The climbers make their mark and descend after their victory and achievement, but in many cases, dump their unnecessary wastes in the high slopes. [break] And for 60 years, the garbage consisting of oxygen bottles, old prayer flags, tents, and even dead bodies have only mounted in the region inaccessible to many.
But in the spring of 2010, realizing the need to clean the trash and keep the mountains clean, a group of Nepalis created a campaign of collecting the garbage from 8,000 meters. This was an initiative toward a concern for the cleanliness of Nepal’s natural assets.
The Extreme Everest Expedition, as it was named, and its team brought 1,800 kilograms of garbage and two dead bodies from the high altitude. And the task was tough. The expedition of 20 was divided into groups of three – seven who ascended to 8,848 meters and the rest divided between South Col, a pass between Mt Everest and Mt Lhotse, typically ravaged by high wind, and the South Summit, which is between the peak and the South Col.
During the cleanliness campaign, apart from the 1,800 kilograms of garbage that was shuttled to Camp 2 at the elevation of 6,500 meters and later carried down to the Everest Base Camp, two dead bodies were also recovered. The remains were of an unidentified mountaineer on the South Summit and of American mountaineer Scott Fischer on the Hillary Step.
And in the 40-day wrap-up of the US$ 0.2 million project that started on April 25, 2010, the Everest was 1,800 kilograms lighter, thanks to the mountaineers who brought them to the base camp and many environmentally concerned people, including the participants of the Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon 2010, who helped carry down a share of the trash to Namche Bazaar. About 1,000 kilograms of the trash was disposed off in Namche Bazaar, and the rest brought to Kathmandu.
The organization plans to use the non-disposable items like oxygen cylinders and burners as souvenirs to people who are directly and indirectly involved in the campaign and the climbing fraternity.
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