Nepal is set to launch drones to clean up its mountains – including the iconic Mount Everest – littered with trash left behind by climbers jostling to reach the world’s tallest peak.
On 3 August, two Nepalese agencies signed an accord with a private drone provider to kick off the clean-up service on mountains around Mount Everest.
The deal came after a Chinese DJI FlyCart 30 airlifted 234 kilos of cargo in an hour last April, between Everest’s 5364 metre Base Camp and Camp I which lies six kilometres away.
“It would have taken more than a dozen porters six hours to carry out such a task,” an official said of the Flycart, which is fitted with cameras, radar and can airlift up to 30 kilos in a single sortie.
The firm will reportedly provide free drone service for two years, and the machines will ferry supplies to Camp I and fly back with trash.
According to Jagat Prasad Bhusal, administrator of rural municipality where Mount Everest is located, Nepal will send out the drones next month to Mount Ama Dablam.
He added the battle against litterbugs at the popular Ama Dablam mountain was just the beginning.
Besides Ama Dablam, drones will also deploy to other Himalayan peaks including around a 7861 metre mountain known as Mount Nuptse – some two kilometres from Everest.
Everest Next
“After the successful test in April, we [also] plan to use drones commercially in the Everest region,” Bhusal added.
“It’s a test. The success means we will use drones in a full-fledged manner to bring garbage from Camp II, next season,” he said.
“We however have not discussed whether drones can be used to transport supplies and logistics... to reduce casualties on the notorious Khumbu Icefall,” he added.
The kilometre-long strip of unstable ice has buried alive at least 50 Sherpas since 1953 including 16 killed in a 2018 avalanche and three more last year.
Mountaineers such as S.P. Malik – who is also the Secretary-General of India’s Sport Climbing Federation – hailed it as a “novel” project but voiced scepticism over its success.
“The success will be limited because many don’t bother about their climbing gear while returning,” Malik told RFI in Delhi.
“In fact, people must not just account for their gear but carry back stuff abandoned by others,” said Malik.
'Leave No Trace’
Experts say manual trash collection from great heights poses a risk because of the unforgiving conditions.
Nepal estimates up to 50 tonnes of frozen trash including tents, oxygen tanks and ropes litter Mount Everest, as well as some 200 frozen bodies.
The country’s army brought down 119 tons of refuse and 14 corpses in annual clean-ups launched by the military in 2019.
In February, Nepal ordered climbers to bring back their excrement and said those scaling Everest – and two other designated peaks – must return with eight kilos of used gear.
Those on Ama Dablam are required to descend with three kilos of waste in line with a “Leave No Trace” policy in Nepal.
