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.