Not only does the southern base camp in Nepal have a garbage problem, but the northern one also sips. That's why China has closed Tibet's base camp on Mount Everest for tourists.
The ban applies to "ordinary tourists", not those with a permit to climb the highest mountain in the world, the official news agency Xinhua reported. For the tourists, a new camp will be built about two kilometers away
According to the report, access should be restricted to the areas above the Tibetan Rongpo Monastery, which is located at an altitude of 5,000 meters. According to the South China Morning Post, Tang Wu of the Tingri Tourism Authority cited "environmental protection" as the reason. This "core area" is "closed for tourists for an indefinite period".
Number of climbers at record high
The Chinese authorities are reacting to the significant increase in tourists at the 8,848-meter-high Mount Everest. According to the Chinese Mountaineering Association CMA, over the past eight years, more than 20,000 people from over 40 countries have left the Tibetan side for the summit. The base camp itself is also a popular destination for people who do not want to climb further. Around 40,000 people were traveling there in 2015.
The number of climbers, who climbed the Everest summit from both the Chinese and the Tibetan side, rose to a record high of 807 in 2018.
Because of this development are on Mount Everest more and more waste - but also the remains of failed mountaineers. In 2018, the Chinese authorities therefore organized three major cleaning operations at an altitude of more than 5200 meters.
It was "more than eight tons of household waste, excrement of people and legacies of mountain climbers" cleared away, wrote Xinhua. China also plans to recover the bodies of mountaineers at an altitude of over 8,000 meters.
According to the South China Morning Post, the number of permits for climbing the highest mountain in the world has been limited to 300 from the Tibetan side.