A Nepalese Sherpa appalled about the amount of mess caused by Mount Everest climbers has called a base there the “dirtiest camp I have ever seen.”
Tenzi Sherpa posted footage of the Mount Everest base camp on Instagram. The video spans across piles of discarded rubbish littered outside tents at Camp IV.
In the caption, Tenzi described what he could see, including “lots of tents, empty oxygen bottles, steel bowls, spoons, sanitation pads, paper” and things used by people climbing Mount Everest.
“I feel so sad every time” he said, explaining that camping companies leave the mess and tents behind.
Tenzi added that a clean mountain campaign has been in place for several years, “but as always every time companies leave their trash on the mountain, so it’s gonna be hard to clean.”
The Sherpa has called for the government to intervene and tackle the companies responsible for causing this mess near the mountain, and said: “It’s a huge problem we’re all facing.”
The social media post has garnered over 1,500 likes and users were quick to comment underneath.
One person wrote: “Confirmed, wherever man goes, destruction and dirt arrive. It is devastating that even in one of the most difficult places to reach there is so much garbage, we do not deserve this planet.”
“Stop climbing Everest. This magnificent mountain is being trashed by a bunch of self absorbed narcissistic elitists!”, another user commented, while someone else suggested: “There definitely should be some fines.”
There has been growing concern about the deteriorating conditions on Everest due to climate change, and the amount of waste building up at base camps has been an issue for years, as highlighted when China cut the number of climbers by a third in 2019.
This week, Nepal honoured the 70th anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest with a Sherpa guide, after Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbed the summit on 29 May, 1953.
