The snow melts on Everest and lets see bodies buried under the ice

KATHMANDU,

Nepal

.- A few years ago, old mountaineer and mountain guide Kami Rita found herself in front of a macabre painting in the base camp of the mountain.

Everest

: human bones peeled and covered with ice emerging from the ground.

And it was not an isolated case. During the following fusion stations, more human remains appeared: a skull, fingers, parts of legs. Nowadays, the guides are more and more convinced that these discoveries are only the manifestation of a larger process in the highest mountain of the world: the highest temperature in the world shows on the surface mountaineers who have never managed to return home.

"The snow melts and the bodies appear," said Rita, who reached the summit of Everest 24 times, a world record. "For us, finding bodies has become the new norm."

In recent seasons, mountaineers have seen more bodies than ever on the frozen slopes of Everest. Mountaineers and the Nepalese government believe that it is a bloody proof of global warming, which is rapidly melting mountain glaciers and exposes bones, old boots or whole bodies of members of failed mountain missions. past decades.

The Nepalese government is struggling to decide what to do. Everest could have more than 100 bodies and the debate on the fate of these remains is already open. Should they be removed or should they be left where they are? Some mountaineers believe that their fallen companions have become part of the mountain and that they should stay there. Some of these bodies have been remarkably preserved: sun-bleached camperones framing frozen, coal-colored faces.

Pemba Gelje, a six-time mountain climber and guide to the summit, recounts that in 2008, during his first ascent, he had gone through three bodies and that during a more recent climbing season he had seen at least twice as much. "It's an image that torments me," he says.

Over the past six decades, at least 300 mountaineers have died trying to climb Everest, mainly experiencing storms, falls, or lack of oxygen.
The current season is one of the deadliest, with at least 11 casualties, some of which are partially due to the overabundants on the mountain.

The Nepalese government has announced that it is considering modifying regulations on people who can climb the mountain in order to avoid traffic jams and chaos at the top.

Ang Tsinging Sherpa, former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, estimated that at least a third of the bodies of those who died on Everest are still there. According to Tshering, some of these bodies are fragmented due to avalanches.

Removing bodies from the top of a mountain is a very dangerous procedure. A frozen body can weigh 150 kilos. Transferring this extra load into deep precipices in the midst of an irregular climate can put the lives of climbers involved in the maneuver at risk.

However, some families insist on recovering the bodies of their loved ones, which implies a specific mission that can cost tens of thousands of dollars. As a general rule, the bodies of mountaineers who die above 6,400 meters are left where they are.

"In the mountains, everything is weighed against the risk of death," says Tshering. "Whenever possible, it is best to go down with the bodies, but mountaineers must always give priority to their safety because those who have fallen can literally drag them with them."

But these bodies that rise to the surface explain a deeper change that Everest is currently experiencing. Over the last decade, climate change has rapidly changed the whole Himalayan region.

Everest's permanent snow cover is higher than it was only a few years ago and previously covered areas with a thick layer of ice are now exposed. The climbers are already changing the ice pick for the pitons that are inserted into the cracks in the wall of the rocky mountain.

In 2016, the Nepalese army had to drain a lake near Everest to prevent melting ice causing a catastrophic flood in the mountains. This year, a study found that growth in the lagoon area had accelerated exponentially from the summit of the glaciers surrounding Everest, a sign of melting that was improving at the same time. The current rate of melting far exceeds the average change measured in the first decade and a half of the century.

The picture is dark. In a study published in February on global warming, scientists warned that even if the most ambitious targets against climate change were met, one-third of the Himalayan glaciers would have melted away by the end of the century. And if global warming and greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, this figure could reach two-thirds of all glaciers in the region.

The New York Times

Jaime Arrambide Translation