Nepal refuses Mount Everest clean-up

KATHMANDU: Nepal’s government on Friday rejected calls to use the pandemic lockdown of Mount Everest to stage a cleanup of the world’s highest mountain.

Fluorescent tents, discarded climbing equipment, empty gas canisters and human excrement litter the well-trodden route to the 8,848-metre (29,029-feet) high summit. Authorities last month suspended permits for all mountain expeditions over the coronavirus outbreak, forcing the Nepal army to cancel an ambitious clean-up on six mountains including Everest.

"It is not possible this season," Danduraj Ghimire, chief of Nepal’s tourism department told AFP. Mountaineering organisations say that the coronavirus crisis is a good opportunity to clean-up what is sometimes called the world’s highest garbage dump.

"The government should let a Nepali team just clean the mountain. Apart from clearing trash, it would give employment to Sherpas who have lost this season’s income," said Santa Bir Lama, head of the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

Last year, a 14-strong team spent six weeks scouring for litter at the Everest base camp and at Camp 4 -- nearly 8,000 metres up.They cleared the mountain of four bodies and over 10 tonnes of plastic bottles, cans and climbing equipment. But many said it was just a fraction of Everest’s rubbish -- with the harder to reach camps still littered with abandoned gear.