29 highly trained Nepalese mountaineers, 65 porters, and 75 yaks.
The mountaineers climbed above 8,000 meters to collect 8 tons of trash, which was then transported by porters and yaks to the town of Namche Bazaar at 3,440 meters. Trash including helicopter wreckage, woven bags, and ropes was either processed on-site or sent to Kathmandu, and items of particular commemorative value will be displayed in museums.
The cleaners were working in the area of Everest known as the “death zone.” With thin air, in 2006 alone, 11 climbers died there, their bodies left where they fell. The brave team entered the death zone in groups multiple times, striving to bring back 15 kilograms of trash per person each trip.
Before ascending, they told the media full of ambition: “We face extremely high risks. Despite extreme weather, cold, and blizzards, we are confident in completing the challenge.”
Mountaineer Salopek is no exception. This year, his Eco Everest Expedition team carried heavy food and gear to Camp 2 at 7,200 meters, collected trash, and returned the same way. Since 2008, this team has collected 13 tons of trash, including several hundred kilograms of feces and several corpses.
He understands why there is so much trash on this high mountain. “On Mount Everest, once you reach a certain altitude, you focus entirely on climbing or safely returning. You have no energy to think about anything else, not even preserving your own life.” He knows that empty oxygen bottles run out of use and become a heavy burden for climbers, and the tents they carry are often surrounded by blizzards. Generally, exhausted explorers simply don’t have the strength to drag such heavy trash down the mountain.
But many “Everest cleaners” still hope to awaken climbers’ environmental awareness through their actions. They say, “Please do not desecrate its sanctity—after all, there is only one roof of the world!”
Many climbers have climbed Everest to clean up trash