On social networks, alongside photos of heavenly beaches and trendy places, a new destination has also found a place among influencers’ posts: Everest. 1.3 million posts on Instagram, 123k posts on TikTok and thousands of likes. In 2023, YouTuber Inoxtag announces in a video that he wants to climb the mountain, giving himself one year to prepare. Result: almost 6 million views.
In just a few years, Everest has become a trendy destination for the general public. Wealthy tourists, influencers and mountaineering novices now jostle each spring to try to accomplish this feat. But with this increasing attendance, the mountain has changed its face.
Jacuzzi and disco at base camp
“You have 4G at Everest Base Camp. This year there was a disco, a jacuzzi and an open bar. We came across some completely unusual and incongruous things in the highest mountains in the world,” explains Luc Boisnard, French business leader and “Everest summiter”. Surreal scenes which multiply as do dangerous behaviors.
On May 22, 2019, between 150 and 200 climbers decided to climb at the same time, causing major traffic jams. Result that year: in eleven days there were eleven deaths. Double that of previous years. Direct consequences of this overcrowding. According to several specialists, of these 11 deaths at least 4 are directly attributable to traffic jams.
Waste that accumulates
If mass tourism ends up being dangerous for mountaineers, it also has consequences for the environment. With attendance increasing almost constantly, waste accumulates. In 2019, Nepalese teams spent six weeks cleaning Everest. In total, around ten tonnes of waste were collected.
Alarming figures but which are not necessarily likely to decline. In 2023, Nepal issued 454 climbing permits to climb Everest. A record since the first ascent 70 years earlier.
Our full video on the subject can be found at the top of this article.