Clean Mount Everest – bodies and tons of trash removed from mountain peaks

There are tons of broken tents and clothing, food packaging, stoves, empty water bottles, beer cans and oxygen bottles that thousands of adventurers have left behind for decades. There’s also a lot of human feces – and dozens of corpses, some of which mountaineers even use as route markers.

Bodies are often left on the mountain
When people die on the mountain, they often stay there. Because recovering a frozen corpse is difficult and expensive: it costs 30,000 to 60,000 euros, says American mountaineer and blogger Alan Arnette. Typically, a team of six to ten experienced Sherpas is deployed with oxygen tanks, after which a helicopter flies the body off the mountain. Some families also left their deceased relatives there because they loved the mountain so much.

Money for help with the clean-up
The Nepalese army has been conducting repeated clean-up operations in the Himalayas since 2019. According to her own information, she collected almost 120 tons of garbage from various mountains, as well as 14 corpses and several skeletons. There are also certain rewards for people who bring trash down from the mountain. For example, Sherpa mountain guides receive $130 (about 120 euros) for an empty oxygen bottle. This can then be reused.

Tourists must pay a deposit
Today, expedition companies also require tourists to pay a $4,000 (approximately €3,700) deposit, which will be withheld if they are caught leaving trash on the mountain. But this is a manageable amount considering the costs of an average climb and descent of Everest: these are usually 50,000 to 100,000 euros per person. The packages include amounts for equipment, oxygen tanks, tents, domestic flights, food and a local Sherpa team.