I discovered a trash dump on Mt. Everest — and picked up 440 pounds of it

May 30, 2023

It’s not about the destination, it’s the climb — to the dumpster, that is.

Last week, a mountaineer named Mingma Tenzi Sherpa scaled Mount Everest for the ninth time — but instead of appreciating the beautiful view, he found himself filled with revulsion for what he saw around him.

As he climbed to the summit of the mountain, Tenzi observed a disturbing amount of litter, including sanitary pads, hiking gear and steel bowls and spoons.

Tenzi took to Instagram to share a video of the mess, which showed a closer view of tents, sheets and ropes left behind.

“We can see the lots of tents, empty oxygen bottles, steel bowls, spoons, sanitation pad, paper [sic] a lot a thing which is used by humans,” he wrote in the caption.

“Either this work done by us who are there to climb the Everest. I feel so sad every time cause I have seen many times doing expedition groups and companies cut there companies logos and leave there all the tents for the rest.”

A mountain guide on Mount Everest has taken to Instagram to show the litter that is left behind by climbers. — A mountain guide on Mount Everest has taken to Instagram to show the litter left behind by climbers.

The clip showed tons of litter, trash, and hiking gear that was left behind. — The clip showed huge quantities of hiking gear and miscellaneous trash despoiling the mountain.

The Post reached out to Tenzi for comment.

Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world, reaching 29,032 feet, according to Britannica.

Tenzi, who is touted by his company as one of the “finest mountain guides of his generation,” claimed that this was the “dirtiest camp” that he had seen in his life.

He and his team cleaned up over 440 pounds of garbage from the mountain, according to Jam Press, but he has stated that there is still a lot of clean-up work that remains to be done.

He claimed that it was the "dirtiest" camp site that he had ever seen. — He claimed that it was the “dirtiest” camp site that he had ever seen.

"I feel so sad every time cause i have seen many times doing expedition groups and companies cut there companies logos and leave there all the tents for the rest," he wrote in the caption of his post. — “I feel so sad every time cause i have seen many times doing expedition groups and companies cut there companies logos and leave there all the tents for the rest,” he wrote in the caption of his post.

Tenzi is regarded as "one of the finest mountain guides of his generation." — Tenzi is regarded as “one of the finest mountain guides of his generation.”

Tenzi explained in his caption that clean-ups are conducted on the mountain from time to time, but that it’s not enough.

“Clean Mountain Campaign has been begun from many years ago,” he wrote. “Although the campaign did a good effort to clean mountain but as always everytime companies leave there trash on mountain so its gonna be hard to clean.”

In 2014 the Nepali government launched an initiative in an effort to prevent littering on Mount Everest — if you visit, you are required to pay $4,000, but if you return with 18 pounds of garbage from your hike, your money will get refunded, according to National Geographic.

That is the same amount of refuse that each person accumulates throughout their hike on average, the outlet noted.

The video circulated around social media.

The Nepali government launched an initiative in an effort to prevent littering on Mount Everest in 2014.

“I would like to request to the government to punish that companies who leave there trash on mountain. It’s a huge problem we all facing,” Tenzi urged on Instagram.

In other news on Mount Everest, last week British Army veteran Hari Budha Magar became the first double amputee above the knee to scale the peak.

He recalled that he “cried like a baby upon reaching the top.”