Eco Everest Clean up Initiative
Following the success of Eco Everest Expedition 2008 and 2009 I am looking forward to organizing Eco Everest Expedition 2010. Not only the expedition focuses on climbing in an eco-sensitive manner, we also collect and bring down garbage and debris from the trails. Through this expedition we encourage other climbers to use alternative energy solutions during the climb.
The garbage brought down from Mt. Everest by the Eco Everest Expedition 2008 Team, had been used to create works of art. The individual works of art created by the students of Kathmandu University Center of Art and Design were displayed in an art exhibition titled “Garbage Out of Thin Air” on 03 April 2009.
As a part of Eco Everest Expedition 200, I and my team continued this initiative by bringing down nearly 6000 kilos of garbage under the “Cash for Trash” program which included 700 kilos of wreckage of an Italian Army helicopter crashed between Camp I and II during the Italian Everest Expedition in 1973. Also brought down was 115 kilos of human waste produced by Eco Everest Expedition 2009 which was handed over to Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee for proper disposal.
The Eco Everest Expedition 2010 team plans to collect and bring down garbage from high altitudes. The team targets to bring down 6000 kilos of garbage from Camp 2 and below under the “Cash for Trash” program. Similarly the expedition aims to bring down 1000 kilos of garbage from above Camp 2 under the ”Cleaning up Everest” program. Cleaning the trails above 6500 m and above will need a special team of 10 Sherpas who will dig out frozen garbage as well as clear up garbage found on the route. The collected garbage will be ferried down to Base Camp where it will be sorted into biodegradable and burnable which will be handed over to the SPCC; and non-biodegradable/non-burnable which will be brought down to Kathmandu.
The major sponsors of Eco Everest Expedition 2010 garbage collection program are Asian Trekking (P)Ltd, Rheinhold Messner (Messner Mountain Museum), The North Face and The Alpine Convention.
The Expedition has been endorsed by WWF. Apa Sherpa and I are both Ambassadors for WWF’s Climate for Life Campaign. We will use the Eco Everest Expedition 2010 to once again talk about the Climate Change impacts on the Himalayas.
I and my Eco Everest Expedition team are continuing this initiative to create awareness among the local people and among the climbers to help keep Mt. Everest and the Khumbu clean.
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