Mount Everest Climbers Ordered to Return Their Feces to Base Camp as Pileup of Excrement Causes Environmental Degradation

Mount Everest, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, is undoubtedly a dream adventure for aspiring mountain climbers and mountaineering enthusiasts in the world. However, emerging reports recently show that this gargantuan natural wonder in Nepal is experiencing a waste problem, not from plastics or chemicals but from the feces of mountaineers.

With this, local authorities ordered Everest hikers to return their poo to base camp.

Extreme temperatures reportedly prevent excrement left by Mount Everest climbers from decomposing. According to experts, this phenomenon happens because the living organisms, responsible for the decomposition process of feces, are active in warm temperatures. This means that cold temperatures slow down the rotting time, a natural process for organic substances.

The human waste problem is also causing environmental degradation since hundreds of Mount Everest hikers spend a significant amount of time, ranging from several weeks to more than a month, before reaching the summit. It is during this period when the climbers turn the giant peak into what some reports have called an "open toilet."

To address the issue, authorities are gearing up for the next climbing season between April and June.

Mount Everest Waste Problem

Mount Everest, for a long time, has been experiencing large-scale poop problems involving human stools, which are visible on rocks.

Anecdotal accounts from climbers also indicate that they fall sick in the current environment of the world's highest peak, according to reports.

This comes several decades after the first two humans climbed the Everest summit in 1953. Since then, the peak gained popularity among climbers.

As of February, the Mount Everest waste problem seemed to had reach its toll after Nepal's Pasang Lhamu rural municipality, which covers most parts of the Everest region, expressed great concern toward the growing sanitary and environmental issue. According to the municipality's chairman, Mingma Sherpa, "our mountains have begun to stink," informing British media during an interview.

For almost a decade, it has been estimated that human stools left on Mount Everest weigh several tons or thousands of kilograms annually. Now, as part of the locality's Mount Everest waste management, will already be required to bring their poo back to base camp where it will be disposed of, local officials stated.

Environmental Degradation

To prevent further environmental degradation, a non-governmental organization Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee is importing more than 8,000 "poop bags" from the United States. This occurred as 400 foreign climbers, along with 800 assistants, are expected for the approaching climbing season in the coming months, it was reported on Friday, February 9.

Through this measure, it can be expected that the reduction of the slow-decaying excrement on Mount Everest will not only protect the environment but also prevent harming the peak's fragile ecosystem.

The initiative can also mitigate or prevent health issues for exposed mountaineers while reaching the top of Mount Everest.