Global warming: they discover corpses in Mount Everest by melting glaciers

This is something that worries organizers of Everest expeditions. More and more corpses are exposed on the slopes of the mountain to the melting of glaciers.

More than 4,800 people climbed Mount Everest, which, at 8,848 meters above sea level, is the highest mountain on the planet. Nearly 300 mountaineers died trying to reach the summit. It is thought that at least two-thirds of the bodies are buried in snow and ice.

Before the beginning of spring, some remains are being removed from the Chinese side of the mountain, on the north face. "Due to global warming, glaciers are melting fast, and the bodies that have been buried there all these years are exposed," said Ang Tsinging Sherpa, former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

"We have removed the corpses of the recently deceased mountaineers, but those who were buried many years ago are also appearing."

A Nepali government official said: "I have come down from various Everest sites around 10 bodies in the last few years and many others are emerging. . "

The Nepal Shipping Operators Association (EOAN, for its acronym in English) noted that it is not easy to manage the appearance of human remains.

Nepalese law requires the participation of official agencies in any action related to human corpses.

"This problem must become a priority for both the government and the mountaineering industry," said Dambar Parajuli, president of EOAN.

"If they remove the remains on the Tibetan side of the mountain, we could do the same on our side."

Exposed bodies

In 2017, the hand of a dead mountaineer emerged from the ice on a site known as Camp 1. Operators said they sent professional mountaineers from the Sherpa community to remove the body.

In the same year, another corpse was spotted on the Khumbu Glacier, the area where more bodies appeared. Several remains have also been found in Camp 4, which is relatively flat.

"Hands and legs have also appeared in the base camp in recent years," said the representative of a non-governmental organization operating in the region.

"We found that the ice level in the base camp and surrounding areas continued to drop, which is why the bodies appeared."

Increasingly thin ice cream

Several surveys have shown that glaciers in the Everest region, like those in much of the Himalayas, melt quickly and lose volume. A study revealed in 2015 that the gaps in the Khumbu glacier, which mountaineers must cross on the way to the summit, spread and unite due to the rapid thaw.

The Nepalese army drained Lake Imja near Everest in 2016, when the water level rose dangerously due to melting ice. Another team of scientists, including researchers from the Universities of Leeds and Aberystwyth in the UK, extracted ice cylinders from the Khumbu Glacier and found that the temperature was higher than expected.

The minimum recorded ice temperature was -3.3 ° C, two degrees higher than the average annual temperature of the air. But not all bodies are emerging because of the thaw. "We are also seeing remains from the movement of the Khumbu glacier," said Tshering Pandey Bhote, vice president of the Nepal Mountain Guides Association.

"Most mountaineers are prepared for such an observation."

Corpses like cairns

Some of the bodies of the highest parts of Everest have become reference points for mountaineers. An example is a site called "green boots" near the summit.

The remains belong to a mountaineer who died under a protruding rock. His green boots, still standing, look towards the path that leads to the summit. Removing corpses from the highest camps can be as difficult as it is expensive.

According to experts, lowering the remains of the mountain can cost between 40,000 and 80,000 USD. "One of the most complex operations we have been faced with was removing a body located 8,700 meters away, near the summit," said Ang Tsing Sherpa.

"The body was totally frozen and weighed 150 kilograms." Any decision regarding the remains is also a very personal affair.

"Most mountaineers wish that, if they die during the ascent, their bodies remain on the mountain," said Alan Arnette, a well-known climber and author of mountaineers.

"It would be so disrespectful to remove their bodies unless they are moved because they obstruct a road or their loved ones want to recover their remains."

Source: BBC World