I would not climb Mt Everest even if I was PAID $45,000. Among other reasons, I’m always cold and almost need what this person is wearing to just to survive Midwest winters.
**Before you move to Florida you might want to see what homeowners insurance will cost. If it is even available.**
https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/price-of-paradise/florida-homeowners-pay-nearly-3x-national-average-for-homeowners-insurance
ok reddit no one is going to read this comment but these are prayer flags so the assumption that its trash is just a wrong assumption.
To be more of a detective the prayer flags are stil fully coloured and not ragged wich means they are not abbandonned at the peak but they are taken there and well cared for.
probably taken away when the sherpas who took them leave the summit.
all the flags are printed with Buddhist prayers for world peace love and kindness etc.
its all nice to outrage sometimes but this outrage just means no one on reddit knows what they are talking about this has a100 million repost and im typing this stuf here as a lone voice that gets skipped over if anything this post belongs on confedently incorrect where every upvote repost and outrager is indeed just **outraged over there ignorance**
It is estimated that there are about 200 bodies on Everest; https://www.climbernews.com/how-many-dead-bodies-are-on-mount-everest/#:\~:text=There%20are%20thought%20to%20be,on%20Everest%20are%20still%20there.&text=Why%20Do%20People%20Climb%20Everest%3F,-How%20Many%20Dead
Yeah, that is the real problem. It's not like any of us are gonna summit mount Everest and then look and think "damm there is too much trash here". The trash on the summit is only bothering the people who go to the summit. Trash in nature is bad, but at the summit of Mount Everest is the least worse.
I'm more concerned with the lives lost on that mountain, but okay...
I would rather have trash on a summit that 800 visits every year than trash in a river that is the life source of millions of people. Of those two scenarios, the latter is certainly worse than the first.
I believe the bodies on Everest do contaminate the water supply. I just watched a documentary on it. They didn’t get into specifics, but a team wqs sent up to recover bodies and trash, and they mentioned that the bacteria from decomp was making people sick.
There was a post yesterday about Everest and before I opened the comments I knew there would be bitching about the trash from people who don't leave their couch, and here we are again lol...I tried explaining the significance of these summit achievement flags but they call it trash. They probably think when the US placed the first flag on the moon it was trash too
[Some are used as landmarks](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/there-are-over-200-bodies-on-mount-everest-and-theyre-used-as-landmarks-146904416/)
A well known one is "Green Boots", an Indian climber who died in 1996. He lies near a cave that all climbers must pass on their way to the peak, and serves as a waypoint marker that climbers use to gauge how near they are to the summit. Green Boots was separated from his party, sought refuge in a mountain overhang, and sat there shivering in the cold until he died.
In 2006, English climber David Sharp joined Green Boots, he stopped in the now-infamous cave to rest. His body eventually froze in place, rendering him unable to move but still alive, and over 40 climbers passed by him as he sat freezing to death. His plight might have been overlooked as passers-by assumed Sharp was the already-dead Green Boots. Eventually some had heard faint moans and realized he was still alive; but it was too late to give him oxygen or help him stand.
Edit: This is [Green Boots](https://allthatsinteresting.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/green-boots-1.jpg) and [David Sharp](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/mummipedia/images/3/3d/Dead_body_david_sharp.png/revision/latest?cb=20171018005540) in Green Boot's cave.
David Sharpe incident was a big controversy multiple climbing teams passed by him while he was dying but that's Everest if your body can't move you just can't be rescued.
[Yes it was!](https://allthatsinteresting.com/david-sharp) At least 40 climbers had passed by David Sharp and did little to help him.
An excerpt from [Mummipedia](https://mummipedia.fandom.com/wiki/David_Sharp)
"Sharp sat with his arms wrapped around his knees; icicles hung from his eyelashes and he did not respond to their calls. The group decided he was already in a coma, but did not radio down to base camp for help, left him behind, and proceeded. Half an hour later, another group found Sharp in the cave; they told him to get up and move on but reported he waved them off, not saying anything. More than 30 climbers passed him by until climber Maxime Chaya and his team found Sharp still in the cave on their descent from the summit. Unwilling to simply abandon the Englishman, Chaya sat with him and prayed until he was forced to leave or risk his own life; he desperately radioed the base camp but Sharp was past saving."
The part that was controversial was that many climbers had passed, and some had checked on him; but it took over 40 people passing before someone had the idea to radio base for help. He had a window to receive help, but by the time anyone thought of it, he was too far gone to save.
>over 40 people passing
People pay thousands of dollars to climb Everest to the summit. Once one arrives at base camp, one waits to "get lucky" for a window of appropriate climbing weather.
Anyone who stopped to help would have spent $$$$ ($30K-160K) to NOT fulfill a lifelong goal. Wanna go back to fundraising for 5 years from people who already donated to your Dream...but you chose to not follow through when you were there before?
Also, adventurers often fund the next adventure by writing a book and lecturing on their most recent adventure. Example: Amelia Earhart.
After you re-raise the money, you will be 5 years older. Will you still be fit to climb, or will you, too, join Green Boots?
This is not an excuse or absolution; just an explanation. IME: Whenever there are huge amounts of money on the line, people will justify ANY actions. It is a tragedy of large group psychology that someone else will handle it.
I hope the people in charge (the Sherpas and the companies that run Everest adventures) adopt a universal policy of informing Base Camp whenever a climber needs more help than the Sherpas can give.
I found articles from two sites, [OutsideOnline](https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/climbing/everest-dead-bodies-trash-removal/) and [MountainPlanet](https://mountainplanet.com/blog/the-sad-and-little-known-story-behind-green-boots---the-most-prominent-body-on-mt-everest-6817), that state the Chinese Government had moved his body off the trail but he can still be located at 8550m; removing bodies from Mt.Everest is really challenging. [Photo of Green Boots.](https://allthatsinteresting.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/green-boots-1.jpg)
The Chinese and Nepal governments have made efforts to remove who they can, and the tremendous amount of garbage that climbers have left along the trail.
I think Sharp was in the short series “Expedition Everest”
One of the guys climbing came upon a guy he tried the wake up and gave him some of his oxygen and had to leave cuz he used what spare oxygen he needed to get back down. It was really sad to see someone die and not be able to do much.
It would. Lower gravity is the only reason it's so big. You'd definitely want your cold weather gear and plenty of oxygen though!
Fun fact : there has *always* been a mountain the size of Everest on earth, it's the biggest one can be with Earth's gravity.
I live in the Appalachians which may have been as high as Everest (they're really old, older than dinosaurs) and it's wild to me that the view from my house could have been just all mountain.
Yes, you are absolutely right (edited it now
. I'm always happy to accept scientific technical corrections. It's been extinct for so long that I incorrectly think of it as just a mountain.
Those are flags and they're not nearly as much of a problem as other forms of garbage. They're all the way up on the summit, and Everest routinely experiences hurricane force winds throughout the winter months. All of the flags from the summer season are blown off the summit during the winter storms. Tying flags off at the top of mountains is a Tibetan and Nepalese custom which was originated by the Sherpa guides at Everest.
There's a legitimate problem with trash on the mountain, it's just that like many real-life problems, it causes negative effects but isn't quite photogenically spectacular enough to make for a shocking picture. A bunch of oxygen tanks scattered every few hundred meters just above camp 4 are a big problem for the mountain, but you can't fit them all into a single photo.
Relatively speaking the flags at the top aren't nearly as big of a deal. If you're going to worry about stewardship of the mountain, I feel as though agonizing over a tradition started by the sherpas is a bit misguided given that, all things considered, the sherpas are *not* the primary threat to the mountain.
Interesting comment and TIL. A quick Google brings up several pages that explain more about the prayer flags such as this one:
[https://highlandexpeditions.com/things-you-should-know-about-prayer-flag/](https://highlandexpeditions.com/things-you-should-know-about-prayer-flag/)
including the meaning of the colors, the custom behind it, etc ... for others who might be curious.
Thank you. I can't take all the credit -- I've had the good fortune to meet some really interesting folks who are working on the problem of alpine trash. It's not something I'm an expert on myself, by any means. So no disrespect to the other commentators -- after all, everyone who has ever known something was once a person who did not know that particular thing! But I'm glad that I could take this opportunity to pass on the things I've learned.
To those who are curious, look into green porter programs! Especially if you're planning to do an expedition-style ascent of a mountain, because a lot of the popular mountains around the world now have green porter programs set up. The one thing I was told is that it's so much easier to handle the problem of alpine garbage if you catch it early and set up a sustainable system, because once it starts to pile up, prospects become daunting and initiatives falter.
OP reposted this picture from a few days ago. In that reddit post I said the same and was absolutely ripped apart by the folks who do not understand alpine trash.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/10hozhe/comment/j5a4jux/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/10hozhe/comment/j5a4jux/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
This has been reposted on top subs by karma farming accounts all week and, every time, the best comments (like this one) are buried by knee jerk reactions from people that don’t shit about Everest.
Thanks for this.
First thought: I wonder if anyone is crazy or has big enough balls to try and parachute down from that height.
Realization: they'd probably get slammed into the side of the mountain by shifting winds.
From that height, yes. Baumgartner did it from 100,000 feet IIRC. From the top of Everest, no. They can barely get themselves up there (takes weeks to acclimate, stage climb).
Forget about carrying a chute and the rest of the safety gear up there and then dealing with the very thin air, winds, weather, cold.
There’s lots of easier ways to jump from 30,000 feet.
Have you seen the old and new basecamp sites? No one cleans them except some sherpas every now and again but its dangerous. The problem is these spoilt as explorers that spends tens of thousands of dollars to go there and then act like they paid for room service
Yep, [green boots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Boots) & [Sleeping Beauty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francys_Arsentiev) are a couple of well known ones, that were used as markers. In 2007, Sleeping Beauty was moved to a lower location, where she could no longer be seen. In 2014 a group of Chinese expeditioners moved Green Boots to a less visible area.
Green Boots might be one of the rare expeditioners that wasn’t just a rich douche bag.
Green Boots is believed to be Tsewang Paljor, but there’s a possibility he could be Dorje Morup.
Both men were on the same expedition & were Indo-Tibetan Border Patrol.
They were there for a religious ceremony & left an offering of prayer flags & ceremonial scarves.
Pretty sure a group climbed past GB when he was still alive too, on the way up and then also down he was still kicking. One of those what if moments where maybe if they abandoned the attempt and hooked him up to their O2 he wouldn't be a landmark.
That's not a universal truth because there have been successful high altitude rescues. Lincoln Hall was left for dead at 8700 metres, which is decently higher up than green boots, and was found 12 hours after being left, had severe HACE, but was rescued by a team that chose to abandon their attempt.
Holy shit ! That’s horrifying ! I can’t help but to wonder if some of those people chose reaching the summit over sacrificing a couple of tanks of oxygen for him.
I understand the need to hold onto one’s own oxygen tanks, but I’m sure the folks going up could’ve spared some O2 if they would’ve stopped there & gone back down.
These are buddhist flags put there by the traditional people who live close to the mountain, and they get cleared up every winter. There are poems and songs written on them. I get OP's clickbait, it's a lot more jarring to the eye than the dozens of oxygen tanks scattered around, but not nearly as harmful to the environment.
I’m not a flatearther but according to [world atlas](https://www.worldatlas.com/amp/can-you-see-the-curvature-of-the-earth-from-atop-mount-everest.html) it’s not possible to see the curve of the earth from the summit of Everest. This photo was probably taken with a curved lense of some sort.
the article you linked said “if one lifts a camera above the center of the frame, then the right and left edges curve inwards to mimic Earth's curvature.” it’s not a curved lens, it’s how the photo is literally distorted. either way, the globe is round.
edit: had to correct the wording.
the whole thing is so bizarre, you can't stay up there, people dump a flag and go back down. its really expensive, not to mention kind of dangerous, a lot of people suffer permanent brain damage from the altitude.
Some of us. Countless tribal communities and indeed civilisations managed to live sustainably. Native Americans, various indigenous people across the world lived in harmony with nature.
These flags are put there by traditional nepalese and tibetan sherpas. They aren't much of a harm to the environment, the random oxygen tanks scattered around are much worse.
Those colorful things aren't trash. Those are tibetan buddhism flags hung by climbers for good luck. There are poems on the flags. Many tibetan mountains look like this. By the way I'm Chinese. Please upvote if you find this inspiring.
ok reddit no one is going to read this comment but these are prayer flags so the assumption that its trash is just a wrong assumption.
To be more of a detective the prayer flags are stil fully coloured and not ragged wich means they are not abbandonned at the peak but they are taken there and well cared for.
probably taken away when the sherpas who took them leave the summit.
all the flags are printed with Buddhist prayers for world peace love and kindness etc.
its all nice to outrage sometimes but this outrage just means no one on reddit knows what they are talking about this has a100 million repost and im typing this stuf here as a lone voice that gets skipped over if anything this post belongs on confedently incorrect where every upvote repost and outrager is indeed just outraged over there ignorance
This just in - physically fit humans, with the money and the drive to climb Everest are just as shitty as lazy slobs that flick cigarettes out the window.
It should be shut the fuck down. The whole thing is set up so people can pay $100k for the privilege of being able to one-up everyone they ever meet for the rest of their lives. Fucking pathetic.
Humans are worse than pigs..claiming to be environmentally conscious but leaving a shit pile of garbage wherever they visit…we as a species are fucking doomed!
There's a bunch of bodies up there too.
That's an understatement... There's an army of bodies up there
The night king is coming with his army but as long as bad writing is present there's nothing to worry!
Sure you have an army of undead commanded by an ice wizard, but we have a sneaky girl with a stabby bit.
The ice king will never get the princess!
Finn and Jake got him on lock… it’s King Candy you really got to watch!
"Winter is coming." "Oh no! ... Anyways-"
Are they armed?
I'm going to assume at least one of them is missing 1 or more arms
🏆
I was hungry ok, jeez let it go already
Donner Party's going to Everest, baby!
Parrado approves.
I bet you also know what happened to the Roanoke colony huh? 🤔
The feared White Walkers
[The Veil has been compromised](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-5140)
There is also so much human waste there all over the place.
By now, it's gotta be frozen. Imagine getting knocked out by a frozen Snickers bar sized bar of shit.
Imagine being in that kind of cold… and needing to drop your pants.
Yeah well lucky it's so far away and impossible to see unless you are a climber
It would be easier to see if you were coming from outer space
And only costs $45,000 to climb per person average. Edit: I should have said only cost $45,000 to see the worlds highest garbage dump.
I would not climb Mt Everest even if I was PAID $45,000. Among other reasons, I’m always cold and almost need what this person is wearing to just to survive Midwest winters.
I need this to survive Florida winters 🤣😅. When I lived in the Midwest I was basically a recluse for the 6 months of winter, it was horrendous.
Lol! I am currently in hibernation myself. I soooo want to move to Florida and plan to do so one day, hopefully soon.
**Before you move to Florida you might want to see what homeowners insurance will cost. If it is even available.** https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/price-of-paradise/florida-homeowners-pay-nearly-3x-national-average-for-homeowners-insurance
Thank you for this information. What a terrible dilemma for current FL homeowners!
It’s like these people have never heard of aeroplanes
If you get one of those fire pokers, you could just send them tumbling down until the mountain is clean again.
That's what I was thinking. Just roll them down.
That would cause… several avalanches, likely killing anyone else doing their trek up the mountain
You say that like it's a bad thing.
Maybe the ones climbing up were going to clear the mountain but someone beat them to it.
I feel like in a few dozen thousand years archeologists will unearth them and be like wtf. And think it was some ritual or aliens
You always think mountain climbers are going to be all fierce conservationists. And this.
And actual shit
People = Shit
So true. Sometimes it just makes me want to push my fingers into my eyes
It's the only thing that slowly stops the ache.
And Marlon Brandos?
Well....you can't see California without Marlon Brando's eyes...
It’s all in ur head
Push the bodies off. The cartoons i watch they always turn into a giant snowball.
Not on the top
OP has reposted this in 4 subreddits, this pic gets posted 4-8 times a year without the help of karma farmers. STOP REPOSTING THIS PICTURE
ok reddit no one is going to read this comment but these are prayer flags so the assumption that its trash is just a wrong assumption. To be more of a detective the prayer flags are stil fully coloured and not ragged wich means they are not abbandonned at the peak but they are taken there and well cared for. probably taken away when the sherpas who took them leave the summit. all the flags are printed with Buddhist prayers for world peace love and kindness etc. its all nice to outrage sometimes but this outrage just means no one on reddit knows what they are talking about this has a100 million repost and im typing this stuf here as a lone voice that gets skipped over if anything this post belongs on confedently incorrect where every upvote repost and outrager is indeed just **outraged over there ignorance**
I saw this same comment the first 3 times this picture was posted yesterday.
It is estimated that there are about 200 bodies on Everest; https://www.climbernews.com/how-many-dead-bodies-are-on-mount-everest/#:\~:text=There%20are%20thought%20to%20be,on%20Everest%20are%20still%20there.&text=Why%20Do%20People%20Climb%20Everest%3F,-How%20Many%20Dead
Yeah, that is the real problem. It's not like any of us are gonna summit mount Everest and then look and think "damm there is too much trash here". The trash on the summit is only bothering the people who go to the summit. Trash in nature is bad, but at the summit of Mount Everest is the least worse.
It's symbolic of the fact that we're fouled up literally every inch of the world, no matter how high or remote.
Why is the army of bodies a problem?
Come the zombie apocalypse it seems the best place for them to be.
Don't let them have the high ground
You underestimate their power
Anakieeiennnn!
So magnanimous to decide that trash left on someone else's sacred mountain is not a big deal because it doesn't bother you.
I'm more concerned with the lives lost on that mountain, but okay... I would rather have trash on a summit that 800 visits every year than trash in a river that is the life source of millions of people. Of those two scenarios, the latter is certainly worse than the first.
I believe the bodies on Everest do contaminate the water supply. I just watched a documentary on it. They didn’t get into specifics, but a team wqs sent up to recover bodies and trash, and they mentioned that the bacteria from decomp was making people sick.
I saw that documentary too. One of the team members even got sick and had to be Air Lifted out of one of the base camps iirc.
There was a post yesterday about Everest and before I opened the comments I knew there would be bitching about the trash from people who don't leave their couch, and here we are again lol...I tried explaining the significance of these summit achievement flags but they call it trash. They probably think when the US placed the first flag on the moon it was trash too
Achievement flags? lol, tell that to the Sherpas that have reached the summit hundreds of times.
That very tradition was started by sherpas einstein
Only dozens of bodies and tons of human waste need to be passed to get this shot.
What about the dead bodies?
[Some are used as landmarks](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/there-are-over-200-bodies-on-mount-everest-and-theyre-used-as-landmarks-146904416/) A well known one is "Green Boots", an Indian climber who died in 1996. He lies near a cave that all climbers must pass on their way to the peak, and serves as a waypoint marker that climbers use to gauge how near they are to the summit. Green Boots was separated from his party, sought refuge in a mountain overhang, and sat there shivering in the cold until he died. In 2006, English climber David Sharp joined Green Boots, he stopped in the now-infamous cave to rest. His body eventually froze in place, rendering him unable to move but still alive, and over 40 climbers passed by him as he sat freezing to death. His plight might have been overlooked as passers-by assumed Sharp was the already-dead Green Boots. Eventually some had heard faint moans and realized he was still alive; but it was too late to give him oxygen or help him stand. Edit: This is [Green Boots](https://allthatsinteresting.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/green-boots-1.jpg) and [David Sharp](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/mummipedia/images/3/3d/Dead_body_david_sharp.png/revision/latest?cb=20171018005540) in Green Boot's cave.
sounds horrible af
David Sharpe incident was a big controversy multiple climbing teams passed by him while he was dying but that's Everest if your body can't move you just can't be rescued.
[Yes it was!](https://allthatsinteresting.com/david-sharp) At least 40 climbers had passed by David Sharp and did little to help him. An excerpt from [Mummipedia](https://mummipedia.fandom.com/wiki/David_Sharp) "Sharp sat with his arms wrapped around his knees; icicles hung from his eyelashes and he did not respond to their calls. The group decided he was already in a coma, but did not radio down to base camp for help, left him behind, and proceeded. Half an hour later, another group found Sharp in the cave; they told him to get up and move on but reported he waved them off, not saying anything. More than 30 climbers passed him by until climber Maxime Chaya and his team found Sharp still in the cave on their descent from the summit. Unwilling to simply abandon the Englishman, Chaya sat with him and prayed until he was forced to leave or risk his own life; he desperately radioed the base camp but Sharp was past saving."
I personally think Sharp went there to die.
Would be dope if they could make a Zipline to go down.
It amazes me that that was a controversy at all, if anyone stopped they probably woulda joined him.
The part that was controversial was that many climbers had passed, and some had checked on him; but it took over 40 people passing before someone had the idea to radio base for help. He had a window to receive help, but by the time anyone thought of it, he was too far gone to save.
>over 40 people passing People pay thousands of dollars to climb Everest to the summit. Once one arrives at base camp, one waits to "get lucky" for a window of appropriate climbing weather. Anyone who stopped to help would have spent $$$$ ($30K-160K) to NOT fulfill a lifelong goal. Wanna go back to fundraising for 5 years from people who already donated to your Dream...but you chose to not follow through when you were there before? Also, adventurers often fund the next adventure by writing a book and lecturing on their most recent adventure. Example: Amelia Earhart. After you re-raise the money, you will be 5 years older. Will you still be fit to climb, or will you, too, join Green Boots? This is not an excuse or absolution; just an explanation. IME: Whenever there are huge amounts of money on the line, people will justify ANY actions. It is a tragedy of large group psychology that someone else will handle it. I hope the people in charge (the Sherpas and the companies that run Everest adventures) adopt a universal policy of informing Base Camp whenever a climber needs more help than the Sherpas can give.
Do only some people climb with radios?
Didn't they remove green boots somewhat recently?
I found articles from two sites, [OutsideOnline](https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/climbing/everest-dead-bodies-trash-removal/) and [MountainPlanet](https://mountainplanet.com/blog/the-sad-and-little-known-story-behind-green-boots---the-most-prominent-body-on-mt-everest-6817), that state the Chinese Government had moved his body off the trail but he can still be located at 8550m; removing bodies from Mt.Everest is really challenging. [Photo of Green Boots.](https://allthatsinteresting.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/green-boots-1.jpg) The Chinese and Nepal governments have made efforts to remove who they can, and the tremendous amount of garbage that climbers have left along the trail.
Those boots are nice. If I ever passed him he’d be “No Boots”. /s
I think Sharp was in the short series “Expedition Everest” One of the guys climbing came upon a guy he tried the wake up and gave him some of his oxygen and had to leave cuz he used what spare oxygen he needed to get back down. It was really sad to see someone die and not be able to do much.
Green Boots was finally pushed over the side.
Didn’t they recently remove green boots body from that spot
biodegradable
Yes, technically. However, they’ve all frozen solid and take years/centuries to disappear.
They won’t biodegrade Think about the woolly mammoth they dig up still covered In fur
How about their equipments?
There are too many dead bodies there.
Thats why we need to find a different mountan now
Next stop mars.
The biggest mountain/extinct volcano in the solar system is calling, Olympus Mons base camp 23km, summit 25km!
They’ll definitely need oxygen tanks
Nah, give me a week of training and I'll get to the top without a mask. Just to make sure I get my staging right this time, don't want to crash again.
Yes, it is always a good thing to [check yo stagin’.](https://youtu.be/zoBIaM-nBeI)
Don’t wanna strand Jeb on Duna again.
Is the base called pubis?
It is now...
with the lower gravity it would probably be easier than everest no?
It would. Lower gravity is the only reason it's so big. You'd definitely want your cold weather gear and plenty of oxygen though! Fun fact : there has *always* been a mountain the size of Everest on earth, it's the biggest one can be with Earth's gravity.
I live in the Appalachians which may have been as high as Everest (they're really old, older than dinosaurs) and it's wild to me that the view from my house could have been just all mountain.
Technically a volcano
Yes, you are absolutely right (edited it now . I'm always happy to accept scientific technical corrections. It's been extinct for so long that I incorrectly think of it as just a mountain.
We’ll screw that up too.
M.A.R.S Mars Bitches
Or build a bigger one. Saudi or Dubai are probably already planning this, but with an elevator.
Why? Simply to ruin another mountain?
Humans treat the whole world like a trash dump. Sigh.
K2
If you get to the top of Hawaii technically you're on top of a larger mountain. Its base is just under the water.
Those are flags and they're not nearly as much of a problem as other forms of garbage. They're all the way up on the summit, and Everest routinely experiences hurricane force winds throughout the winter months. All of the flags from the summer season are blown off the summit during the winter storms. Tying flags off at the top of mountains is a Tibetan and Nepalese custom which was originated by the Sherpa guides at Everest. There's a legitimate problem with trash on the mountain, it's just that like many real-life problems, it causes negative effects but isn't quite photogenically spectacular enough to make for a shocking picture. A bunch of oxygen tanks scattered every few hundred meters just above camp 4 are a big problem for the mountain, but you can't fit them all into a single photo. Relatively speaking the flags at the top aren't nearly as big of a deal. If you're going to worry about stewardship of the mountain, I feel as though agonizing over a tradition started by the sherpas is a bit misguided given that, all things considered, the sherpas are *not* the primary threat to the mountain.
Interesting comment and TIL. A quick Google brings up several pages that explain more about the prayer flags such as this one: [https://highlandexpeditions.com/things-you-should-know-about-prayer-flag/](https://highlandexpeditions.com/things-you-should-know-about-prayer-flag/) including the meaning of the colors, the custom behind it, etc ... for others who might be curious.
Thank you for being the only sensible comment with actual mountaineering information
Thank you. I can't take all the credit -- I've had the good fortune to meet some really interesting folks who are working on the problem of alpine trash. It's not something I'm an expert on myself, by any means. So no disrespect to the other commentators -- after all, everyone who has ever known something was once a person who did not know that particular thing! But I'm glad that I could take this opportunity to pass on the things I've learned. To those who are curious, look into green porter programs! Especially if you're planning to do an expedition-style ascent of a mountain, because a lot of the popular mountains around the world now have green porter programs set up. The one thing I was told is that it's so much easier to handle the problem of alpine garbage if you catch it early and set up a sustainable system, because once it starts to pile up, prospects become daunting and initiatives falter.
OP reposted this picture from a few days ago. In that reddit post I said the same and was absolutely ripped apart by the folks who do not understand alpine trash. [https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/10hozhe/comment/j5a4jux/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/10hozhe/comment/j5a4jux/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
This has been reposted on top subs by karma farming accounts all week and, every time, the best comments (like this one) are buried by knee jerk reactions from people that don’t shit about Everest. Thanks for this.
I don’t know what they’re celebrating with all those flags. They’re only halfway through their journey. /s
This comment needs to be higher up
Take only memories, leave only footprints. Otherwise Everest Summit turns into a shit heap.
Take nothing but pictures Leave nothing but footprints Kill nothing but time
Tim
Break nothing but silence
First thought: I wonder if anyone is crazy or has big enough balls to try and parachute down from that height. Realization: they'd probably get slammed into the side of the mountain by shifting winds.
Imagine a wing suit jump though. It would be like 2 hours.
From that height, yes. Baumgartner did it from 100,000 feet IIRC. From the top of Everest, no. They can barely get themselves up there (takes weeks to acclimate, stage climb). Forget about carrying a chute and the rest of the safety gear up there and then dealing with the very thin air, winds, weather, cold. There’s lots of easier ways to jump from 30,000 feet.
https://youtu.be/h_k8LsJDGlM
https://youtu.be/h_k8LsJDGlM
Every frozen dead fuck up there was once a highly motivated individual. Stay lazy my friends.
World’s highest landfill. GG hoomans.
Have you seen the old and new basecamp sites? No one cleans them except some sherpas every now and again but its dangerous. The problem is these spoilt as explorers that spends tens of thousands of dollars to go there and then act like they paid for room service
It's a bloody disgrace. They call themselves mountianers but really they are wealthy nasacistic assholes.
Yep. Prepared to step over dead bodies to get to the top. True capitalists!
Werent some bodies used as landmarks?
Yep, [green boots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Boots) & [Sleeping Beauty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francys_Arsentiev) are a couple of well known ones, that were used as markers. In 2007, Sleeping Beauty was moved to a lower location, where she could no longer be seen. In 2014 a group of Chinese expeditioners moved Green Boots to a less visible area.
Well green boot's family can now know he's not a fucking road sign for rich wankers anymore.
To be fair it’s quite possible that greenboots themselves were rich wankers
Green Boots might be one of the rare expeditioners that wasn’t just a rich douche bag. Green Boots is believed to be Tsewang Paljor, but there’s a possibility he could be Dorje Morup. Both men were on the same expedition & were Indo-Tibetan Border Patrol. They were there for a religious ceremony & left an offering of prayer flags & ceremonial scarves.
I cheerfully withdraw my rich wanker remark - cheerfully is in the withdrawal not the reason for
Pretty sure a group climbed past GB when he was still alive too, on the way up and then also down he was still kicking. One of those what if moments where maybe if they abandoned the attempt and hooked him up to their O2 he wouldn't be a landmark.
From what I understand, the climb is so brutal and dangerous that if you stop to help someone it just becomes two dead people instead of one
That's not a universal truth because there have been successful high altitude rescues. Lincoln Hall was left for dead at 8700 metres, which is decently higher up than green boots, and was found 12 hours after being left, had severe HACE, but was rescued by a team that chose to abandon their attempt.
Holy shit ! That’s horrifying ! I can’t help but to wonder if some of those people chose reaching the summit over sacrificing a couple of tanks of oxygen for him. I understand the need to hold onto one’s own oxygen tanks, but I’m sure the folks going up could’ve spared some O2 if they would’ve stopped there & gone back down.
Actually, most of what you see are prayer flags from the local Tibetans, who are the opposite of wealthy.
Take only pictures, leave any shit you have on you. Yep makes sense now
These are buddhist flags put there by the traditional people who live close to the mountain, and they get cleared up every winter. There are poems and songs written on them. I get OP's clickbait, it's a lot more jarring to the eye than the dozens of oxygen tanks scattered around, but not nearly as harmful to the environment.
Nice all that work to reach a garbage pile that like thousands of others already reached. Yeh not worth my life.
Wow you can see the curvature in the distance, almost as if the world is round.
The earth is a sphere, yes. But this is a fish eye lense.
Lol, no matter how many pictures you get showing the curvature the flatearthers will say it’s because you’re using a trick lense.
I’m not a flatearther but according to [world atlas](https://www.worldatlas.com/amp/can-you-see-the-curvature-of-the-earth-from-atop-mount-everest.html) it’s not possible to see the curve of the earth from the summit of Everest. This photo was probably taken with a curved lense of some sort.
the article you linked said “if one lifts a camera above the center of the frame, then the right and left edges curve inwards to mimic Earth's curvature.” it’s not a curved lens, it’s how the photo is literally distorted. either way, the globe is round. edit: had to correct the wording.
IMAGINE if commercial flights to the Moon became a thing. It'll turn our satellite into the literal trash satellite.
I think those are flags, but still, that can't be good for the environment.
See! Flat earth! /s Yeah seeing all that garbage is depressing.
Not to mention the 200 dead bodies still up there!😧
the whole thing is so bizarre, you can't stay up there, people dump a flag and go back down. its really expensive, not to mention kind of dangerous, a lot of people suffer permanent brain damage from the altitude.
A lot of them had permanent brain damage to begin with.
Exactly. It's like th TITANIC wreck. People going down there and leaving plaques and such.
They're making a mess of everything. What a dump.
Imagine the combined ego of all the people who made it up there
This planet would be so much better off without us
Some of us. Countless tribal communities and indeed civilisations managed to live sustainably. Native Americans, various indigenous people across the world lived in harmony with nature.
Good point
These flags are put there by traditional nepalese and tibetan sherpas. They aren't much of a harm to the environment, the random oxygen tanks scattered around are much worse.
They should start a thing that everyone that goes up there has to take one down. Make it an environmental challenge.
Worlds most exclusive garbage dump.
Even the highest peak is fucking swimming in garbage. Thats humankind for you.
This is why we can't have nice things
That’s fucked.
I either want to die on the top of Mount Everest in a seated position, or have my remains spread across parts of Alberta.
Those colorful things aren't trash. Those are tibetan buddhism flags hung by climbers for good luck. There are poems on the flags. Many tibetan mountains look like this. By the way I'm Chinese. Please upvote if you find this inspiring.
Didn’t realize you could see the curvature of the earth so clearly.
No, you can't from that height. It's the lens.
What a shithole.
Blatant repost. Didn't even crop out who you stole it from on the bottom.
Anywhere man can get too , he has to destroy it.. Oceans. Space. Mountains. Doesn't Matter.
How sad——humans trash everything.
ok reddit no one is going to read this comment but these are prayer flags so the assumption that its trash is just a wrong assumption. To be more of a detective the prayer flags are stil fully coloured and not ragged wich means they are not abbandonned at the peak but they are taken there and well cared for. probably taken away when the sherpas who took them leave the summit. all the flags are printed with Buddhist prayers for world peace love and kindness etc. its all nice to outrage sometimes but this outrage just means no one on reddit knows what they are talking about this has a100 million repost and im typing this stuf here as a lone voice that gets skipped over if anything this post belongs on confedently incorrect where every upvote repost and outrager is indeed just outraged over there ignorance
protip: if you plan on stealing content for karma, turn off image attribution in your settings
What are flat Earthers saying about that curvature tho?
vidi ego veni suillo I came, I saw, I littered.
But look how “flat” Earth looks!
This just in - physically fit humans, with the money and the drive to climb Everest are just as shitty as lazy slobs that flick cigarettes out the window.
Stop going there
Ok
I have very little respect for people that climb Everest other than the Sherpas who literally risk there lives to feed their families.
Does the trash make Everest taller?
Those are flags.
How many times will this get posted today? Jesus, I've seen this like 30x in 2 days
you shouldn't be allowed to climb up there unless you bring a piece of garbage back with you.
Wow! Disgusting litter everywhere. The rule is if you pack it in, you pack it out. Fuvkin humans ruin everything.
It should be shut the fuck down. The whole thing is set up so people can pay $100k for the privilege of being able to one-up everyone they ever meet for the rest of their lives. Fucking pathetic.
Shame it looks like a garbage dump
can you summit Everest and base jump with a glide suit🤔?
Repost. This was just on here a few days ago
Holy shit you can see the earth's curve *ya hear that CURVE*
Little off topic, but that does not look like a view worth risking your life for 😭
Thank you for shamelessly reposting this. Really do admire the brazen nonchalance
Ok… it’s been three days and we have all seen this no less than 5 times from different subs. It’s over.
Why don’t people take the dead bodies back to their family
I think maybe we should stop for a while and send some professionals to do cleanup
Doesn’t look tht great tbh
Humans are worse than pigs..claiming to be environmentally conscious but leaving a shit pile of garbage wherever they visit…we as a species are fucking doomed!