Spring cleaning on Mt. Everest

Expeditions to send huge trash bags to help clean Mt. Everest Mount Everest south route Record setters Mount Everest by the numbers

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Mountaineering expedition organizers in Nepal are sending huge trash bags with climbers on Mount Everest during the spring climbing season to collect trash that then can be winched by helicopters back to the base camp.

Dambar Parajuli of the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal said Wednesday that bags have already been sent to the base camp to be carried by climbers, guides and porters to higher elevations.

Each bag can hold up to 80 kilograms of trash and can be hooked to helicopters at Camp 2 to be flown back to the base camp. The helicopters after dropping off supplies and equipment at the camp located at 6,400 metres generally fly back empty.

Hundreds of climbers and their guides are expected to attempt to scale the 8,850-metre peak during the spring season. Climbers generally arrive in April and attempt to reach the summit in May when weather conditions are favourable. They leave behind a lot of garbage.

Climbers also say it is urgent to remove the trash left by previous expeditions at Camp 2, which was set up in 2014 and 2015 when tragedies forced an early end to the climbs.

The 2014 season was cancelled after 16 Nepalese guides were killed in an avalanche, and the following year an earthquake-triggered avalanche swept the base camp killing 19 people.

Veteran guide Russell Brice said the tents and supplies that were left behind have to be removed.

Doing it by helicopter means Sherpa guides do not have to risk carrying heavy loads of trash through the treacherous Khumbu Icefall to the base camp.

Brice, one of the leading expedition

8,000m above sea level Death zone 30% available oxygen

Hearts pound at rest, hallucinations are common; supplemental oxygen is required

5,480m above sea level 50% available oxygen

There are no permanent settlements anywhere on earth at this level

2,000m above sea level 75% available oxygen

Starting point of high altitude organizers, said that for trash left higher up the mountain he was offering Sherpa guides carrying equipment up the mountain for their clients to bring back bags filled with trash to Camp 2. They would be paid $2 per 1 kilogram, and would use bags that can hold 5 kg.

Base Camp (5,350m/17,500 ft)

The oldest person to summit was Japanese Miura Yiuchiro, age 80 on May 23, 2013

The youngest person to summit was American Jordan Romero, age 13 years 11 months, on May 23, 2010

Youngest: Most summits:

Apa Sherpa and Phurba Tashi both hold the record for most summits (male or female) with 21 American Dave Hahn has the most non-Sherpa summits with 15

There have been 7,646 summits of Everest through June 2016 on all routes by 4,469 different people.

Summits: Summit (8,848m/29,028 ft) Camp 1 (5,900m/19,500 ft) Deaths:

282 people (168 westerners and 114 Sherpas) have died on Everest from 1924 to June 2016 or 3.7% Of the deaths, 109 died attempting to summit without using supplemental oxygen. Of the 282 deaths, 70 died on the descent from the summit or 25% Most bodies all are still on the mountain but China has removed many bodies from sight

Falling, avalanches, exposure and altitude sickness

Top causes of death: Amputee: Camp 4 (8,000m/26,300 ft) Camp 3 (7,200m/23,700 ft) Camp 2 (6,500m/21,300 ft)

In 2013, Sudarshan Gautam was the first armless person to summit Mount Everest without the use of prosthetic Elevation of Mt. Everest, in metres, (29,035 feet) making it the highest mountain in the world Age of Everest Year it was named Mount Everest, after Sir George Everest, who led a British survey team in 1841 Year Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit. They were the first people to do so Temperatures can reach this low on Everest Amount of money Nepal generated from Everest business in 2015 Speeds wind can blow at on Everest Number of people that died on Everest on April 25, 2015 due to an avalanche triggered by an earthquake Fee paid, per climber, to the Nepali government Average number of weeks it takes to climb to the summit from base camp Everest is called Chomolungma in Tibet. It means mother goddess of the universe Everest is called Sagarmatha in Nepal. It means goddess of the sky