Everest’s Highest Camp Buried in Decades of Trash

The highest camp on Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, is buried under years of accumulated garbage that will take a massive cleanup effort to remove, the Associated Press reported yesterday citing a Sherpa who led the recent government-funded expedition.

Ang Babu Sherpa, who headed the team of Sherpas, soldiers, and porters, said they removed 11 tons (24,000 lbs) of waste from the South Col camp at 8,000 meters (26,400 ft) elevation. However, Sherpa estimates there could be as much as 40-50 tons (88,000-110,000 lbs) of additional trash still left behind from decades of expeditions.

The garbage includes old tents, food packaging, gas canisters, oxygen bottles, and climbing ropes – all frozen in layers of ice at the extreme altitude. Retrieving the waste is an arduous task, with Sherpa’s team having to wait for sunny weather to melt the ice before they could dig out the buried trash and bodies.

While climber awareness and government regulations have reduced recent waste, the Everest summit has seen thousands of adventurers leave behind more than just their footprints since it was first conquered in 1953. The recovered trash is now being sorted and recycled in Kathmandu, providing a glimpse of the monumental cleanup still required on the world’s highest peak.