Climbing Mount Everest, known as Sagarmatha to Nepal’s Sherpa people, was once an activity reserved for the world’s best climbers. In the decade following the first ascent in 1953, only 13 people reached the summit of the world’s highest mountain.
Times change. More than 600 climbers have summited Everest during the 2023 climbing season; many of them were keen amateurs who paid up to $55,000 (£44,000) to be taken to the summit by expert climbers, Sherpa porters and guides. Tragically, at least 17 climbers lost their lives in the 2023 season.
Photos of traffic jams in the “death zone” above 8,000 meters and piles of rubbish at Everest Base Camp have made headlines for overtourism on the mountain, prompting many to ask whether Everest is still sustainable as teams set out to conquer the mountain this spring. Is it even ethical?
In response, the Nepalese government introduced a series of new regulations in 2024 designed to improve safety for climbers and shrink the mountains of garbage that have grown since Everest’s first summit.
This season, under the Base Camp Management Procedure of Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality, the size of climbing groups will be limited to 15 people and all climbers will be required to carry emergency tracking devices.
The new rules also require expeditions to use special communal toilet tents, and anyone ascending higher than Everest Base Camp will be required to carry their bodily waste down the mountain in a poop bag and carry at least eight kilograms (almost 18lb) of garbage in the same hour. the end of their expedition.
It’s an ambitious move for a mountain that generates $4.9m (£3.9m) directly from climbing permits each year, but will the new rules affect that too? Really Will they solve Everest’s problems and will they be implemented? Opinions are divided.
“GPS trackers are a step in the right direction,” said Billi Bierling of the Himalaya Database, the organization that keeps records of summit attempts. “It is definitely better not to have them, especially because if something happens on the Khumbu Glacier, customers and Sherpas can be located quickly.
“But the best way to make Everest safer is to have more successful climbers on the mountain. “Every season it is talked about that mountaineers should have previous mountaineering experience, but for some reasons this has not been implemented yet.”
However, the introduction of Waste Minimizing Gel (WAG) bags for human waste is undeniably a step forward. Climbing expeditions deposit more than eight tonnes of human waste onto Everest’s slopes each year, according to a 2019 campaign by Nepali environmentalist Dawa Steven Sherpa.
“The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) will provide each climber with a bag containing chemical powder that solidifies human waste and makes it odorless,” explains Nima Nuru Sherpa, president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association. “This is the first time such a rule has been implemented and will be repeated in other mountains of Nepal.”
Dealing with the equipment and garbage left behind by climbing trips can be a more difficult task. “Trash seen in many mountain systems has taken decades to accumulate, and removing it will take time and effort at all levels,” says record-breaking Nepalese mountaineer Nirmal “Nimsdai” Purja, who led litter-picking teams to Everest, K2, and Manaslu as part of the Great Mountain Clearing campaign.
According to British climber Kenton Cool, who is currently on the mountain, authorities need to do more to ensure people understand the responsibilities that come with climbing the Himalayas. “The biggest change needed is training for both climbers and Sherpas,” he says. “People don’t always know how to behave in the mountains.
“The Nepal ministry’s heart is in the right place, but solving problems on Everest is not just about announcing the rules, but also making sure those rules are understood and followed. The WAG bag is an honorable idea, but no one seems to be checking it out. “We moved ours down a few days ago and the staff at the SPCC checkpoint had no idea what they wanted to do with them.”
Austrian climber Lukas Furtenbach agrees that communication is a big part of the problem. “The Khumbu authority’s special regulations were announced only to Nepali operators; Foreign operators get the news from local partners, rumors and the media.”
Adding to the confusion, the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality has already rescinded many new rules, including the proposed ban on helicopters carrying supplies to Base Camp (this is now allowed, but only with official permission).
Sherpas have their own concerns about the new regulations. “These rules were announced suddenly and unexpectedly shortly before the start of the mountaineering season, and this will have a significant impact on our operating costs,” warns climbing guide Lhakpa Tsheri Sherpa.
“While some think the new rules will create more jobs for local porters and yak herders if fewer helicopters are allowed to transport goods and supplies directly to Base Camp, others say the new rules will make Everest expeditions even more expensive, which could create a problem in business There is a decline.”
Climbers aren’t the only ones affected by the changes. More than 90 percent of the 57,690 visitors to Sagarmatha National Park in 2023 were trekkers; they would book their treks with hot teas, freshly baked cakes and sometimes even luxurious spa treatments at the climbers’ village at Everest Base Camp.
Commercial ventures will be banned at Base Camp from this year, which could mean the end of camp bakeries and high-altitude massage tents. Climbing Everest may be safer and cleaner in the future, but it will also be, for better or worse, more challenging.