The Everest season comes to an end... A new record has been set, with more than 300 climbers reaching the summit. The high camps are being packed and cleaned (hopefully) and everyone's returning to bc and Kathmandu.
Our project comes to an end, too. It's been interesting. We've had many discussions, supportive comments, disagreements and even total ignorance. For us, it's been a small success, definately a great first project. We have learned that most people, especially western climbers, are aware of the changing climate and at least some of the obvious threats. There's a difference between awareness and change of behaviour, though, so who knows...
Anyway, as promised, we brought down our 'garbage' and it's ready to use at Cho Oyu in autumn.
We thank everybody for their input and help! To be continued...
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Keeping Mount Everest Clean...
Making people aware of complicated environmental issues is not so easy. In a base camp full with driven and focused climbers it’s even more difficult. Most climbers concentrate solely on their summit aspirations, and yes, after paying a lot of money to climb Mt. Everest and after a long physical and mental preparation, who can really blame them? So, to make the best of our little awareness project, we made a few large sized banners and A5 sized brochures about keeping a water tower like Mt. Everest clean. As we’re joining a Nepali cleanup expedition, our simple message seems to make sense: keep it clean!
One of these messages prominently hangs next to the main trail to the ice fall, and to be honest, focused climber or not, you just cannot miss it. It’s large, it’s clear, it’s short, and it’s very blue and white. So really, everybody that comes just near it has to read it. We put some brochures next to the trail for people to read more about water problems, too. And yes, we’re very pleased to see that many climbers notice our banner and stop a second to read its message. We’re happy so far. The second banner has been fixed to one of the huge ice towers in the middle of the ice fall. There’s just one trail through the ice fall, so everybody who climbs up to camp 1 and beyond will run into it. Of course there will be people saying: you’re polluting the ice fall… To be honest, in a way they are right! The ice fall is never meant to be used for making advertisements or statements! So, we make sure to take it down again as soon as the majority of the climbers have passed it on their final ascent to the summit. And, we believe that it’s very necessary to remind climbers and organizers of the fact that they have to keep the mountain clean. There’s proof enough that this has not been done in the previous years!!! True or not?
At this moment many climbers are having a rest for their final summit attempt somewhere below base camp. In the next two weeks, all of them will go up, pass our banners and hopefully make it back safely with their personal garbage. Then, our small project is finished and we’ll head down, too. Let’s hope the present cleanup expeditions don’t have to bring a lot of new rubbish down, although we can say that the number of dead bodies on the mountain has risen this month with at least ‘one’. More to come later…
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Everest Awareness Project started
There we go! Our first official project is an attempt to create more awareness among Mount Everest climbers about mountains serving as important water sources for thousands of people living down stream. It's a small project as we got this opportunity just before the Nepali Everest Clean Up expedition, which we join, starts. We call it the Everest Awareness Project.
For this project we've chosen to print brochures (download from our website) and a few large sized banners or sign boards. We'll hand out the brochures in the Everest base camp and in the advanced base camp (camp 2). The brochures explain about the water problems in the Hindu Kush Himalayas, which role mountains have and why it's important to keep these water towers clean. Climbers should be aware of the fact that their playing ground is actually an important water tower for lot's of people living down stream. In order to make our point we'll be trying to hang our large sized banners ( 1 meter x 2 meter) with a short, but clear message and request to keep the water sources like Everest clean.
With some trouble, we had our brochures and banners printed in Kathmandu. The banners we already carried to the base camp ourselves and attached them not mistakenly on the roof of our kitchen tent that is pitched next to the main trail to the ice fall. It's great to see that so many stop to read it, climbers, trekkers and Sherpa's. Great! Unfortunately, the brochures are still somewhere on a yak on its way to the base camp, but as soon as our precious yak arrives, we'll be handing out the brochures to all 35 expeditions and around 250 climbers before they ascent for their final summit bid. Let's hope some climbers remind our message before they dump their oxygen bottles or other 'garbage' on the mountain. Even if there's a cleaning team at present!!!
That's it for now, we'll post some pictures as soon as we have returned to Kathmandu!
For this project we've chosen to print brochures (download from our website) and a few large sized banners or sign boards. We'll hand out the brochures in the Everest base camp and in the advanced base camp (camp 2). The brochures explain about the water problems in the Hindu Kush Himalayas, which role mountains have and why it's important to keep these water towers clean. Climbers should be aware of the fact that their playing ground is actually an important water tower for lot's of people living down stream. In order to make our point we'll be trying to hang our large sized banners ( 1 meter x 2 meter) with a short, but clear message and request to keep the water sources like Everest clean.
With some trouble, we had our brochures and banners printed in Kathmandu. The banners we already carried to the base camp ourselves and attached them not mistakenly on the roof of our kitchen tent that is pitched next to the main trail to the ice fall. It's great to see that so many stop to read it, climbers, trekkers and Sherpa's. Great! Unfortunately, the brochures are still somewhere on a yak on its way to the base camp, but as soon as our precious yak arrives, we'll be handing out the brochures to all 35 expeditions and around 250 climbers before they ascent for their final summit bid. Let's hope some climbers remind our message before they dump their oxygen bottles or other 'garbage' on the mountain. Even if there's a cleaning team at present!!!
That's it for now, we'll post some pictures as soon as we have returned to Kathmandu!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Everest Awareness Project
Change is always good! As you know, we planned a photo shoot session this spring and our first Cho Oyu expedition in autumn of this year. These activities are part of our first official project, but things have turned out differently. Besides this, we’ve decided to support a Nepali cleaning expedition of Mount Everest in coming April/May! No, it’s not (just) about climbing the mountain, we’re actually going to clean up the rubbish that has been left behind in previous years, and we have decide to make use of this opportunity to do something about awareness in the city of tents and climbers. We call it our Everest Awareness Project.
So what does it mean and what’s the use? Well, as you might know, big mountain ranges like the Himalayas, the Rocky Mountains or the Andes, are in fact huge natural water towers. Because of its size and height, these mountains block clouds, creating rain- & snowfall which is stored in glaciers and snowfields at high altitude. This fresh water finally runs down in smaller en bigger streams and eventually in rivers. Climbing a mountain is climbing a water tower!
In the previous years, many climbing expeditions have left their used and broken gear, rubbish and even some of their ‘dead bodies’ at Mount Everest. That’s why this beautiful and sacred mountain has a nick name as well: ‘the highest pile of garbage in the world’. Although it has not been proven that this garbage has a negative impact of the water quality, quantity or whatsoever, it more or less shows us how we take care of our natural environment. For that reason we’ve decided to take this opportunity to spread some awareness about this matter and we will help to clean some garbage as well. If we’re able to make a few climbers think about this subject carefully, then there might be even some interesting discussions or even a little change in awareness and behavior. That’s enough, for now, and we will be satisfied with the results.
To make it all happen, we’ve chosen to print some flyers and a few large sized banners. We'll hand out the flyers in the Everest base camp, the ABC and possibly above it. The flyers explain about the water problems in the Hindu Kush Himalayas, what role mountains have and why it's important to keep these water towers clean. In order to make our point we'll be trying to fix some large sized banners with a short, but clear message and request to keep water sources like Mount Everest clean. Let’s see how the village of more than 250 climbers in the Everest base camp will react on our little project… More to come!
So what does it mean and what’s the use? Well, as you might know, big mountain ranges like the Himalayas, the Rocky Mountains or the Andes, are in fact huge natural water towers. Because of its size and height, these mountains block clouds, creating rain- & snowfall which is stored in glaciers and snowfields at high altitude. This fresh water finally runs down in smaller en bigger streams and eventually in rivers. Climbing a mountain is climbing a water tower!
In the previous years, many climbing expeditions have left their used and broken gear, rubbish and even some of their ‘dead bodies’ at Mount Everest. That’s why this beautiful and sacred mountain has a nick name as well: ‘the highest pile of garbage in the world’. Although it has not been proven that this garbage has a negative impact of the water quality, quantity or whatsoever, it more or less shows us how we take care of our natural environment. For that reason we’ve decided to take this opportunity to spread some awareness about this matter and we will help to clean some garbage as well. If we’re able to make a few climbers think about this subject carefully, then there might be even some interesting discussions or even a little change in awareness and behavior. That’s enough, for now, and we will be satisfied with the results.
To make it all happen, we’ve chosen to print some flyers and a few large sized banners. We'll hand out the flyers in the Everest base camp, the ABC and possibly above it. The flyers explain about the water problems in the Hindu Kush Himalayas, what role mountains have and why it's important to keep these water towers clean. In order to make our point we'll be trying to fix some large sized banners with a short, but clear message and request to keep water sources like Mount Everest clean. Let’s see how the village of more than 250 climbers in the Everest base camp will react on our little project… More to come!
Monday, March 22, 2010
World Water Day 2010
March 22, World Water Day; the annual UN initiative to draw attention to the importance of water and to emphasize sustainable management of fresh water.
We're in Kathmandu right now, preparing our Cho Oyu project, to visit local organizations, partners and preparing our upcomming trip to Nangpa La and the downstream area of Cho Oyu and it's water projects. While reading the local papers (Kathmandu Post) the following 'Water Day' story was published on the cover (summary)
=============
BEWARE OF WATER YOU DRINK
The drinking water supplied in most parts of Kathmandu (capital of Nepal) is unsafe for consumption due to high levels of contamination with biological pollutants, including harmful bacteria (like E coli) and viruses that cause various waterborne diseases like diarrhoea and dysentery. Also the levels of harmful chemicals (like iron, ammonia, arsnic, mercury) are high.
Out of 39 samples of bottled mineral water collected from different places in Kathmandu, 28 samples were found to be contaminated. More than 72% of the sampled mineral water was found unsafe for drinking.
They also mentioned that lack of quality drinking water and proper sanitation facilities in the country are to blame for more than 80% of the diseases.
=============
Sanitation is a huge problem in this region! So is the availability of water in the first place. Now it's common knowledge that water from all streams, rivers, lakes, etc in Nepal are not safe to drink as they are all contaminated. So, There is a shortage of water, the water which is available is not safe and now even bottled water has been proven not to be safe...
There's still a lot of work to do here...
We're in Kathmandu right now, preparing our Cho Oyu project, to visit local organizations, partners and preparing our upcomming trip to Nangpa La and the downstream area of Cho Oyu and it's water projects. While reading the local papers (Kathmandu Post) the following 'Water Day' story was published on the cover (summary)
=============
BEWARE OF WATER YOU DRINK
The drinking water supplied in most parts of Kathmandu (capital of Nepal) is unsafe for consumption due to high levels of contamination with biological pollutants, including harmful bacteria (like E coli) and viruses that cause various waterborne diseases like diarrhoea and dysentery. Also the levels of harmful chemicals (like iron, ammonia, arsnic, mercury) are high.
Out of 39 samples of bottled mineral water collected from different places in Kathmandu, 28 samples were found to be contaminated. More than 72% of the sampled mineral water was found unsafe for drinking.
They also mentioned that lack of quality drinking water and proper sanitation facilities in the country are to blame for more than 80% of the diseases.
=============
Sanitation is a huge problem in this region! So is the availability of water in the first place. Now it's common knowledge that water from all streams, rivers, lakes, etc in Nepal are not safe to drink as they are all contaminated. So, There is a shortage of water, the water which is available is not safe and now even bottled water has been proven not to be safe...
There's still a lot of work to do here...
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