China has closed the base camp on its side of Mount Everest to visitors who don’t have climbing permits.
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Authorities have resorted to the unusual move to deal with the mounting waste problem at the site.
The ban means tourists can only go as far as a monastery slightly below the 5,200m (17,060ft) base camp level.
More people visit the Himalayan mountain from the southern side of Nepal, but over the past years, numbers have been rising steadily on the Chinese side as well.
The Chinese base camp, located in Tibet, is popular as it is accessible by car, whereas the Nepalese camp can only be reached by a hike of almost two weeks.
The world’s highest peak has been struggling with escalating levels of rubbish for years, as the number of visitors rises.
The Chinese Mountaineering Association says 40,000 visited its base camp in 2015, the most recent year with figures. A record 45,000 visited Nepal’s base camp in 2016-7, according to Nepal’s Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation.
Ordinary tourists will only be banned from areas above Rongbuk monastery, which is around 5,000m above sea level, according to China’s state news agency Xinhua.
Mountaineers who have a permit to climb the 8,848m peak will still be allowed to use the higher camp.
In January, authorities announced they would limit the number of climbing permits each year to 300.
On Chinese social media, claims have recently spread that its base camp will be permanently closed to tourists – but Xinhua cited officials denying that.
The official announcement about the closure was made in December, on the website of the Tibetan authorities.
It stated that three clean-up operations last spring had collected eight tonnes of waste, including human feces and mountaineering equipment climbers had left behind.
This year’s clean-up efforts will also try to remove the bodies of mountaineers who have died in the so-called death zone above 8,000m, where the air is too thin to sustain life for long.
Due to the cold and high altitude, these bodies often remain on the mountain for years or even decades.
Source: The original article was written by BBC. It can be read here.
It’s sad to have to deal with the problem in this way, although completely understandable. I would think those that come to appreciate such a natural wonder would be more environmentally mindul, shocking !
True! The solution is educating the tourists on the disasters of environmental pollution.
This makes me so sad!! I hope it’s not closed forever. I have always wanted to visit Everest Base Camp! Maybe I’ll just make the two week trek. Sounds like a great adventure!
No; its not actually closed for all people. Those with permits can still go to the Himalayan Everest basecamp in China.
Oh I didn’t know this, so thanks so much for the heads up!
I’ve only seen Mount Everest from very far when I went to Nepal as a kid. This sounds like an experience of a lifetime but countries have no choice to take these drastic measures in order to protect the environment as well as save the lives of tourists!
I think it’s the right call. The situation in Everest has been out of hand for a long time.
Wow that is pretty sad that a few had to ruin it for all 🙁 hopefully it will teach people to be more respectful in the future if it reopens!
I agree for closing Mount Everest. For many years this became famous for hikers and reaching the summit is indeed rewarding (and also for many’s ego) but these trash is a wake-up call. Close it permanently for nature’s sake.
It’s a sad news that because if us humans, they are closing the Everest base camp. But it’s also true if left unchecked, we will soon spoil these beautiful locations of Earth.