Tag: Mount Everest

Three tonnes of rubbish collected from Everest

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AFP) — A dedicated clean-up team sent to Mount Everest has collected three tonnes of garbage in its first two weeks, officials said Wednesday, in an ambitious plan to clean the world’s highest rubbish dump. Decades of commercial mountaineering have left the pristine mountain polluted as an increasing number of big-spending climbers pay little attention to the ugly footprint they leave behind. Fluorescent tents, discarded climbing equipment, empty gas canisters and even human […]

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Fighting climate change in the shadow of Mount Everest

by Paavan MATHEMA Agence France Presse NEPAL (AFP) — Formed in the shadow of Mount Everest, the turquoise depths of Nepal’s Imja glacial lake would be a breathtaking miracle of nature to behold — were they not a portent of catastrophic floods. Scientists warn that as climate change causes Himalayan glaciers to melt at an alarming rate, lakes like Imja could swell further and eventually collapse, triggering a terrifying deluge in Nepal, an impoverished nation […]

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Fighting climate change in the shadow of Mount Everest

by Paavan MATHEMA Agence France-Presse NEPAL (AFP) — Formed in the shadow of Mount Everest, the turquoise depths of Nepal’s Imja glacial lake would be a breathtaking miracle of nature to behold — were they not a portent of catastrophic floods. Scientists warn that as climate change causes Himalayan glaciers to melt at an alarming rate, lakes like Imja could swell further and eventually collapse, triggering a terrifying deluge in Nepal, an impoverished nation at […]

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Mount Everest, the high-altitude rubbish dump

by Paavan Mathema and Annabel Symington Agence France-Presse KATHMANDU, Nepal (AFP) — Decades of commercial mountaineering have turned Mount Everest into the world’s highest rubbish dump as an increasing number of big-spending climbers pay little attention to the ugly footprint they leave behind. Fluorescent tents, discarded climbing equipment, empty gas canisters and even human excrement litter the well-trodden route to the summit of the 8,848-metre (29,029-foot) peak. “It is disgusting, an eyesore,” Pemba Dorje Sherpa, […]

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Everest’s Hillary Step now a ‘slope’: climbers

by Annabel Symington Agence France Presse KATHMANDU, Nepal (AFP) — Mount Everest’s Hillary Step — a rocky outcrop just below the summit — is now a slope, say climbers who recently returned from the mountain. The condition of the rock face named after Everest’s first summiteer Edmund Hillary has been the subject of intense speculation since climbers last year declared it had gone. Others disagreed saying fresh snowfall had caused the confusion. Mountaineers returning from […]

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Nepal losing out to China as Everest operators cross mountain

by Annabel Symington Agence France-Presse KATHMANDU, Nepal (AFP) — Poor regulation and overcrowding are pushing Everest climbers away from Nepal to China, which is investing millions to boost a rival path to the top of the world. Veteran climbing outfits, fed up with what they regard as a lax attitude to safety on Nepal’s southern flank of the 8,848-meter (29,029-foot) peak, are starting to shift operations to Everest’s north side in Tibet. “The south side […]

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Philippine Everest conqueror sets sail for China

by Ayee Macaraig Agence France Presse MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — After conquering Mount Everest, Philippine adventurer Carina Dayondon is set to sail to China aboard a wooden replica of an ancient boat in the hopes of boosting national pride in a forgotten maritime prowess. Dayondon is planning to sail from Manila to southern China early next year, recreating trade and migration voyages made before Spaniards colonised the Philippines in the 1500s. “People tell me I […]

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Indian woman sets Mount Everest summit record

KATHMANDU, Nepal (Reuters) – Indian climber Anshu Jamsenpa has made the fastest double ascent of Mount Everest, becoming the first woman in the world to reach the highest point on earth twice in five days. The 38-year-old mother of two climbed the peak along the Southeast Ridge route on May 16. She repeated the feat on May 21 improving a record set by a Nepali woman, Chhurim Sherpa, who made the dual climb in seven […]

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Three climbers die on Everest, one missing

  KATHMANDU, Nepal (AFP) – Three climbers died on Everest over the weekend and another is missing, officials confirmed Monday, in one of the deadliest episodes on the peak since an avalanche swept through base camp killing 18 two years ago. More than a dozen climbers have also been rescued from the 8,848 metre (29,030 foot) mountain in the last three days after running into difficulties while attempting to summit, helicopter rescue operators told AFP. […]

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Doubt over Everest’s true height spurs fresh expedition

NEW DELHI, India (AFP ) — Scientists will take the tape measure to Mount Everest to determine whether a massive earthquake in Nepal really did knock an inch off the world’s tallest peak. India’s top surveyor said Tuesday a team of scientists would be sent to neighbouring Nepal to measure Everest in the hope of putting to rest a debate about the true height of the towering mountain. A deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal in […]

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Aftershock causes avalanche in Everest

APRIL 27 (Reuters) — Aftershocks caused by the large earthquake in Nepal caused avalanches in the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest. Said avalanche caused 61 injuries, 22 of which were critically injured. Reports said that 17 were dead due to said avalanche. (Mount Everest, Himalayas)

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