Poop bags, trackers: Nepal sets new rules for Everest climbers

GPS trackers are already used by many professional climbers.

Kathmandu:

After one of its deadliest seasons last year, Nepal has ordered Everest climbers to carry trackers and use compostable bags similar to dog waste to remove excrement.

18 climbers died last year and at least five of their bodies have yet to be found on the world’s highest peak, with authorities keen to improve safety on the mountain and clean up a sacred peak where tonnes of rubbish have been dumped.

GPS trackers are already used by many professional climbers to help people monitor their progress on the mountain, which is important for both safety and post-climb sponsorship.

For the spring climbing season, which starts this month and lasts until May, Nepal expects to need less powerful but smaller passive trackers that can be easily sewn into jackets and require no power source to operate. Handheld detectors can track them in snow at about 20 meters (66 feet) and in the air at several times that distance.

Officials say making their use mandatory will help locate people in the event of an accident.

“This year climbers will have to wear trackers so that their location can be accurately identified in the event of an accident,” Rakesh Gurung, director of the mountaineering department at the Nepal Tourism Board, told AFP on Tuesday.

The climbing industry’s rapid growth has sparked fierce competition among companies for business and raised concerns that some are cutting corners on safety.

About 600 climbers and guides are expected to summit Mount Everest in 2023, and the local rural municipal government on Mount Everest has also introduced a series of new regulations, including the mandatory use of poop bags above base camp.

The mountain, dubbed the “world’s tallest dumpster,” is littered with tons of rubbish, including empty cans, bottles and gas cylinders, discarded climbing gear, plastic and human waste.

– ‘pollute’ –

“Our mountains and water sources are polluted,” said Mingma Chiri Sherpa, chairperson of Khumbu Basanglam Rural Municipality.

“Climbers must use biodegradable bags for waste above base camp so that it can be properly disposed of when returning,” he said.

At base camp, climbers use toilets with buckets to collect waste.

But at higher levels, in freezing conditions where ice and rock make it difficult to bury them, excrement used to be simply discarded. This poses health risks, especially for climbers who use melted snow for drinking water.

Poop bags contain chemicals that help dry and solidify waste, eliminate odors, and have been used in other extreme conditions, including Antarctica and Mount Denali in Alaska, USA.

Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 14 peaks over 8,000 meters (26,246 feet) above sea level, and welcomes hundreds of adventurers each spring during the climbing season, when temperatures are warm and winds are calm.

In the capital, Kathmandu, expedition staff are busy preparing for clients, checking climbing equipment and packing bags of food for climbers.

“So far we’re expecting at least 400 climbers this spring,” said Damber Parajuli of the Adventure Operators Association.

Professional “icefall doctors” have set off for Everest Base Camp, where they will begin setting up ropes and ladders for the climb.

These highly skilled Nepalese climbers are the first to reach the summit each season, carving a route over steep crevasses and shifting ice, including the treacherous Khumbu Ice Falls.

In April last year, three Nepalese climbers were killed when a glacier fell and swept them into a crevasse while they were on a supply mission across an icefall.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)