Climbing Mount Everest is a monumental feat for even the most experienced hikers, but it may still shock you to learn that almost 300 people have died while trying to make it to the top.
But if you thought those unfortunate climbers were resting peacefully on the mountain’s face, you’d be wrong again. Global warming is causing the glaciers on Everest to melt, uncovering the bodies of those who died while working their way up the highest peak in the world.
Ang Tshering Sherpa, former president of Nepal Mountaineering Association, explained: “We have brought down dead bodies of some mountaineers who died in recent years, but the old ones that remained buried are now coming out.”
The majority of the corpses have been popping up in an area known as the Khumbu Icefall, while others have appeared in a spot called South Coll.
But removing the bodies is not an easy task, particularly since law states that moving them requires intervention from Nepal’s government. It’s also an expensive process, with estimated costs of $80,000 to bring corpses down the mountain.
A government liason officer told the BBC: ““Hands and legs of dead bodies have appeared at the base camp as well in the last few years.
“We have noticed that the ice level at and around the base camp has been going down, and that is why the bodies are becoming exposed.”
But Everest isn’t the only mountain suffering the ill-effects of global warming, with many glaciers in the Himalayas thinning. While the movement of the Khumba Glacier is also exasperating matters.
Tshering Pandey Bhote, vice president of Nepal National Mountain Guides Association, added: “Because of the movement of the Khumbu Glacier, we do get to see dead bodies from time to time.
“But most climbers are mentally prepared to come across such a sight.”
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