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Sherpas to clean Mount Everest
26/02/2001 10:25 - (SA)
Gopal Sharma
Kathmandu - A Nepalese mountaineering organisation said on Sunday that it would encourage sherpa climbers on Mount Everest to collect garbage dumped on the world's highest mountain by paying for the trash they brought down.
The exact amount of litter dumped at different camp sites on the 8 850 m (29 035 ft) Everest is not known, but climbers say that tonnes of junk discarded by mountaineers every year need to
be removed from camps.
The South Col camp at 7 900 metres (25 918 ft), the point from where most climbers mount their final climb to the Everest
summit, is described as the dirtiest place on the mountain.
Bhumi Lal Lama, a top official of Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), said sherpa climbers would be asked to carry
back empty oxygen cylinders, old ladders or poles, plastic
canes and other trash discarded for several years.
"We are considering to pay up to 1 000 Nepali rupees ($13.50) for each kilo of garbage they bring down to base camp," Lama said.
He said up to 4 000 kg (8 800 pounds) of trash was expected to be collected. NMA picked about 2 200 kg of garbage on Everest
five years ago.
The Nepali government has cleared at least seven expeditions to climb Everest during the spring climbing season starting in March.
Each team normally is supported by up to one dozen high altitude sherpa guides who carry supplies and provide support to their foreign clients.
Lama said his organisation would use these sherpas to carry loads of garbage while climbing down from the mountain.
Last year some American climbers collected empty oxygen bottles, gas canisters and batteries from the mountain as part of their campaign.
Over 900 people have climbed the mountain since it was first scaled in 1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and a Sherpa climber, Tenzing Norgay.
- Reuters
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