70 years ago today, two mountaineers scaled Mount Everest for the first time. In the meantime, nature there is suffering from the amount of tourists, their garbage and above all: climate change.
Ten meters from the summit they pause again briefly: Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. Then they run together to the top. This is how Norgay, the Nepalese Sherpa, remembers the last steps on the highest mountain in the world. On May 29, 1953 around noon, the time had come: the New Zealander and the Sherpa were the first people to stand on Mount Everest at 8,848 meters. To this day it is unclear who actually set foot on the summit first.
The first climbers of Mount Everest: New Zealander Edmund Hillary, right, and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.
A golden statue to commemorate
To mark the 70th anniversary, a golden statue of the two climbers was unveiled in the city of Lukla in Nepal. It is located at the airport in the city of Lukla. This is where most expeditions start.
For the 50th anniversary in 2003, Sir Edmund Hillary traveled to Nepal again – at the age of 83. Accompanied by his wife, he sat in a horse-drawn carriage and was part of a long procession. People cheered them. After the successful descent, Queen Elizabeth II had Hillary knighted in the British Empire. Norgay was denied this honor.
On the 50th anniversary of the first ascent in 2003, Sir Edmund Hillary and his wife June Hillary traveled in Nepal in a horse-drawn carriage.
Too much heat, too many tourists, too much rubbish
In the meantime, almost 10,000 mountaineers have climbed Mount Everest – some of them overcoming crevasses on ladders, always secured to a rope. A life-threatening journey: more than 300 lost their lives trying. Some spoke of a kind of mass tourism at the base camp of Everest – with consequences for the environment. The Nepalese Sherpa mountaineering community is increasingly concerned about the consequences of climate change.
Mount Everest as a selfie spot: the highest mountain on earth is now suffering from mass tourism.
“The effects of climate change not only affect the fish in the Antarctic, the whales or the penguins, but also have a direct impact on the mountains of the Himalayas and the people there,” says Ang Tshering. For years he has worked to protect the region from the effects of global warming. Almost every year, Tshering and his trekking agency organize a special tour: they collect rubbish left by Everest climbers.
Volunteers collect rubbish at Mount Everest Base Camp.
The effects of climate change and global warming are severe in the high-mountain region of the Himalayas, Tshering told the AP news agency. “The temperature rise in the Himalayan region is above the global average, so snow and ice are melting rapidly and mountains are turning black, glaciers are melting and lakes are drying up.”
2000-year-old ice masses have melted
Other Sherpas also report seeing the changes in the Khumbu Glacier at the foot of Everest, near Base Camp – like Phurba Tenjing. The Sherpa recently scaled the summit for the 16th time. He has been climbing Everest since he was 17 years old. In the meantime, so much snow and ice has melted that they now only need half an hour for a path. The same route used to take almost six hours across the glacier. “The building-like ice chunks of the Khumbu Glacier used to come all the way up to the base camp. But now we don’t see them near the camp.”
According to a US study, the glaciers of Mount Everest have lost ice masses that were 2,000 years old in the last 30 years. “We used to melt the ice of the glacier to get drinking water. Today we still drink water, but it’s already melted and in ponds,” Tenjing said.
When Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay made their first ascent 70 years ago today, the roof of the world looked even icier. They were part of a British expedition. It was the ninth attempt to scale Everest. For the commemoration today, the Nepalese government is holding a parade through the capital Kathmandu and a ceremony in honor of the climbers and Sherpas of Mount Everest.