Everest climbers will have to take their poop away with them, as Nepal tries to address growing waste problem | CNN
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Those hoping to climb Everest this year will have to make some slight adjustments to their packing list, as new rules now mandate that climbers bring their excrement down with them from the world’s highest peak, in a bid to tackle pollution.
  • Drusas
    40•9 months ago

    It has always blown my mind that they leave all their shit and garbage up there. Any and all responsible hikers, backpackers, and mountain climbers have a “pack it in, pack it out” policy. It’s the norm. Yeah, packing shit sucks, but you love nature, so you deal with it.

    • @Confused_Emus@lemmy.world
      20•9 months ago

      I’d wager that the love of nature is not something a fair amount of Everest climbers give two shits about, or at the very least it’s nowhere near the “photo op” that’s at the top of their list of priorities.

    • @PrettyFlyForAFatGuy@feddit.uk
      10•9 months ago

      Tbh, keeping your rubbish on you probably isn’t on the forefront of your mind while you’re both slowly suffocating and slowly freezing up there.

      It’s not really comparable to taking a hike through your local national park.

      Not to say littering up there is justified, it’s not. but i can understand why it happens

      • Drusas
        7•9 months ago

        Oh, I get that. But if it’s not something you’re willing and able to deal with, then you shouldn’t be going up there to begin with.

      • @Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca
        3•9 months ago

        Eh, imo if you decide to risk your life unnecessarily climbing a mountain, plan to take your garbage out because you shouldn’t be let back down without it. Freeze up there with the garbage.

  • @JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.world
    32•9 months ago

    How about their shit and the rest of their garbage? Or raise the tax/fine for not doing so to better fund efforts to clean up the mountain. First option is probably better because then no one has to risk their life cleaning up after other people.

    I get that it’s a crazy achievement to summit the highest point above sea level, a point dozens, if not hundreds have died to reach, but it shouldn’t come at the cost of the environment.

    • Arthur BesseOPEnglish
      19•9 months ago

      there is enough garbage there now that they could just make the tourist permit require everyone to bring down more than they take up with them

        • Sentient LoomEnglish
          7•9 months ago

          It would be hilarious to see their ego turn them into park janitors.

      • @Frozengyro@lemmy.world
        11•9 months ago

        Honestly, the achievement shouldn’t be who making it to the summit anymore. It should be who removed the most trash. Or a yearly summit+trash removal competition. More impressive than an Olympic gold medal, the Everest Restoration medal!

    • Destroyer of Worlds 3000
      4•9 months ago

      I think they should do a cleaning brigade gauntlet made of potential climbers. If you aclimate and clean well enough you get invited back for the next season depending on performance. Then, at the sherpa’s discretion, you may be allowed to summit. Sort of a “prove your worth first”. I bet the traffic jams and garbage would become a thing of the past.

    • Altima NEOEnglish
      3•9 months ago

      Actually they do. I believe they’re required to return with a certain amount of trash on their return or they get fined.

      • @Confused_Emus@lemmy.world
        10•9 months ago

        As much as permits and stuff cost to summit Everest, we’re talking about people who have the kind of fuck-you-money that they’d probably just pay the fine rather than risk being seen doing any sort of domestic labor like trash picking.

        • @JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.world
          9•9 months ago

          That’s exactly what happens from what I understand. The fine is so negligible compared to the rest of the costs for the trip that it can just be paid off.

          '“If the penalty for a crime is a fine, then that law only exists for the lower class,” comes to mind.

          • @Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca
            1•9 months ago

            The fine should be enough to pay someone to go up separately and collect the garbage.

            If someone is willing to do that for $50k then the fine should be at least $50k if not more.

    • @soggy_kitty@sopuli.xyz
      1•9 months ago

      In fairness it’s $35k to climb it, a third of that goes straight to Nepal and they have thousands climb every year. Surely that’s enough to get some robotics garbage & poop system?.

      I get people should bring their own garbage down but if they’re that rich my point is that they can pay someone else to do it

      • @Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca
        1•9 months ago

        Wonder how much it would cost to install some sort of tube system where you carry up cylinders and can send them down the tube periodically as you climb with your shit and garbage inside and it just slides to the bottom where you take care of it later.

        • @soggy_kitty@sopuli.xyz
          1•9 months ago

          Good thought, I’m sure they could fund it very quickly with the amount of revenue going through that damn mountain