Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Into clean air: Allyn Kerchner returned to Willow Glen last month from clean-up expedition to Mount Everest.
On Top of the World
A Willow Glen resident joins cleanup crew on the highest dump in the world--Mt. Everest
By Chantal Lamers
Since climbers first scaled Mount Everest successfully in 1953, hundreds more have made their way up and down the breathtaking mountain. And most of them also left their garbage behind. But now, that's starting to change.
In April, Willow Glenite Allyn Kerchner, 27, and her boyfriend Doug Marsh, 22, headed off to the Himalayas for the 2000 Everest Environmental Expedition. For nearly two months, the team dug up nearly 50 years worth of garbage.
They sorted the garbage into piles of organic waste, batteries, fuel canisters, aluminum and tin. They collected hundreds of empty oxygen tanks. And they had it all hauled off the mountain.
Two previous expedition teams in 1995 and 1998 cleaned up 300 oxygen bottles and a ton of garbage from the mountain. The goal was to continue the cleanup and return the mountain to its original condition in time for the 50th anniversary of the first climb to Everest.
This year, teams scoured the mountains, removing whatever trash they could find, including hundreds of oxygen tanks and about 1,000 pounds of garbage. It was the biggest known cleanup of the mountain.
Flipping through a photo album, Kerchner points out some of the odd garbage they found on the mountain. In one, Marsh holds up a goat's hoof. In another, Kerchner holds an old can of Vienna sausages.
Photograph courtesy of Allyn Kerchner
Rare Air: Discarded oxygen canisters litter the world's highest mountain.
For years, Marsh says, leaving trash behind was an acceptable form of survival for climbers. Sometimes, people were forced to leave the mountain quickly because of changing weather forecasts, or because of the body's need for oxygen.
Walking 10 feet on Everest, Marsh says, can feel like running a mile.
And at elevations above 26,000 feet, the air contains only about one-third of the oxygen it does at sea level. Even those that slowly acclimate themselves to the low oxygen level can't survive long on the mountain.
At the Everest base camp about 17,600 feet, where Kerchner and Marsh were camped, garbage that was once buried became visible as glaciers moved.
At Camp I, 19,500 feet up, most of the garbage is buried by snow and can't be recovered.
At Camp II, at 21,300 feet, the mountain is polluted by discarded tents, fuel canisters, medical waste, plastic packaging and even human waste.
Camp IV, at 26,000 feet, is sometimes referred to as the world's highest garbage dump. At one point it was estimated that over 1,000 oxygen bottles and spent fuel canisters were left behind.
The garbage was collected at each camp and brought down to base camp where it was sorted. Some trash was taken to Namche Bazaar where it was incinerated and composted. Recyclables and nonrecyclables were flown by helicopter to Katmandu and shipped to recycling or disposal facilities in Los Angeles.
Marsh says the cleanup was financed by more than $6 million in donations.
Steep Cleaning: Allyn Kerchner, during her trip to help clean up the mountain, climbs the side of Everest.
Photograph courtesy of Allyn Kerchner
Before her trek to Everest, Kerchner had never been out of the U.S. She'd never really thought of making the trip until about a year ago when a friend suggested the couple attend the cleanup.
Marsh worked as a base camp manager on the expedition and spent nearly two months there. A month into the trip, Kerchner met Marsh at base camp.
The flight to Katmandu took two days. From there, the hike to base camp lasted 12 days. Although the trek is only about 35 miles, hikers have to let their bodies adjust slowly to low oxygen levels on the mountain.
Kerchner hiked in tennis shoes, lightweight pants, a T-shirt and hat. While temperatures stayed in the 30s and 40s for most of the days, it sometimes felt as if it was in the 80s and 90s when they stood in the sun, Kerchner said. "You're constantly pulling clothes on and off, depending on whether the sun is out," Kerchner says.
There wasn't much snow on the way up to base camp, she says, but in the mornings and evenings it was time to bundle up in a warm jacket and boots.
For the trip up the mountain, hikers generally hire Sherpa to help carry supplies.
Kerchner says she was amazed by the Sherpa, who carry huge baskets on their backs. Kerchner and Marsh guessed that some carried about 150 pounds up the mountain wearing just sandals.
On the 12-day hike to base camp, most meals consisted of steamed cauliflower, curry, rice, bread, potatoes, yak cheese sandwiches and eggs. Every morning, Sherpa made morning tea for the hikers. Later in the trip, however, conversation among the hikers turned to what foods they couldn't wait to eat when they returned to the states. (Marsh and Kerchner shared a craving for fajitas.)
And when they returned from Katmandu, they made five trips to Baskin Robbins in two days.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
