Rising 8,848 metres from sea level, Mount Everest is the ultimate attraction for thrill seekers. The world’s tallest peak was thought to be unconquerable until Sir Edmund Hillary and his Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay reached Everest’s summit. However their 1953 feat is leading to scores of adrenaline junkies dying every year, as they attempt to emulate their towering Everest achievement.
Mount Everest and its surrounding peaks are becoming increasingly polluted and warmer, with nearby glaciers melting at alarming rates, making it more dangerous for future climbers, a US scientist has announced.
Professor John All of Western Washington University said after returning from Everest his scientific team has discovered significant pollution buried in the snow, and the snow was surprisingly dark even after processing.
Speaking from Kathmandu, Professor Hall said: “What that means is there are little pieces of pollution that the snow is forming around, so the snow is actually trapping the pollution and pulling it down.”
Professor Hall and his team spent almost am month examining snow and flora on Everest and its surrounding peaks.
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He continued: “The warming temperature is melting the glaciers and the snow around Mount Everest very quickly, so what happens is even when there is a storm it melts in a couple of hours.
“The glaciers are retreating dramatically because of global warming.”
The US scientist said Everest is becoming increasingly dangerous for climbers because the glaciers are getting thinner and smaller.
The researchers initially planned to climb both Everest and its sister peak Lhotse, but quests of climbers on Everest forced them to change their plans. They climbed up to the last camp at 8,000m (26,240ft), the final point the two mountains share, and only reached Lhotse’s peak.
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Hundreds of climbers had lined-up late last month to attempt to reach Everest’s summit, creating a traffic jam that is being blamed for several climbers’ deaths.
Professor All believes it was too dangerous for his team to collect samples with that many climbers moving so slowly.
The samples and data will undergo more comprehensive processing once they return to the US, after which they would then issue a report on their findings.
They had done similar research in the area in 2009.Professor All concluded: “Overall, the past 10 years have seen a lot changes in the mountains, and they all have been for the negative environmentally in terms of long term survivability of the glaciers.”
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May and June are the only months where weather conditions make it possible for climbers to reach the summit of Everest.
So far this year, a record number of permits were issued by the Nepalese government, which, along with a rule that every climber has to be accompanied by a sherpa, led to there being more than 820 people trying to reach the summit.
Eleven people died on the mountain, leading to questions about whether better regulation is needed.