Because it’s there. Three words have consigned Mount Everest to the status of a common tourist spot: Replete with garbage. As human beings push the barriers of endurance, they also scrape, layer by enigmatic layer, the romance and mystique that cocoon and preserve nature’s wonders. Everest was, for long, a synonym for such perfection, spoken of in the same breath as the moonwalk or the four-minute mile. Even in the early 20th century, when much of the world had been conquered, mountains remained the last outpost, mountaineers among the dying breed of pioneers. Dying is an apposite phrase, because Everest claimed the lives of several who tried to climb her. The most famous of course involving the 1924 expedition of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine. The floodgates opened in 1953 when Hillary and Tenzing reached the top — and though Everest was conquered, at least one mystery remained: Who reached the summit first? That ascent paved the way for thousands of others eager to prove their worth. Milestones fell like snowflakes on the South Col: The first woman climber, the first ascent without oxygen, the first visually handicapped. But, as the scouts’ trail to the summit grew longer, the pile of debris grew higher. No longer is the Everest a destination for serious mountaineers; it’s the subcontinent’s latest tourist attraction. Indeed, the serious mountaineer is looking away, at selected peaks in the Rockies, Andes or Alps, which make up in difficulty what they lack in height. Without meaning to take anything away from those who made multiple ascents of Everest,, it must be pointed out that many of those who have been on the easier routes did so in the role of guides to those with fat cheque books. There is also the serious problem of garbage, accentuated by the fact that things don’t decompose in those heights. As we celebrate the golden jubilee of first ascent — and celebrate we must, for it was an exceptional feat — we should look at putting a halt, or tighter control, on repeat acts. Give the mountain back its dignity, preserve it for its lifetime. Because it’s there.
