● JAPANESE ALPINE NEWS 2014

BART JORDANS Everest trek – heavy pollution on its way! “pack it in – pack it out” The Kangshung Face or Everest East Face trek is located in the protected Chomolongma National Nature Reserve. It is an enormous park, similar in size to Belgium and Luxembourg combined. In order to access to the foot of the impressive 3,000 + m East Face of you have to trek for several days crossing either the high passes of Shao La or Langma La between the – and Kama Valleys. The overwhelming views of Mount Everest (East Face) are shared with views of other high mountains like (8,516 m), Chomolonzo (7,790 m) and (8,481 m).

Similar to other high altitude environments, the natural landscape is very fragile in the Kangshung region and even small changes are having an enormous impact. The Kama Valley and surroundings are covered with beautiful forest and green meadows due to the impact of rain which easily can penetrate from into this area. Forest is controlled harvested by locals for locals. The Kama Valley has up until recently seen a steady amount of trekking groups, but this is changing. Now the number of groups enjoying the beauty of the mountains is growing. This is unfortunately resulting in an increasing amount of pollution.

Five years ago when visiting the area, you could sometimes see a little bit of pollution around campsites. Now in 2013 there is trash everywhere; an enormous amount of trash. On day number two of the trek the group of 15 trekkers did their best in collecting rubbish along the trek. We collected so much that we had to stop collecting; plastic bags were filled, side pockets of our bag packs were filled up (mostly Coca Cola tins). When we reached the camp site we were astounded to see that the amount

Everest Base Camp

LHUNDRUBLING Tarpaling Gompa KHARTA Kharta Chu MOJUN KHAMPA YUBSANG

YULOK East Rongbuk Gl RIPHU Khartaphu Tuolakangboqie YUENBA SHOMALE DAMPHU Samchung La Lhakpa La Kama Changri Kartse Rabkhar Gl Langma La LHATSE Gangla Dambuk Chu SHARO Karpo La Gompa Changtse Raphu La Shurim Tsho

North Col Kangshung Gl Rabkhar Chu Shao La

Valley of Lakes PETHANG RINGMO Tse Chu

Mt. Everest BASE CAMP Chog La TANGSUM PETHANG Panti La ABC JOKSAM Lhotse 38 Pethangtse Chomolonzo Gl SAKYETANG Lhotse Shar Kangdoshung Gl Shartse

Kama Chu Chomolonzo Chogo

Kangchungtse KHUNGU N E P A L Makalu La

Makalu N

Village = 0 5 Camp = Kharta-Yubsang to the Kangshung Face km Gompa =

82 AREA INFORMATION AND ENVIRONMENTS ● of rubbish we collected along the trail was only a fraction of what existed. With limited space in our packs we gave up collecting at camp 2 even though the trash along the trail continued. Towards the end of the trek we had a couple of available yaks which we used to carry out rubbish we collected at the high camp before Langma La.

If action is not taken immediately then the whole area will be effected badly. It is important for trekkers and locals to be educated about the need to take care of this land. Perhaps trekkers can be given a brief lecture when they obtain their permits regarding the philosophy of the group carrying everything off of the trail that they bring with them. Perhaps the locals can be educated about the fact that trekkers may stop coming to the heavily polluted area which would mean that yak herders who accompany trekking groups would no longer have that source of money. The best way to ensure that trekkers and locals both continue to enjoy this amazing region for generations to come is to take care of the land today. This needs to stop – “leave no traces” !

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