Reuters reports that a?team of Nepali climbers will attempt to collect garbage in Mount Everest’s “death zone” (the area above 26,246 feet) for the first time this week. Exhausted climbers have been leaving garbage in the death zone since the 1950′s, but Namgyal?Sherpa, the expedition’s leader, says that global warming has revealed the extent of the problem: “The garbage was buried under snow in the past. But now it has come out on the surface because of the melting of snow due to global warming.” The team also hopes to retrieve the corpse of a climber who died two years ago.[%comments]
Humans Really Do Leave Garbage Everywhere
TAGS: environment
and 
. You can also watch it on 
Tuesdays and Fridays they’ll be taking recyclables only.
its mostly spent oxygen tanks. not something stupid like candy rappers.
I love candy rappers, especially the Beastie Boys
I can’t resist citing one of my favorite Wikipedia articles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_precision
Oxygen tanks and tent scraps have been left since the beginning of climbing, when the ethics were rather different.
Today’s climbing permit requires a team to carry down everything they brought up. Team sherpas can also make extra money, for every extra oxygen tank they carry from the piles left behind.
There have also been expeditions mounted solely to get rid of garbage. A lot has been done, and this isn’t exactly a new story – there’s just a lot still left.
@ Mike -
I agree that the Beastie Boys are good candy rappers, but clearly the best of them is Eminem.
Okay, Here’s the plan:
1) Buy a surplus oxygen generator from Government Liquidations. They sell them all the time for short money.
2) Add a credit card swiper, satellite telephone and power it all with solar energy.
3) Install it on Mt Everest on the Northeast Ridge at camp three (8,300 meters).
4) Get filthy rich by charging $1000 to refill a bottle of oxygen. Pay the Sherpas well.
Eric
Those Everest climbers will leave all sorts of things behind, including fellow climbers who are dying. When they’re near the top, they’ll do whatever it takes to make it there.