14 DAY TRIAL // This Tuesday, Ang Tshering, the current chief of Nepal's Mountaineering Association, made a rather startling announcement. In a nutshell, he told the world that Mount Everest was steadily but surely being buried under piles of poo.
That's right, the absolute highest mountain of Earth, whose peak stands an impressive 8,848 meters (29,029 feet) above sea level, is now at risk not because of some asteroid heading it way or anything of the sorts, but because of poo. Human poo, to be more precise.
It's mountaineers who are to blame, Ang Tshering says
Each year, between the months of March and May, about 700 climbers and their guides set out to explore Mount Everest's slopes. Apart from admiring the stunning views and snapping photos of themselves next to one rock or another, these folks occasionally take the time to, well, poop.
Apparently, most of them simply dig a hole to their liking in the snow, relieve themselves and then move on. Over the years, Mount Everest's magnificent slopes have come to have a whole lot of poop buried not very deep inside them. Needless to say, traces of urine are also common sight.
Ang Tshering says that, first off, the human waste now abandoned in the snow on Mount Everest can cause serious pollution and upset local ecosystems. He further stresses that the waste is not exactly people-friendly either, not just because it kind of upsets views but also because it can spread disease.
According to HuffPost, some 4,000 people have scaled Mount Everest since the 1950s until now. Otherwise put, Ang Tshering is probably right when saying that there is a lot of poop out there that was left behind by mountaineers who have ventured in this corner of the world over the years.
Rubbish is also a problem on Mount Everest
Apart from waste, mountaineers are also in the habit of leaving considerable amounts of rubbish on Mount Everest. Admittedly, there are no trashcans on this peak, but it's safe to assume that people have room in their backpacks for their cigarette butts and the like.
In 2014, authorities ordered that those who climb the mountain return to base camp carrying 8 kilograms (nearly 18 pounds) of trash. Those who do not abide by this requirement risk losing the $4,000 (€3,573) deposit that they are asked to pay before being allowed to set foot on the mountain.