GPS trackers are already used by many professional climbers.
Kathmandu:
Nepal has ordered Everest mountain climbers to carry mandatory trackers after one of its deadliest seasons last year – and dispose of their feces using compostable bags similar to those used for dog waste.
Eighteen climbers were killed last year, including at least five bodies that had not yet been recovered on the world's highest mountain, where authorities want to improve safety and clean up a sacred peak where tonnes of rubbish have been dumped.
GPS trackers are already used by many professional climbers and help people monitor their progress on the summit, which is important for both safety and the sponsors monitoring the climb.
For the spring climbing season, which starts this month and runs until May, Nepal is expected to need less powerful but smaller passive trackers, which can be easily sewn into a jacket and do not require electricity to function. They can be tracked by a portable detector at about 20 meters (66 feet) through packed snow, and several times as much in the air.
Enforcing its use will help locate people in the event of an accident, officials said.
“The trackers are mandatory for climbers this year so that if an accident happens their location can be accurately identified,” Rakesh Gurung, director of mountaineering at Nepal's tourism department, told AFP on Tuesday.
The rapid growth of the climbing industry has led to intense competition among companies for business, and also raised fears that some are skimping on safety.
With around 600 climbers and guides set to reach the summit in 2023, the local rural community of Everest has also introduced a slew of new rules, including mandatory poop bags to be used above base camp.
Tons of rubbish – including empty cans, bottles and gas cylinders, discarded climbing equipment, plastic and human waste – litter the mountain, which has been dubbed the 'world's tallest rubbish bin'.
– 'Contaminated' –
“Our mountains are becoming polluted, as are our water sources,” said Mingma Chiri Sherpa, chairman of Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality.
“The climbers should use biodegradable bags for their waste above base camp so that it can be properly disposed of upon return,” he said.
At base camp, climbers use toilets with barrels to collect waste.
But at higher levels, in the frigid conditions where ice and rocks make burial difficult, excrement has previously simply been omitted. This poses a health risk, especially if climbers use melted snow for drinking water.
Poop bags can contain chemicals that help dry and solidify waste, removing odor, and have been used in other extreme environments, including Antarctica and Denali, Alaska.
Home to eight of the world's fourteen peaks above 8,000 meters (26,246 feet), Nepal welcomes hundreds of adventurers every spring climbing season, when temperatures are warm and winds are generally calm.
In the capital Kathmandu, expedition operators are busy preparing for their clients, checking mountaineering equipment and packing bags of food for mountaineers.
“So far this spring we expect at least 400 climbers,” said Damber Parajuli of the Expedition Operators' Association.
Specialist 'icefall doctors' have already left for the Everest base camp, where they will plot the climbing route of ropes and ladders.
These highly skilled Nepalese mountaineers are the first men to the summit each season, building a route over deep gorges and constantly shifting ice, including the treacherous Khumbu Icefall.
Three Nepalese climbers died there last April when a block of glacial ice fell and knocked them into a crevasse as they crossed the icefall on a supply mission.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
