47 days, 452 kilometers, 2.2 tons of waste. These are the numbers of phase 1 of «8 X 8000 m», the project promoted by Dawa Steven Sherpa with the support of Bally Peak Outlook Foundation aim to clean up the four peaks of the Himalayas, including Everest.
The expedition, which took place between September and October 2020, made it possible to collect large quantities of garbage from the four base camps of Cho Oyu, Everest, Lhotse and Makalu, climbing two peaks – Baruntse (7,129 m) and Picco Mera (6.
540 m) – and crossing four icy passes – the Chola (5,440 m), the Amphulabsa (5,870 m), the West Col (6,140 m) and the Sherpani Col (6,147 m) – since the official routes were forbidden to cause of Covid-19.
A valuable initiative, which prompted the promoters to venture into these remote places precisely because due to their difficult access and extreme conditions, including high transport costs and lack of resources, they are rarely cleaned up. A big problem considering that during the climbing season, the base camps are among the most populated areas of the mountain range and therefore also victims of greater pollution. Consider that among the collected waste, remains dating back to the 1980s were found as well as cans, old glasses, broken curtains and wooden crates with medical syringes from an Italian expedition in the early 1970s.
A difficult undertaking, especially due to the harsh climatic conditions, but made possible by a powerful, composed team about half from native Sherpas which, thanks to their genetic peculiarities, are able to live and work in extreme mountain environments. Among them, for the first time, also a female figure, a pioneer of rights and environmental protection: Yankila Sherpa, from Olangchung Gola, a remote village in eastern Nepal, advocate for women’s emancipation and chief advisor to the Nepal Mountaineering Association, vice president of the trans-Himalayan program for the environment and livelihood, promoter of responsible tourism.
Phase 2 of the expedition will take place in 2021, when Dawa-led participants will clear out the base camps of Kanchenjunga (8,586m), Dhaulagiri (8,167m), Manaslu (8,156m) and Annapurna (8,091m), as well as Everest camp ( 8,848 m) for the third time.
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