By Binaj Gurubacharya with AP

Published on 27/05/2025 – 13:55 GMT+2•Updated
14:00

ADVERTISEMENT

Nepal’s government says it has a “duty to protect” the Himalayas from the risks presented by climate change and the growing numbers of climbers attempting to scale the region’s summits, especially Everest.

“The government is strongly committed to support mountaineering in every possible way by keeping climbers safe, by protecting the natural beauty of our peaks and by helping local communities grow alongside the spirit of adventure,” Nepal’s tourism minister Badri Prasad Pandey said today.

He was speaking in Kathmandu at a gathering of about 100 climbers from around the world who have successfully tackled Mount Everest. The one-day conference, dubbed the Everest Summiteers Summit, involved discussions on how to protect climbers and the environment.

Attendees expressed concern about the rising numbers of people who crowd Everest to try to scale the 8,849-metre peak. Veterans have complained how the mountain is becoming crowded and dirty.

11 tonnes of garbage removed from Everest

Climbers normally spend weeks at base camp to acclimatise to the higher altitude. They make practice runs to the lower camps on Everest before beginning their final attempt on the peak.

Nepal’s government last year funded a team of soldiers and Sherpas to remove 11 tonnes of garbage, four dead bodies and a skeleton from Everest during the climbing season.

“Today, climate change and global warming are putting this future at risk. That is why we must act with care, with wisdom and with a deep sense of respect,” Pandey said. “These mountains are sacred, and it is our duty to protect them for the generations yet to come.”

Nepal doesn’t have rules on how many days climbers must spend acclimatising or making practice climbs. The permits to climb Everest, which cost $11,000 (around €9,700) each, are valid for 90 days. Climbing season normally wraps up by the end of May, when the weather deteriorates and monsoon season begins.

Everest is getting more crowded

Mount Everest was conquered in 1953 by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay. Since then it has been climbed thousands of times and every year hundreds more attempt to reach the summit.

The popularity of the challenge means climbers face increased risks as queues form on the routes to the summit during the short windows of good weather, crowding the narrow and dangerous path to the summit though icy ridges and steep slopes.

There is also concern over the levels of experience of some climbers, who put themselves at risk as well as making climbs dangerous for others.

“The biggest issue and concern at the moment is overcrowding,” said Adriana Brownlee, the youngest woman to climb the world’s 14 highest peaks. “We need to make sure that those [people on the mountain] are all experienced in the mountaineering world. So that if they are struggling [or] they are on their own and something happens, they know how to save themselves.”

Nepalese climber Purnima Shrestha said attempts to climb Mount Everest have become too commercialised.

“But not all the people there are physical and emotionally ready to climb the peak, that is being disrespectful to Everest,” she said. “This is the reason why there’s all the traffic jams on the way to the peak.”

Everest guide says using xenon is better for environment

Meanwhile, an experienced British mountain guide is championing the benefits of using xenon gas to make climbing Everest quicker, and better for the environment.

Lukas Furtenbach took a team of British climbers, who left London on 16 May, to scale the peak on 21 May. They returned home two days later, in one of the fastest ascents on record of the world’s highest peak, including the climbers’ travel from their homes and back.

The use of xenon gas treatment has, however, drawn controversy and has even raised the concerns of Nepalese mountaineering authorities who have announced an investigation.

“The only reason why we are working with xenon is to make climbing safer, to protect climbers from high altitude sickness,” Furtenbach told AP upon his return to Kathmandu. “We can see people dying on Everest every year and this may be one step to improve the situation to make climbing high altitude mountains safer.”

The climbers had put in months of preparation, training in hypoxia tents, and underwent a xenon gas treatment at a clinic in Germany just two weeks before heading to Nepal.

Climbers normally spend weeks at base camp to acclimatise to the higher altitude. They make practice runs to the lower camps on Everest before beginning their final attempt on the peak so that their bodies are prepared for the low pressure and lower level of oxygen available.

Furtenbach said the ability to climb the peak in a shorter period of time could lead to less environmental impact on the mountain.

“Human waste is one of the biggest problems on Everest base camp. If people spend one week there compared to eight weeks, it is a 75 per cent reduction of human waste,” he said. “It is a huge reduction of garbage on the mountain and also of resources that have to be carried up to the back camp and have to be carried up the mountain.”

Nepal’s mountaineering department issued a press statement saying it was going to investigate the use of xenon gas.

Furtenbach said the gas was never used in Nepal and that he could prove that it was safe to use for climbers.