Everest anyone ?

[Franco Darioli]

Somehow Everest is not what it used to be…

Picture from
http://thegoat.backcountry.com/?q=0
The story is about a 13 year old kid attempting the climb.
Franco

[Michael Meiser]

Crowding is getting ridiculous.

[Franco Darioli]

You should see the queue to the toilet block. By the time you get there there is no more hot water.

On a serious note, there is a "cleaning up" expedition about to start. As part of it they will take some of the ashes of Sir Edmond Hillary to the top and scatter them there. Nice gesture.
Sir Ed is a semi-God in Nepal. Great man.
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_14836822
Franco

[Jack H.]

A few of my photos from basecamp in Spring 2009, a part of over a month of trekking in the Himalaya.

Video on my website.

[. .]

Where are all of the tunnel tents? ;)

[Mark McLauchlin]

From my recent reading one of the biggest clean-up efforts will be around all the empty oxygen canisters that are lying around the place at the higher altitudes. Shame really.

Cheers

[Bob Gross]

They figured out how to take care of the depleted oxygen bottle problem. They put a $2 deposit value on each bottle. So, when each expedition prepares to clear the mountain, either they pick up and transport their own bottles down the mountain, or else the local Sherpas will go up there and take them out. If a local carried out five or ten empties on each trip, that is some good cash for the local economy.
–B.G.–

[Mark McLauchlin]

I knew there was some reward for it, just didnt know the value, seriousely $2 ? But I guess like you say its good for them

Cheers

[Rog Tallbloke]

"Where are all of the tunnel tents? ;)"

Dunno. Higher up the mountain probably. ;-)

The Blue ridge tent in the middle looks nicely pitched.

[Bob Gross]

Mark, $2 was the last figure that I heard for empty bottles.

You know, Sherpas are incredibly strong for their size, and it would not shock me a bit to see some guy waddling along the trail from Everest Base Camp heading down, and carrying about twenty empty bottles. His family will live for a couple of months on that much reward money.

–B.G.–

[Mark McLauchlin]

Wow that is impressive.

[Rog Tallbloke]

Sounds dangerous to me. A lot of those bottles will be perched in awkward spots near big drops.

[Bob Gross]

Everybody has their own price!

For people like you, Rog or Mark, you would pick up the empty and carry it down if somebody paid you (let's say) $1000. Well, the Sherpa people have a lower standard of income, and they will pick them up for $2, even if there is some reasonable risk involved.

Once they get the empties down low enough, they can haul them out on a yak. But yaks don't operate well when they get onto solid snow, because they have to graze on grass.

If a yak hauls two man-loads down, the yak owner gets paid the equivalent of two human porters. It's kind of a different economy. No plastic. No ATM.

–B.G.–

[Rog Tallbloke]

At altitude, bringing things down is hideously easy compared to carting them up. Especially as they are full on the way up and empty on the way down. I'd bring mine down for a lot less than $1000, but then, I'm cheap. ;-)

[Roger Caffin]

> Where are all of the tunnel tents? ;)
If you can use a square green beach tent as a loo, and a patrol tent as the local bakery/kiosk, then you don't need a tunnel tent!
Some of those domes look as though you could just about stand up inside them! Huge!

Cheers

[Jack H.]

Note that the porters that will carry the bottles out of the wilderness will probably be paid daily standard rates. Many will work for three dollars a day or less in the local economy even if they're carrying twenty o2 bottles.

[Ike Mouser]

I don't think its a bad thing that everest is crowded now, or other backpacking areas for that matter. Anything that gets people away from the "blue glow box" is great for society in my opinion, especially with all the overweight people. Im glad to see people enjoying the great outdoors.

[Nick Gatel]

"I don't think its a bad thing that everest is crowded now, or other backpacking areas for that matter."

Disagree big time.

[BlackHatGuy]

"Disagree big time."

+1

Besides, if more people keep living longer, my taxes are going to go up. I encourage people to eat lots of junk food and watch lots of TV. Keeps 'em off the trails and out of my way!

[Mark McLauchlin]

Nice one Doug :)

[Bob Gross]

There is one very bad thing about the crowding at Everest Base Camp, Nepal side. There are these little petrified artifacts all over the place.

Climbers have been camping in that one spot for over fifty years now, except that it is not exactly solid ground. It is the Khumbu Glacier, so it is a ground up mixture of ice, rock, and little petrified artifacts.

The air is so cool and dry there that things do not decay in a normal fashion, so there is some risk of viral and bacterial infection all around. Also, the human body does not heal quickly at those elevations, so if you get a normal scratch, it may stay with you for a long time.
–B.G.–

[W I S N E R !]

Perhaps the best thing we can do for backpacking and the outdoors is to only share tales of extreme misery, suffering through cold, wet nights, harrowing encounters with animals, and life-threatening weather conditions…as well as the necessity of carrying 75 pounds of gear to survive.

I remember once seeing a Nor Cal bumper sticker on a truck (racks loaded with surfboards) reading simply:

SURFING SUCKS,
DON'T TRY IT.

[BlackHatGuy]

"I remember once seeing a Nor Cal bumper sticker on a truck (racks loaded with surfboards) reading simply:

SURFING SUCKS,
DON'T TRY IT."

Much like former Oregon governor Tom McCall. "His love for Oregon led to the famous 1971 statement to a CBS news reporter, “Come visit us again and again. This is a State of excitement. But for heaven's sake, don't move here to live.” "

[Mike McHenry]

"I don't think its a bad thing that everest is crowded now, or other backpacking areas for that matter."

Disagree big time.

Nick,

It might be a bad thing for you and me and our desire to be secluded, but I have to agree with Isaac here, any activity that gets people off their butt and outside makes the society you and I live in a healthier and more efficient one. I realize that might mean crowded national parks on Memorial Day weekend, but at some point isn't it nice to see people out hiking instead of hanging out and McDonald's?

NOTE: The next time I visit a crowded park and get annoyed with the hoards of people, I will retract my statement : )

[Nick Gatel]

Mike,

Yes and no.

It would be good to see more people leading active lives, and reducing the crisis we have in the U.S. with obesity and associated problems related to inactivity. But to be honest, if those folks don't care enough to take care of their health, well so be it. In that case, I don't care about them either.

I can still find secluded places, even on holiday weekends.

But think about what we are doing to our natural resources. Everest has become a dumping ground. And the same with so many places where I used to hike a lot. I doubt anyone on BPL would even think about tossing an empty gas cannister into the bushes. But on Everest, tossing trash is no big deal.

There was a time when I spent a lot of my youth on the JMT and vicinity. I could climb Whitney anytime I wanted. The only permit needed was a campfire permit. I could hike for days on end on the Kern Plateau in the summer, and not see a single person in a week. We now have a permit system because we were doing too much damage to our national treasures; because they had become over-populated, and abused. We keep building roads to make it easier for more people to get into the wilderness.

Too many people and too many of them have no regard for protecting the land. Keep in mind that I am not an some sort of hardcore environmentalist. But the blantant disregard for public lands is disgusting. It is a lack of education, and too many people who just don't care.

About 40 years ago, I decided to hike from Kernville to Yosemite. I had never seen Yosemite. Well, I didn't make it all the way… I was shocked at all the people, smoke and smog. So I turned around and went all the way back. I eventually made it to Yosemite in 2005, when my son wanted to go there. It is a disgrace. I say remove the city in the valley and blow up the entrances from the west and close Tioga pass on the east. Let it revert back to the way we found it.

We make it too easy for hordes to descend into these places. Wouldn't bother me at all if we removed all the roads from Joshua Tree also. Oh, and lets dismantle the Palm Springs Tram while we are at it. That would solve a LOT of problems in the San Jacinto Wilderness.

Sorry for the rant, but it is how I feel.

[Author]

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