Nepal’s Big Clean-up Plan on Mount Everest: Hauling Away Trash and Bodies

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Getting ready for the 2024 climbing season in the Himalayas, Nepal is rolling up its sleeves for a massive clean-up mission up high. The goal? To cart off heaps of trash and a handful of bodies from the mountain.

According to CNN (Wednesday, 10/4/2024), the Nepalese military folks are calling it the Mount Everest Clean-up Campaign. They’re aiming to gather up 10 tons of garbage between 2019, when they kicked off the program, and 2023.

And that’s not all. They’re also gearing up to bring down five bodies from the highest peak on Earth. These are climbers who sadly didn’t make it back down.

In 2023, a dozen climbers were confirmed dead on Everest, with five more still missing, officially.

The clean-up crew, made up of 12 military members and backed by 18 Sherpas, is set to hit Everest Base Camp on April 14.

Nepal is still the go-to entry point for climbers eyeing that 8,849-meter-high summit in the Himalayas.

Last year, the Nepalese government handed out a whopping 478 Everest climbing permits, breaking records. But the actual number of folks on the mountain is way higher, what with Sherpa guides, support teams, and others having their own permits.

That’s led to overcrowding and trash piling up, big time, on Everest. And one of the biggest headaches? Human waste.

So, for the 2024 climbing season, all climbers will be asked to use special waste bags handed out by the government. These bags gotta come down from the higher camps.

“Each person churns out about 250 grams of waste a day, and they’ll spend a good two weeks in those higher camps on their way up,” says Diwas Pokhrel, the first vice president of the Everest Association.

And here’s a first: all climbers in 2024 will be given tracking chips. They reckon these chips will be super handy for search and rescue missions.

As for the best time to hit up Everest Base Camp? Aim for the end of the rainy season, from late May to mid-September. Late September-November and February-May are prime climbing months, with nice stable conditions and killer views.

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