Little known facts about Mt. Everest. I always hear about or see tv specials on groups climbing Mt. Everest and I admire them for their bravery. But what I didn't know is that they leave everything behind. Since the top was reached in 1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, more that 11,000 climbers have tried to reach the top and over 3000 have reached it. But what they left behind was 50 tons of waste at the high camps which include tents, oxygen bottles, batteries and water bottles. Mt. Everest now has the nickname, "the worlds highest garbage dump." During the 2000 climbing season a Japanese climber, Ken Noguchi began cleaning up this mess and to date he cleanup trips have cleared away 9.9 tons of trash. By his efforts he has made aware the problems created by other climbers. Expiditions are now bringing down their own waste, and the government of Nepal has tightened restrictions. Climbing teams must bring their out when they come or forfeit a sizable deposit.
Like I said earlier, this is a little known fact and I'm glad to see something is being done about it. I got this article out of a flier called "One Man's Trash" in our daily newspaper.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment