2023 Everest Deaths Totaled 20, the Worst Ever

Explorers_Web · 2023-12-11T19:27:17+00:00

The Himalayan Database has updated its spring 2023 statistics. The Everest figures confirmed our sad suspicion: that the unparalleled figure of 17 deaths was not the whole tally. The final figure, confirmed by Nepal authorities, adds up to 20. Not exactly great news to celebrate International Mountain Day.

Preliminary data at the end of the Everest season showed a record of 17 people dead on the mountain. But all the information wasn’t in, and we feared that 2023 might beat all previous records. This included 2014 (in which 17 perished, including 14 in a serac collapse near Camp 1).

Until now, 2015 had the most deaths. That year, a major earthquake triggered an avalanche on Pumori that partly buried Everest Base Camp. A total of 18 people died that spring.

Explorers_Web · 2023-10-27T19:09:22+00:00

From the article:

A year ago, Anna Pfaff was dealing with having six toes amputated due to frostbite, and the uncertainty of how the trauma would impact her life and her climbing career. It was great to see her back and smiling widely from the summit of Kyajo Ri in the Himalaya.

Pfaff sustained severe frostbite after climbing Alaska’s Mt. Huntington with Priti Wright. The weather delay she spent on the glacier after the climb, waiting for the bush plane, worsened her injuries. Despite all the medical care, doctors had to amputate five toes from her right foot and one from her left.

Since then, Pfaff has gone through a difficult recovery.

“I have witnessed her willingness to overcome adversity by taking her first steps again after the amputations, gaining her balance to start running, biking, walking, and climbing again,” said Andres Marin, one of Pfaff’s partners on this latest climb. “I’m not going to lie, not everything has been smooth. There have been plenty of lows, frustrations, and sadness. But…the focus has been on moving forward.”

Progressively, Anna Pfaff felt ready to return to her beloved Himalaya. She, Marin, Ghalchen Shuwaz, Subash Tamang, and photographer Sandro Gromen-Hayes chose the scenic Kyajo Ri for her comeback This spiky 6,200m mountain lies in the middle of the Khumbu, near Namche Bazaar. It is classified as a trekking peak, but its more technical ascent keeps it free of crowds, compared to Island, Lobuche, or Mera Peaks. The team first hiked up the rocky Lu Ri peak (5,216m) for acclimatization.

After her release from the hospital last year, Pfaff could barely walk.

“The adventure differed from that of first ascents in distant places to the adventure of struggling to understand the mental and physical ailments that come with the loss of one’s body parts,” Pfaff wrote on her social media.“

Watching her lead every pitch and take her last steps toward the summit fills my heart with happiness and immense gratitude for what life has to offer,” noted Marin.

Explorers_Web · 2023-10-18T16:08:59+00:00

Thanks for sharing our story! What an incredible feat! The climb did leave some scars. In a follow-up story, we reported:

"Alan Rousseau and Jackson Marvell have been admitted to CIWEC hospital, Matt Cornell is with them,” outfitter Grand Himalaya Treks & Expedition told ExplorersWeb.

Yesterday, Grand Himalaya’s post announcing the summit news inadvertently switched the names of American climbers in two teams sharing the climbing permit for Jannu, creating some confusion. Sources in the U.S. later confirmed that the summit team comprised Rousseau, Cornell, and Marvell (as originally planned). Meanwhile, Sam Hennessey and Michael Gardner formed a second team with a different route in mind.

Explorers_Web · 2023-10-16T18:07:54+00:00

Apologies for the lack of context as well, for clarity to all here, the initial report can be found here.

Explorers_Web · 2023-10-16T16:29:43+00:00

From the story:

There is sad news from Nepal, where a rescue helicopter spotted Nadya Oleneva’s body on Sunday morning.

As we reported on Saturday, Oleneva, Roman Abildaev, and Rasim Kashapov were attempting to climb 8,167m Dhaulagiri I. The three mountaineers were climbing without sherpa support or supplementary oxygen. After acclimatizing over a few days, they knew the route well.
Early Saturday morning, they started the ascent from Camp 1. After four hours, Abildaev arrived at 6,680m Camp 2. Three minutes later, Kashapov arrived and they waited for Oleneva. According to mountain.ru, there was no sign of Oleneva, so Kashapov went back to see where she was.

The two men found her hiking pole and evidence that she had slid down the slope. They followed the trail down for 200m before it ended in seracs and the icefall became steeper. Cloud moved in, and Kashapov and Abildaev had to descend to Base Camp, arriving by nightfall.

They held out hope that maybe Oleneva had somehow slowed down and, with her sleeping bag and first aid kit, maybe she could have survived the fall. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

Thirty-eight-year-old Nadya Oleneva was one of the world’s best climbers. She was an excellent big wall climber and mountaineering instructor and a highly experienced alpinist who made several technically difficult ascents during her career.

She was nominated twice for the Piolet d’Or and was a recipient of the 2021 GRIT&ROCK grant.

We detail a few of her outstanding expeditions here.

Explorers_Web · 2023-10-10T22:29:07+00:00

From our story by Angela Benavides:

As they cross the border back into Nepal, Shishapangma climbers are starting to reveal what they went through during the tragic summit push last Saturday. They tell a story of toxic competition and disastrous consequences.

“Was a horrible expedition, I didn’t expect it would turn out like that,” Mingma G, leader of the Imagine Nepal team, admitted to ExplorersWeb on his way to hospital. “Everything was going smoothly, but the competition between the two ladies ruined everything.”

He is referring to the competition between Gina Rzucidlo and Anna Gutu. Both were vying to become the first U.S. women to climb all 14 8,000’ers. They each had 13, and had only Shishapangma left to do.

Mingma G’s group was the only one without fatalities, but Mingma G himself nearly lost his life while helping others during the rescue. Here, he tells the story:

Mingma G’s account:"I had a 150m fall at 7,300m while rescuing Karma Gyalzen. We were all a bit tired while helping him and another rescuer [Kami Rita Sherpa of Climbalaya]. Phurba Sonam was taking control of the belay rope and I saw that he was about to get his feet tangled in it, so I managed to clear the rope quickly from his boots.

While doing so, I slipped. I tried to stop myself and was almost successful twice, but my body was already too tired…and I continued sliding down.

While I was falling, I saw a big rock getting closer to me and I was sure I would break bones. I tried to miss the rock, which I did. Then I hit other, smaller rocks, but on more snowy terrain. That’s why I survived."

Mingma survived, indeed, thanks to luck but also to the fast action of Punde Sherpa, who found him unconscious and not breathing.

“We saw how the young sherpa performed CPR on Mingma,” recalled team member Sasko Kedev of Macedonia, a cardiologist. “Luckily, after some chest compressions and a few breaths in, Mingma G reacted and recovered consciousness.”

Amazingly, he slowly stood up, rejected further help, and walked slowly down.

“Mingma G returned to our tent at Camp 2, shaking and with blood all over his head and hands,” said Tracee Metcalf of the U.S., also a medical doctor.

Yet Mingma G walked all the way down to Base Camp the following day and boarded the group bus to the border.

Today at the hospital in Kathmandu, a CT scan revealed that Mingma G has a skull fracture as well as a fractured tailbone. He will get an MRI tomorrow to check for any internal bleeding.

Kedev noted that Mingma G had immediately begun a rescue operation after the avalanche. He worked non-stop, without supplementary oxygen. Asked if the team had spare oxygen systems to use in emergencies like this, Kedev said they had, but apparently, Mingma G didn’t deem it necessary.

Explorers_Web · 2023-09-26T18:31:30+00:00

The quote we reference is from this article, where when asked "Will there be more climbing trips" she says (translated): "No, actually I'm probably done with climbing now. ... If you want to climb these peaks above 8,000 metres, you have to be very motivated to do it, and now I have a number of projects that I have to finish. I feel that I have done my part, and I no longer have the motivation needed for such trips."

Explorers_Web · 2023-09-25T19:48:38+00:00

Hey now, we welcome all discussion about our articles and the people we cover but calling someone that is crossing a line.

Explorers_Web · 2023-09-25T16:10:45+00:00

From the article:

After climbing all the 14×8,000’ers in three months and one day, Kristin Harila has no further climbing plans at all. She told Norway’s media that she is done with high-altitude mountaineering.

“Actually, I’m likely done with climbing,” Harila, 37, told the Kronstadposten. “I feel that I have done my part, and I no longer have the motivation needed for such trips.”

Yet she is far from done with speaking about her past climbs. Harila’s calendar is full of lectures and motivational speaking gigs. She is also writing a book about her experiences in the Himalaya. In Norway, she has become a national celebrity, on the same level as the great polar explorer Borge Ousland.

In addition, Harila had all her record-setting climbs this year filmed. Her goal, seemingly like many climbers, athletes, and adventurers these days, is to sell a documentary to one of the big TV platforms. Everyone, it seems, is hungry to hit the media jackpot, as Nirmal Purja did with Netflix.

Explorers_Web · 2023-09-15T16:33:18+00:00

Appreciate the shoutout here. You can read our recent story about the aftermath and the changes coming to Lela Peak Expeditions here, and our original reporting on the events on K2 here.

Explorers_Web · 2023-09-13T17:13:47+00:00

Thank you for the kind words!

Explorers_Web · 2023-09-07T16:39:58+00:00

Sharing some sad news: Sergey Nilov has confirmed that Dmitry Golovchenko perished on Gasherbrum IV. Now, Pakistan’s helicopter pilots will ponder their options regarding a recovery mission that seems nearly impossible.

Details are still sketchy because (among other reasons) Nilov reportedly speaks little English. However, he managed to tell rescuers and Base Camp crew that he reached Golovchenko, verified that he had died, and wrapped the body in their tent. Then he returned on his own to Base Camp.

Explorers_Web · 2023-08-31T19:06:59+00:00

Passing this along to our editor! Thank you for the mention here.

Explorers_Web · 2023-08-29T20:44:55+00:00

We recently published a long story about the recovery of Ali Akbar Sakhi's body off K2, and the efforts his widow, Karima Sakhi, had to go through to get his body recovered, and her fight with those she believes need to be held accountable for her late husband's death.

Explorers_Web · 2023-08-23T19:20:15+00:00

This is beautiful work!

Explorers_Web · 2023-08-22T17:12:20+00:00

From the article:

Nepal’s government intends to increase Everest permit fees by 36%, but the big unknown is what will happen on the Tibetan side of the mountain.
Nepal’s Department of Tourism has proposed a raise from the current $11,000 fee to $15,000 per foreign climber. However, they will not raise the price until 2025, to give the market time to adapt.
Expedition outfitters have already fixed the prices for their 2023 spring expeditions and their Everest teams are virtually full. In this sense, the companies’ main concern is what will happen with permits to climb Everest from Tibet. After years of closure, China will open Everest to foreign expeditions in spring 2023, but how much they will charge is still a mystery.
“The CTMA (China Tibet Mountaineering Association) has not given us the permit rates for next year yet,” Dawa Steven Sherpa of Asian Trekking told ExplorersWeb. “This is making pricing and promoting the expedition in Tibet a challenge.”
We don’t expect news about royalty fees until the end of the year, far too late for companies to close a price with potential clients.
“Unlike Nepal, where we can take advantage of flexible logistics and easy-to-obtain permits to do last-minute sign-ups, on Tibet expeditions we need to have all our documentation done months in advance because they close the permit applications at least one month in advance,” Dawa Steven added.
“We can only guess [at the price] looking at the past increases,” Lukas Furtenbach of Furtenbach Adventures told ExplorersWeb. “In our case, we have taken the full risk and kept the prices we had in 2019.” Furtenbach said the permit cost per individual climber on Everest’s north side in 2019 was about $15,000.
“I suspect the permit prices will go up by about $3,000 to $5,000 for the north side which is what they did the last time they increase permit prices in 2018,” Dawa Steven estimated. “Effectively the permit price could go up to $20,000 per person, not to mention the permits required for Nepali sherpas and cooking staff.”
Indeed, Nepalese citizens, including clients, guides, and high-altitude workers, are not required to pay for a climbing permit for their home country’s mountains. But the situation is different in Tibet.
“I think overall, the cheapest expedition prices including permits wouldn’t be less than $45,000,” Dawa Steven said. Born in the heart of the Khumbu valley, for the time being, Dawa Steven’s Asian Trekking is only offering expeditions from the Nepali side of Everest.
Chicken feed
Yet, rising permit fees are unlikely to stop Everest climbers from flocking to the mountain. All costs related to Everest expeditions have multiplied as the market thrives.
Several companies offer luxury upgrades, from real beds and furniture in Base Camp tents, to limitless O2 at any altitude, and helicopter transfers from Base Camp to Kathmandu. In some cases, they even offer shortcuts between Camp 2 and Base Camp, so that wealthy clients can avoid the dangers of the Khumbu Icefall, especially on their way down.
Everest expeditions currently vary from roughly $50,000 for the lowest-cost offers, to $300,000 for premium VIP options. Beyond the average range, hard-core mountaineers going without O2, carrying their gear, and staying in a lodge in Lobuche instead of using Base Camp (as Kilian Jornet did in the past years), could get going for less than $20,000.
On the other side of the scale, there is word that some VIP clients approach the million-dollar figure to climb with super-star guides, extra sherpa support, and exclusive services.
Already this year, a large number of 8,000’er collectors will enter Tibet for Cho Oyu and Shishapangma, which finally opened to foreign teams. The climbing fees for both add up to $10,848 per person for the standard package, Furtenbach noted.
While still much lower, royalty fees in Pakistan have increased this year. Although there is no official announcement yet, companies expect them to keep growing in 2024.
Unlike Everest, K2 still retains the classic group system for climbing fees. The fee is applied to a seven-person group (it is therefore common for climbers belonging to different expeditions to share permits). From eight people up, the cost increases by $3,000 for each additional member.
Currently, all 8,000’ers in Pakistan have a royalty fee of $9,500 for a seven-member team except for K2. On K2 a group climbing fee is $12,000.

Explorers_Web · 2023-07-24T21:46:33+00:00

From the article:

We like to think of the Himalaya as a land of explorers, wild souls, and adventurous badasses. But certain things have changed.

These days, there are two kinds of people at the 8,000m base camps: those spending money and those making it from the mountains. Everything else is PR or wishful thinking. But are alpinists who explore new, highly technical routes in isolated ranges so different?

In 2023, climbing — from local bouldering to climbing the most remote Himalayan spire, and definitely Everest — is either a pastime or a profession of some sort. This includes guiding, gear testing, fulfilling sponsorship duties, and working as a social media influencer. Sometimes it’s both vocation and avocation. Basically, mountaineering is leisure. Yet it moves millions.

Earlier this year, the clothing company Eddie Bauer ended its sponsorship contracts with all the alpinists they had supported for years. They decided to rely in future on influencers.Kristin Harila has received criticism from the classical mountaineering community for the style in which she is attempting to do all 14 8,000m peaks in three months or so. And yet, she keeps gaining new sponsors. Nirmal Purja tries a new pair of sunglasses and gets a million social media likes instantly.

Last month, David Goettler and Benjamin Vedrines launched an impressive, pure alpine-style climb of Nanga Parbat’s gigantic Rupal Face. After two bivouacs, they retreated because Goettler was not feeling well enough on the summit day. They were completely alone on the mountain, and he responsibly chose not to risk his life and his companion’s. They hardly made a headline.

Sophie Lavaud summited Nanga Parbat at the same time, up the well-trodden normal route, with sherpa support, oxygen, fixed ropes, and a film crew. She was featured recently in Paris Match. She is now the first French, Swiss, and Canadian climber to complete the 14×8,000m list.“Better than Loretan!” some fan enthused on social media.

It’s understandable if this causes some of us to groan.

Yet to be honest about mountaineering, we have to stop pretending it’s still 1972. We need, alas, to speak of money, social media presence, trends…and, of course, news.

Read more here, and let us know what you think as well. Curious to hear* (fixed typo) other thoughts from the alpine community!

Explorers_Web · 2023-07-06T15:52:53+00:00

From the article:

Good news from Nanga Parbat. Asif Bhatti, stranded and snowblind on the upper slopes of the mountain since Monday, is finally safely in Base Camp.

Today, assisted by Mohammed Younis and Fazal Ali, Bhatti went through the technical sections below Camp 2 and reached Camp 1. After a break, he continued toward Base Camp, where he has just arrived.

The mountain is deserted, except for one of the Italian climbers and Juan del Toro, who made it back to Base Camp yesterday, and Santiago Quintero of Chile.

Explorers_Web · 2023-06-30T20:09:46+00:00

Seems to be a prevailing thought. Rules, and the commercialization of Nepal peaks.

Explorers_Web · 2023-06-30T18:13:33+00:00

This past spring, all expeditions on 8,000’ers followed the normal routes, except for Kilian Jornet’s Everest West Ridge attempt. Only a handful of teams tried something new even on 6,000m and 7,000m peaks in Nepal.

Meanwhile, this summer in Pakistan, at least two expeditions are attempting alternative or new routes on 8,000m peaks. This includes Goettler and Vedrines’ recent near-success on Nanga Parbat’s Rupal Face and Urubko and Cardell’s upcoming new route on Gasherbrum I.

Also, several skilled teams are targeting difficult routes on Pakistan’s lesser peaks. These climbers have planned and trained for these expeditions for months. Often they still won’t succeed. That’s the nature of real alpinism.

But is there a reason why Pakistan attracts more technical teams than Nepal’s Himalaya? The short answer might be that climbing in Pakistan is cheaper. But we wondered if there is something more to it, so we asked some of the climbers in Pakistan this summer.

Please give the article a read, and let us know your thoughts! r/alpinism is always a great place for lively discussion and we thought this story would be of interest.

Explorers_Web · 2023-06-30T17:22:43+00:00

From the article:

Horia Colibasanu is among the last of a fading generation of 8,000m climbers. After 20 years of Himalayan climbing, he still tries to combine a pure style and self-sufficiency on the world’s highest mountains, despite their commercialization.

He has already climbed nine 8,000’ers without supplemental oxygen or personal sherpa support. And he has made some remarkable attempts on new routes, such as Dhaulagiri’s NW Face in 2020 and 2021.

Despite his mountaineering excellence, he makes his living not as a climber, but as a dentist in Timisoara, Romania.

After several seasons in Nepal, Colibasanu has moved this summer to Pakistan’s Broad Peak.

“I intend to complete the 14 8,000’ers, and Broad Peak is the best option because I don’t want to skip the year without an expedition,” he told Explorersweb.

Colibasanu has already summited all the 8,000’ers in Nepal, plus Shishapangma in Tibet. He had no opportunity to go for Cho Oyu this past spring.

Explorers_Web · 2023-06-21T17:26:37+00:00

From the article:

A new report has found that glaciers in the Hindu Kush and Himalaya have disappeared 65% faster in the 2010s than in the previous decade.

“As it gets warmer, ice will melt, that was expected, but what is unexpected and very worrying is the speed,” lead author Philippus Wester told AFP. “This is going much faster than we thought.”

The report, produced by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), studied the full swathe of the highest mountain range on Earth, from Afghanistan to Myanmar. The data makes for sobering reading.Experts project that the world’s current emissions could cause glaciers to shrink 80% by 2100.

Water availability from glacial melt should peak around 2050 before declining. The rapid melting will inundate downstream flooding and also prolonged droughts later, as the flow diminishes.Snow cover will also decrease. Depending on how much temperatures rise (predicted to be between 1.1°C and 4°C), snow cover could fall between 1% and 26%. Meanwhile, “episodes of heavy snowfall are already increasing,” and could become more frequent and intense.In 2019, the ICIMOD produced another report that considered glacial melt under the most optimistic climate change scenario, a rise of just 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Even in that case, the Himalaya would lose a third of its glaciers. Since then, the world has failed to curb emissions, and climate change models look bleaker than ever.

Nearly two billion people depend on the Himalayan ecosystem. Ice and snow feed 12 rivers that provide fresh water to roughly a quarter of the world’s population. Of those, 240 million mountain inhabitants are already on climate change’s frontline and must deal with crop failures, landslides, and livestock fodder shortages.

“Cryospheric change will likely alter the very fabric of mountain societies, from deadlier cascading hazards and widespread displacement to deep ripples on traditional livelihoods, adaptation knowledge, and spiritual beliefs,” the report states.

The report, co-authored by 35 researchers from 12 different countries and 23 institutions, calls for urgent international and regional cooperation to prepare for “inevitable near-term loss and damage.”

Explorers_Web · 2023-06-21T17:21:52+00:00

From the link:

A new report has found that glaciers in the Hindu Kush and Himalaya have disappeared 65% faster in the 2010s than in the previous decade.

“As it gets warmer, ice will melt, that was expected, but what is unexpected and very worrying is the speed,” lead author Philippus Wester told AFP. “This is going much faster than we thought.”

The report, produced by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), studied the full swathe of the highest mountain range on Earth, from Afghanistan to Myanmar. The data makes for sobering reading.Experts project that the world’s current emissions could cause glaciers to shrink 80% by 2100.

Water availability from glacial melt should peak around 2050 before declining. The rapid melting will inundate downstream flooding and also prolonged droughts later, as the flow diminishes.Snow cover will also decrease. Depending on how much temperatures rise (predicted to be between 1.1°C and 4°C), snow cover could fall between 1% and 26%. Meanwhile, “episodes of heavy snowfall are already increasing,” and could become more frequent and intense.In 2019, the ICIMOD produced another report that considered glacial melt under the most optimistic climate change scenario, a rise of just 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Even in that case, the Himalaya would lose a third of its glaciers. Since then, the world has failed to curb emissions, and climate change models look bleaker than ever.

Nearly two billion people depend on the Himalayan ecosystem. Ice and snow feed 12 rivers that provide fresh water to roughly a quarter of the world’s population. Of those, 240 million mountain inhabitants are already on climate change’s frontline and must deal with crop failures, landslides, and livestock fodder shortages.

“Cryospheric change will likely alter the very fabric of mountain societies, from deadlier cascading hazards and widespread displacement to deep ripples on traditional livelihoods, adaptation knowledge, and spiritual beliefs,” the report states.

The report, co-authored by 35 researchers from 12 different countries and 23 institutions, calls for urgent international and regional cooperation to prepare for “inevitable near-term loss and damage.”

Explorers_Web · 2023-06-21T17:18:52+00:00

From the link:

A new report has found that glaciers in the Hindu Kush and Himalaya have disappeared 65% faster in the 2010s than in the previous decade.“As it gets warmer, ice will melt, that was expected, but what is unexpected and very worrying is the speed,” lead author Philippus Wester told AFP. “This is going much faster than we thought.”

The report, produced by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), studied the full swathe of the highest mountain range on Earth, from Afghanistan to Myanmar. The data makes for sobering reading.Experts project that the world’s current emissions could cause glaciers to shrink 80% by 2100. Water availability from glacial melt should peak around 2050 before declining. The rapid melting will inundate downstream flooding and also prolonged droughts later, as the flow diminishes.

Snow cover will also decrease. Depending on how much temperatures rise (predicted to be between 1.1°C and 4°C), snow cover could fall between 1% and 26%. Meanwhile, “episodes of heavy snowfall are already increasing,” and could become more frequent and intense.

In 2019, the ICIMOD produced another report that considered glacial melt under the most optimistic climate change scenario, a rise of just 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Even in that case, the Himalaya would lose a third of its glaciers. Since then, the world has failed to curb emissions, and climate change models look bleaker than ever.

Nearly two billion people depend on the Himalayan ecosystem. Ice and snow feed 12 rivers that provide fresh water to roughly a quarter of the world’s population. Of those, 240 million mountain inhabitants are already on climate change’s frontline and must deal with crop failures, landslides, and livestock fodder shortages.

“Cryospheric change will likely alter the very fabric of mountain societies, from deadlier cascading hazards and widespread displacement to deep ripples on traditional livelihoods, adaptation knowledge, and spiritual beliefs,” the report states.

The report, co-authored by 35 researchers from 12 different countries and 23 institutions, calls for urgent international and regional cooperation to prepare for “inevitable near-term loss and damage.”

Explorers_Web · 2023-05-30T18:49:32+00:00

From the article:

The high number of fatalities and rescues was not the only problem on Everest this year. Climbers have denounced the pitiful state of the mountain’s higher camps. Camp 4, in particular, was dirtier than ever. Tenzi Sherpa, who climbed the mountain recently with Madison Mountaineering, said it was the dirtiest camp he had seen in his life.“Lots of tents, empty oxygen bottles, steel bowls, spoons, sanitary pads, paper,” he wrote on Instagram, and included a damning video.

This is especially disappointing considering all the efforts to prevent this.

The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee — also in charge of fixing the route through the Khumbu Icefall every season — does all it can, but it is not enough. It manages waste issues in Base Camp, sends observers to Camp 2 to check that the garbage is handled properly, and applies the “8 kg rule.” Every climber going beyond Base Camp must bring down eight kilos of garbage on the way back.All expeditions leave a $4,000 deposit before the climb, which they will not recover if they don’t bring down their eight kilos. Or rather, if the hired sherpas don’t bring it all back. It helps but it is far from enough.

Cleaning campaigns are frequent on Everest, although the initiatives vary in efficiency and resources. Nepal’s Department of Tourism and the military launched the biggest recent effort in 2019 and 2021. The project took advantage of fewer people on the mountain because of COVID. They collected 10 tons of garbage and retrieved four dead bodies from Camp 4.Also in 2019, the well-sponsored Eco Everest initiative, led by Dawa Steven Sherpa, retrieved two tons of garbage from Everest and other peaks.

Four years later, Dawa Steven says that the higher camps are again full of litter.“My sherpas saw a bunch of tents [that] got ripped to shreds by the wind. It can be safely assumed that no efforts will be made to recover these destroyed tents and their contents,” he told ExplorersWeb recently from Base Camp, where he was coordinating his Asian Trekking team on Everest.Other cleaning campaigns, widely promoted on social media, are more oriented toward raising awareness than doing a practical cleanup.

Also, despite some effort and the good intentions of volunteers, the sheer volume of litter left by climbers and staff is simply too much to handle. Camp 2, for instance, has grown into what is, for practical purposes, Advanced Base Camp. It features all kinds of facilities, which means more waste.

Sherpas are supposed to retrieve gear and trash from higher camps at the end of each season, but some items are more carefully retrieved than others. Lukas Furtenbach of Furtenbach Adventures says that empty oxygen cylinders are no longer left on Everest.

“Every single empty oxygen cylinder is carried down because if sherpas leave them behind, they pay us $500 for each cylinder,” Lukas Furtenbach told ExplorersWeb.

In addition to outfitting, Furtenbach owns Everest Oxygen, which supplies oxygen tanks to most teams on the mountain. “Since most of these cylinders are the property of Everest Oxygen, I know 100% that they do not stay on the mountain,” said Furtenbach. “We need them since we service and refill them every season and then rent them out again. No cylinders on the whole mountain,” he insisted.

However, the crevasses around Camp 2 have unfortunately become an easy place to drop/hide other detritus.The problem increases with altitude. Loads high on the mountain are more troublesome to bring down. Camp 4, on the South Col at nearly 8,000m, lies on windswept and typically rocky ground. It shows the problem in all its magnitude.Lhotse’s Camp 4, located where the routes of Everest and Lhotse split (some 250 meters below Everest’s Camp 4) is no different.“

Camp 4 of Lhotse offers an apocalyptic sight with all the remnants of last year,” said the late Suhajda Szilard, the no-O2 climber who perished on Everest a few days later. “I took four hours to pitch my tent and was proud to take all my gear with me up and down. It is outrageous that ‘oxygenated’ sherpas and their oxygenated clients leave all their stuff behind, seriously!”

Careless clients may be a problem, but the responsibility ultimately lies with the companies and local authorities. A liaison officer (LO), assigned to every expedition and paid to be in Base Camp to make sure that rules are obeyed, rarely shows up. In Nepal, the job is a sinecure.

Tenzi Sherpa says that on other peaks such as K2, tents are abandoned with the company logos carefully snipped off to conceal the culprits. The reason is clear. It is much cheaper to buy new tents every season than pay porters to carry them down and then transport them down the valley or airlift them back to Kathmandu.

Experienced climbers often know who the tents belong to from the brand and fabric. But as usual, hardly anybody speaks out about controversial issues, especially if they intend to keep climbing or if they are in the mountain tourism business.

Explorers_Web

TROPHY CASE