Betraying Everest's Future: The Tragic Consequences of Climbing Tourism

Betraying Everest's Future: The Tragic Consequences of Climbing Tourism

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DATELINE: May 1 2035 in a groundbreaking move the  Nepal government has raised Everest permit fees   to $45,000 while offering drone assisted human  lift service to Camp to in the western Cwm  for an additional $20,000 but demand shows no sign  of slowing with over 2,000 climbers attempting the   summit this season mean while the garbage crisis  seems to have been tackled by a new high altitude   trash to energy burning plant in lishe and a human  waste plant that captures the methane to be used   as fuel for Porters working on the mountain of  course this news report more than a decade in the   future about Mount Everest seems almost impossible  to imagine but are we really that far off what   does the future look like on Mount Everest and  the 8,000 M Peaks things are changing quickly for   instance the permit fees on Mount Everest alone  have gone up $3,000 this year alone the future of   Mount Everest and the 8,000 M Peak certainly holds  some incredible potential but what about the Dark   Side of overt commercialization overcrowding and  environmental impact today we're going to look   at the future of Mount Everest changes that  are happening going almost out of control and   things in the Government of Nepal particularly  is doing to remedy some of these situations and   some of the things they aren't doing to remedy  the situation let's look at Everest's shift from   exploration into tourism as someone who has  spent more than 20 years climbing and filming   on the mountain and studying its Mysteries as  well climbing Mount Everest symbolize something   bigger than ourselves it was the ultimate test of  endurance of of the human Spirit of standing up   against some of Nature's greatest Furies but in  a world driven by likes and selfies and instant   gratification has the meaning of Everest changed  forever are there still pure alpinists out there   in an interview that I will link to in the  description of this video as it was said by   one of the world's greatest Mountaineers Reinhold  mesner mesner States 90% of the people who go into   mountaineering these days have nothing to do with  traditional alpinism what's happening on Everest   is tourism mountain is full of people when I was  there our base camp was 20 by 20 M now the base   camp is 2 kilometers long yeah it's a city there  are 1,500 T in the base camp it appears that this   explosion of activity on Mount Everest has changed  the spirit of what Mount Everest stood for back in   the day it's become a status symbol a fleeting  moment of Fame captured in a Summit selfie so   instead of Everest being something about defining  oneself it's about conquering the algorithm I   hearken back to one of the most extreme cases  where an individual attempted to do a backflip   on the summit of Mount Everest which by the way  he didn't stick claiming though that it was the   highest ever backflip in the world truly a feat  of exceptional athleticism but shameful when one   looks at what the original idea of getting to the  top of the mountain was where people revered the   mountain itself and the people and the cultures  around it I sto maybe 10 ft short of the summit   I'm not sure if it's out of fear or respect but  I promis myself I would never step on the head   of their God if I could I want to jump in real  quick you know how much I value my time with   my busy schedule I've been looking for ways  to cut down on all the extra time it takes to   cook to go shopping to actually do the cooking  and then the cleaning that's where cook Unity   comes in cook Unity delivers freshly prepared  restaurant quality meals right to your door made   by top chefs from across the country like this  week I've got barbecued salmon Bento bowl and   tofu forbidden rice bowl with miso peanut sauce  it looks amazing right out of the package and   the flavors M it's like eating at a restaurant in  your own kitchen everything is fresh responsibly   sourced and made with high quality ingredients No  Junk this this is so good that it honestly feels   chefmade because it is so whether you're vegan  glutenfree paleo keto or a sometimes eats fish   vegetarian like me there's something for you it  saves us so much time during the week when we're   busy no meal prep no dishes and it's cheaper than  ordering takeout or cooking for two right now cook   Unity is offering all my viewers 50% off of their  first order just click the link in the description   below and use my code Everest 50 to try it out for  yourself thank you cook Unity for sponsoring this video now let's look at the changing  demographics of climbers mesner has   concerns about commercialization shared by many  in the mountaineering Community reflected in a   changing demographic of those who are actually  attempting to climb climb Mount Everest in the   past climbers were highly experienced mountain  climbers who trained for years and years just   to have the opportunity to become part of a  mountaineering Expedition it wasn't a right   to go climb Mount Everest it was a privilege  to be qualified and chosen to be a part of a   climbing team on the mountain and back then it was  also reflected in a very nationalistic type of PR   the Americans or the Japanese or the French  or the English Today many climbers join guided   Expeditions some of them have literally  no experience whatsoever in the realm of   mountaineering have to be taught to put on  crampons how to use an ISX how to put one   of these devices called a jumar onto a rope and  shown how to slide it up the rope and climb up   the mountain they're Tau right on the spot how to  use the equipment and they're hoping for the best   that [ __ ] doesn't hit the fan and the person  that they're relying on isn't taken out of the   scene because many of these people would have  no ability to extricate themselves from the   mountain now I want to inject in here that it's  not necessarily good or bad it doesn't make these   people good or bad it just shows the dramatic  changes that are taking place on the mountain the   Everest chronicler Alan Arnette talks about how  the number of Sherpa that are being assigned to   clients on the mountain has gone up dramatically  just in the last decade where about a decade or   more ago often times one Sherpa would be working  with a client and nowadays it is exceeding 1.5   even two Sherpa per individual person being guided  up the mountain for one that contributes to a lot   more people on the mountain but also deviating  away from personal responsibility or one learning   the craft themselves putting complete control  in the hands of the guides and the High Altitude Porters now let's look at environmental strain  in overcrowding Everest has been struggling under   the weight of overcrowding in terms of the  garbage in the human waste that's been left   behind more waste more pollution more strain on  the delicate ecosystem one has to wonder what   the climbers from the 1924 British Expedition  George mallerie and Sandy Irvin would think if   they could walk to Everest Base Camp on the  Nepal side for instance and see thousands of   people working to get hundreds and hundreds of  climbers to the summit now it's no secret that   Everest has been grappling with sign significant  human waste and garbage issues for years and the   Nepal government has been doing what they can to  try to remedy these problems each climbing season   hundreds of climbers not including their guides  and Sherpa support staff spend two months on the   mountain and therefore put a strain especially  at base camp but also in the camps higher up   the mountain in 2015 the Nepal government did  a report rep that suggested that there was as   much as 26,500 lb of human waste on the mountain  each season that's about 12,000 some odd kilog   in weight most of it is carried off in buckets  and when one goes to base camp you can literally   see everywhere little miniature toilet tents  where every time a blue bucket at the bottom   of that receptacle is filled up it is carried  to a human waste deposit area not too far from   Everest Base Camp left in a pit and it biodegrades  though the human waste is being carried from those   toilets by local Porters who are paid very well  for doing that and they carry it to the side of   the glacier and they dump it on the ground it's  not being treated any in any way and that human   waste is leaking into the water supply it's a  terrible problem it's a disgrace these Expeditions   are well funded the members of the Expeditions  have plenty of money now in terms of human waste   higher up the mountain above base camp we did  a report before the 20124 season that said how   Nepal was implementing a system wherein climbers  would be responsible to carry down their own human   waste from higher upon the mountain the future  of this is is that there's going to have to be   a huge amount of self-regulation in fact there  are also many instances of teams leaving their   tents and discarded garbage up at the high camp  Camp 4 the South Coal at 8,000 M and in that a   suggestion might be that the Nepal government  provides free permits to a limited number of   expeditions that are there specifically for  the purpose of removing garbage from past Expeditions now let's look at climate change  and Everest's future climate change of course   is another issue that reinold mesner and many  Mountaineers who came to the mountains for their   pristine Beauty are very concerned about now  this isn't trying to get into global warming   as a political statement but the fact is is that  the Glaciers are receding rapidly changing the   nature of the kumbu icefall in 2009 I treed up  into the Gango Tre Glacier in India which is   essentially the source of the Ganges River I was  with my friend Conrad anchor we were doing a film   with David bachio and his producer John cof  and we were measuring how quickly the glacier   was melting the Gango Tre Glacier scientists had  estimated the glacier would be completely melted   in 50 years now we did this film 15 years  ago Conrad and I with some of the filming   we did far up there at the base of shivling and  meu Peak were alarmed at how fast the water was   flowing right at the top of the glacier and  fixing this certainly isn't relegated to just   Mountaineers this this is a change that all  human beings on the planet are responsible for   but it does highlight how Reinhold mesner says  that while the mountains seem Eternal they're   highly sensitive to human impact and it mirrors  the broader Global challenge of balancing human   ambition with Environmental Protection mesner is  not the only one to think that mountain climbers   have an obligation an ethical duty to protect the  Mountains and the environment into which they are climbing now let's look at the bigger picture  authentic Adventure versus instant gratification   despite everything and all the changes that have  taken place over the decades Mount Everest still   provides every single individual endeavoring to  climb to the top of it with an opportunity to   face incredible hardships where suffering for a  long period of time is unavoidable so regardless   of whether an individual is being guided up  to the top or not that human that gets to the   summit of Mount Everest has gone through immense  hardships in order to do that it is not easy to   climb Mount Everest but what has changed is what  is drawing the people there in the first place   with the rise of instant gratification evident  everywhere on social media it's possible that   many people are drawn to Everest on the idea  of getting that photograph from the summit and   receiving some ego boost some pat on the back it's  as if they're standing at the foot of a mountain   and they have this abstract concept called impact  that they want to have in the world which is the   summit what they don't see is the mountain I  don't care if you go up the mountain quickly   or slowly but there's still a mountain and so  what this Young Generation needs to learn is   patience that something things that really really  matter like love a skill set any of these things   all of these things take time one of my favorite  quotes or sayings is from my friend Mark cinate   who's been on this channel many times and he said  it sometime after our 2019 expedition to search   for the remains of Sandy Irvin on the north side  of Mount Everest and Mark said Adventure is when   someone does not know the outcome and it seems  to a certain extent that sense of adventure may   have been lost on Mount Everest and the 8,000  meter peaks with the overt commercialization of   those mountains and the great numbers of people  going there to climb them authentic adventure   takes time takes great effort and a willingness  to face and completely accept uncertainty or failure so what's to be done what would the call  to action necessarily be for the future of Mount   Everest well we need to support governments like  Nepal to continue imposing stricter and stricter   rules on the environmental impact on the mountain  I haven't talked too much about the north side of   Mount Everest the Chinese Tibetan side because  there are very strict rules being implemented   there it is a spotless side of the mountain with  severe limitations on who is allowed to climb on   the mountain one needs to prove an extensive list  of climbing experience in order to get a permit to   go there and they have to pre-approve whatever  guiding companies are allowed to guide people   on the mountain so we know that there are many  challenges facing Mount Everest in the 8,000 meter   Peaks one of them being the overcrowding in Nepal  it's more of a wild west anybody can guide anybody   up there the restrictions on who is allowed to  climb on the mountain are very little so what   would be suggested but isn't expected at all is  that the Nepal government restricts the number of   permits being given on the mountain in any given  year but that doesn't seem to be in the realm of   possibility in the near future with record number  of climers coming to the mountain each year when   you look at a country like Nepal that is you  know still in the developing Nation status   it's one of the poorest countries in the world so  having a multi-million dollar Revenue generator   is important and so the one of the challenges  that you see um operating on the on the south   side of Nepal that's the opposite of the Chinese  government is that there's very little regulation   and very little control of the number of people  on the mountain or steps put in place to ensure   the safety uh of the climbers and the workers  there and that's one of the main challenges faced   um within the IND industry right now one of the  great impacts outside of the environmental impact   of the mountain is that this is impacted greatly  the sherpa population of the kumu region it has   benefited them ultimately and that they have a  new way to make income and some of them are doing   quite well but it also puts them at Great Risk by  going into that career it's a very dangerous job   to guide people especially novices on the mountain  and as these numbers of clients expands over the   years more and more inexperienced Sherpa meaning  high altitude Porter or high altitude Sherpa   there's going to be less experience with those  individuals putting them at greater risk as well   in a fantastic interview with writer and fellow  colleague Ben ARS he talks about what is going   to happen in the next 5 to 10 years on Mount  Everest and Beyond is the possibility that some   mountaineering organizations won't even recognize  Everest Summits as significant achievements in   terms of the hopes of the future SS Echoes earlier  that it would be hoped that the regulations on the   mountain particularly on the Nepal side would that  the regulations would become stricter with the   introduction of some way to measure the competency  of a client who was being hired for the mountain   some proof that that person had mountaineering  experience and wasn't getting off the couch if   you will just for the opportunity for the summit  selfie one thing that is happening is that there   is a shift happening now to less Western oriented  or Western based Expedition organizers to more   Nepali owned organizers and now as more and  more napali climbers Sherpa climbers are gaining   experience and becoming certified guides for  instance at The kumu Climbing Center where I   just had a short conversation with my friend  Conrad Anker who was instrumental in setting up   this training for Sherpa and Conrad said in our  conversation that the gentlemen Sherpa who were   on our expedition in 1999 when we were on the  expedition to look for mallerie and Irvin are   being replaced by their own children which which  is wonderful to see that they're going into the   mountains with a great level of climbing I will  look forward to doing a future story about The   kumu Climbing Center for this channel stay tuned  on that one we shall see what the coming years   will bring will there be a change in the number  of people or who is drawn to the mountain will   Nepal Institute stricter regulations we have yet  to see we can only hope that the emphasis would be   on protecting the mountain limiting the number of  people there furthering the safety regulations for   those individuals who are working there who don't  have as much of a choice in going I hope you'll   take some time to let us know your thoughts  in the comments below and if you've enjoyed   this video please take the time to subscribe and  hit the Bell icon in the meantime do a good deed   don't ask for anything in return make the world a  better place one step at a time peace be with you

2025-01-12 21:19

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