Additional Coverage:
- Mount Everest’s melting ice reveals bodies in the “death zone” (newsbreak.com)
In Kathmandu, the battle against climate change on Mount Everest has taken on a morbid twist. Warming temperatures are revealing the bodies of climbers who have perished on their quest to reach the highest point on Earth. This year, a dedicated group embarked on Everest not with the aim of reaching its summit, but to embark on a somber mission: to recover the bodies emerging from the melting snow and ice.
During a clean-up initiative spanning Everest and the nearby peaks of Lhotse and Nuptse, five bodies were unearthed, one of which was only skeletal. The team faced a formidable and dangerous task.
They spent countless hours meticulously chipping at the ice, at times using boiling water to aid in the recovery process. According to Aditya Karki, a leader of the team and a major in Nepal’s army, the thinning snow cover due to global warming is making these corpses and debris more visible.
Since the 1920s, more than 300 adventurers have lost their lives on Everest, with eight fatalities reported in the current season alone. While some of the bodies have disappeared into crevasses or been covered by snow, others, still clad in their mountaineering gear, serve as macabre landmarks on the path to the summit. They’ve even been given nicknames like “Green Boots” and “Sleeping Beauty.”
Recovering bodies from Mount Everest is an arduous and complex mission, necessitated by both respect for the deceased and the psychological impact on climbers encountering these grim markers. Karki expressed the necessity of these operations, emphasizing that leaving the bodies on the mountain would transform it into a graveyard. The bodies are typically placed in bags and dragged down on plastic sleds, a process that is both physically exhausting and fraught with risk owing to the high altitude and reduced carrying capacity.
Some recovered bodies are remarkably preserved, appearing almost exactly as they did at the moment of their death, complete with climbing equipment. The question of whether to undertake these costly and tricky recovery operations divides the climbing community. Nonetheless, Karki and his team insist on the importance of these efforts, arguing that it honors the memory of those lost and maintains the sanctity of the mountains.
Despite these recovery and cleanup efforts, Everest still harbors both its mysteries, like the missing British climber George Mallory and his partner Andrew Irvine, and remnants of its popularity among mountaineers, including tents, equipment, and trash left behind by previous expeditions. With the mountain facing the dual challenges of human impact and climate change, this year’s team also focused on removing approximately 12 tons of garbage, an initiative supported by a substantial budget and the work of numerous Nepali guides and porters. As Everest continues to attract climbers from around the world, the responsibility to preserve and respect this towering marvel grows ever more pressing.
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- Mount Everest’s melting ice reveals bodies in the “death zone” (newsbreak.com)