Overcrowding through tourism reaches new heights
Today’s Daily Telegraph reports that overcrowding was expected at the summit of Mount Everest again this weekend as 200 people will attempt to summit. Last weekend a similar number tried and four died.
There is a bottleneck at the Hillary Step, a rock face near the peak that climbers from the Nepal side have to ascend and descend with the help of ropes.
Waiting raises the danger of frostbite and oxygen runs low.
Zimba Zangbu Sherpa, president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, is reported in the Telegraph saying climbers were increasingly taking unnecessary risks when time was running out or conditions were poor.
“Now there are so many people trying to reach the top, vying for this or that record … Some climbers near the peak – most of whom have paid tens of thousands of dollars on the expedition – often ignore the advice to expert guides to turn back.”
