As Mountaineers Kept Away Due To COVID, Nepal Climbers Remove 2.2 Tons Of Rubbish From Everest
2020 will be long remembered around the world as the year of the pandemic and lockdown. It will also be remembered as the year when nature showed how it can heal itself the abuses inflicted by humans.
While humans were locked down, the air and water became cleaner and there was more greenery all around.
But, in Nepal, it was the humans themselves who came forward to undo at least some of the damage done by others.
Over the years, Mount Everest, one of the biggest attractions in Nepal had turned into a garbage dump, due to the waste left behind there by the thousands of climbers who come to conquer the peak every year.?
Over 2.2 tons of garbage removed
In 2020, under the Bally Peak Outlook Foundation, the team travelled West to East, removing an approximate 2.2 tons of garbage from Cho Oyu, Everest, Lhotse and Makalu.?
"The Bally Peak Outlook Foundation project was able to provide critical income for local communities in the Himalayan region, employing professional climbers, cleaners, sorters, packers, porters, as well as dedicated support teams on the ground at each base camp who were all native to the mountain region," it said.
In the past too there have been numerous clean-up drives on the mountain. The government of Nepal announced last year that 24,000 pounds of garbage (plastic water bottles, food wrappings, plastic wrappers, tattered tents, equipment, batteries and even human waste) was collected on a 45-day clean-up project.?
Quarantine rules eased for Everest climbers
Last week, Nepal had eased quarantine rules for visitors in an effort to attract more climbers to Mount Everest, after the pandemic wiped out last year's season and devastated the tourism industry.
Visitors will be tested on arrival and will have to stay in quarantine only until their results come back negative, under a policy made public Thursday evening.
"We expect that climbers and trekkers who were postponing expeditions or trips due to tough rules will be coming to Nepal after this decision," Mira Acharya, director at the country's tourism department, told AFP.
Earlier, visitors had to stay in quarantine for seven days.
They will still have to present proof of vaccination or a negative RT-PCR result before arriving in the country.
The Department of Tourism in Kathmandu had said that more than 300 foreigners have expressed interest in climbing Mount Everest this spring.
