Human waste ‘piling up’ on Mount Everest could spread disease, Nepal official says

KATHMANDU, Nepal – Human waste left by
climbers on Mount Everest has become a
problem that is causing pollution and
threatening to spread disease on the world’s
highest peak, the chief of Nepal’s
mountaineering association said Tuesday.

The more than
700 climbers
and guides who
spend nearly
two months on
Everest’s
slopes each
climbing
season leave
large amounts
of feces and
urine, and the
issue has not been addressed, Ang Tshering
told reporters. He said Nepal’s government
needs to get the climbers to dispose of the
waste properly so the mountain remains
pristine.

Hundreds of foreign climbers attempt to
scale Everest during Nepal’s mountaineering
season, which began this week and runs
through May. Last year’s season was
cancelled after 16 local guides were killed in
an avalanche in April.

Climbers spend weeks acclimatizing around
the four camps set up between the base
camp at 5,300 metres (17,380 feet) and the
8,850-meter-high (29,035-foot-high) summit.
The camps have tents and some essential
equipment and supplies, but do not have
toilets.

“Climbers usually dig holes in the snow for
their toilet use and leave the human waste
there,” Tshering said, adding that the waste
has been “piling up” for years around the
four camps.

At the base camp, where there are more
porters, cooks and support staff during the
climbing season, there are toilet tents with
drums to store the waste. Once filled, the
drums are carried to a lower area, where the
waste is properly disposed.

Dawa Steven Sherpa, who has been leading
Everest cleanup expeditions since 2008, said
some climbers carry disposable travel toilet
bags to use in the higher camps.

“It is a health hazard and the issue needs to
be addressed,” he said.

Nepal’s government has not come up with a
plan yet to tackle the issue of human waste.
But starting this season, officials stationed
at the base camp will strictly monitor
garbage on the mountain, said Puspa Raj
Katuwal, the head of the government’s
Mountaineering Department.

The government imposed new rules last year
requiring each climber to bring down to the
base camp 8 kilograms (18 pounds) of trash
– the amount it estimates a climber discards
along the route.

Climbing teams must leave a $4,000 deposit
that they lose if they don’t comply with the
regulations, Katuwal said.

More than 4,000 climbers have scaled Mount
Everest since 1953, when it was first
conquered by New Zealand climber Edmund
Hillary and his Sherpa guide, Tenzing
Norgay. Hundreds of others have died in the
attempt, while many have succeeded only
with help from oxygen tanks, equipment
porters and Sherpa guides.

Sony plans to launch virtual- reality headset in 2016

SAN FRANCISCO – Sony plans on putting its
virtual-reality headset on consumers’ noggins
next year.

The gaming and electronics company
announced Tuesday at the Game Developers
Conference that its VR system nicknamed
Project Morpheus will debut in the first half
of 2016.

Sony Corp. originally unveiled a prototype of
the headset at last year’s gathering of video
game developers. The headset works in
tandem with Sony’s PlayStation 4 console
and camera by covering users’ vision and
simulating virtual worlds on screen.

Sony flaunted an updated version of the VR
headset prototype at Tuesday’s event. While
it largely resembles the prototype introduced
last year, the new version redistributes
weight toward the back of the user’s head
and features a screen that can slide back
and forth to accommodate eyeglasses.

The new prototype also features a larger
5.7-inch OLED screen that displays nearly a
100-degree field of view and is capable of
rendering imagery at up to 120 frames per
second. There are nine LED lights on the
headset’s exterior that are to track
movement.

No price was announced.

“Our goal with VR is to deliver a sense of
presence, making the player feel as though
they’ve stepped inside the world of a game,”
said Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony
Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios.
“The new Project Morpheus prototype brings
us closer to that goal, as it improves the
visual experience and tracking accuracy,
both of which are critical to achieving sense
of presence.”

The company showed off the new prototype
at Tuesday’s event with four technical
demonstrations, including a game that
utilized a pair of PlayStation Move
controllers to simulate a shootout inside a
lavish building in London and a more passive
presentation that featured tiny robots
responding to users’ movements.

Sony is among several gaming and
electronics companies working to bring VR
into homes. HTC and Valve announced plans
Sunday to release its Vive VR system to
consumers later this year, while Oculus VR
has yet to reveal when its Oculus Rift
headset will be available to consumers.