Geographies in Depth

China shuts Everest base camp to trash-dropping tourists

Light illuminates Mount Everest, during the in Solukhumbu District also known as the Everest region, in this picture taken November 30, 2015. To match Insight QUAKE-NEPAL/SHERPAS      REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar - GF10000266318

8.4 tonnes of garbage were collected from the mountain last year. Image: REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Lucas Laursen
Journalist, Fortune

The Chinese government is blocking non-climbers from visiting the base camp on its side of the world’s highest mountain, Everest, known in China as Qomolangma.

Mountaineers and tourists who were making the trek to the basecamp at around 17,000 feet were leaving too much trash, authorities said when they announced the restrictions last month.

Since then, the news has gone viral on Chinese social media and on Thursday a Chinese official clarified the restrictions to state news agency Xinhua. Until further notice, ordinary tourists will have to stop at Rongpo monastery at around 5,000 meters above sea level.

Mountaineers with climbing permits, of which fewer are being issued this year, can continue to the base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters, and higher, the South China Morning Post reports.

Loading...

Some 40,000 tourists visited the Everest base camp in 2015, but only a few hundred a year have climbing permits to go higher. Cleanup crews collected an astonishing 8.4 tons of garbage from the snowy outcrop last year and are busily collecting trash while the block is in place. Officials anticipate that tourists and more climbers will be allowed to return under new rules in the future.

Yet it’s not just trash that’s concerning officials: they also plan to try to recover the remains of climbers who died on the upper reaches of the mountain, a notoriously perilous and difficult task.

Have you read?
Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Stay up to date:

China

Related topics:
Geographies in DepthNature and BiodiversityIndustries in Depth
Share:
The Big Picture
Explore and monitor how China is affecting economies, industries and global issues
A hand holding a looking glass by a lake
Crowdsource Innovation
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
World Economic Forum logo
Global Agenda

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

BRICS: Here’s what to know about the international bloc

Spencer Feingold

November 20, 2024

How Japan can lead in forest mapping to maximize climate change mitigation

About us

Engage with us

  • Sign in
  • Partner with us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for our press releases
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Contact us

Quick links

Language editions

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Sitemap

© 2024 World Economic Forum