We've Said it Before and We'll Say It Again: Stop Climbing Mount Everest, You Losers!

We’re a really daft species, one with a propensity for doing stupid stuff even when the entire planet is warning us not to. Case in point: Mount Everest. The tallest mountain in the world is a climber’s biggest challenge, and every year, far too many people decide they must reach the peak, even as the death toll increases and the entire mountain is left decimated by trash piles and ecological waste. This year is no different. Indeed, it might be worse than usual.

According to Outside Online, an estimated 500 people reached the summit in the last week, taking advantage of calm weather. But amid this extremely crowded period, ten climbers have died. That makes it one of the deadliest years in recent memory. And the season isn’t even over.

As of Monday, May 22, the fatalities include four Sherpas and six foreign climbers. In April, a collapsing ice tower buried and killed three Sherpa guides. Several climbers are also missing on the mountain. People die every year on Everest. The average, according to The Himalayan Database, is about six a year. 2023 is close to doubling that.

The Nepalese government issued a record 454 permits to climb Mount Everest this spring. This comes in spite of the fact that overcrowding has been a huge issue for the mountain for years. In 2019, this image went viral, revealing how the trek to Everest’s peak is essentially a queue now, one where people can collapse on the spot and have others step over their body to get to the top.

If you use this image it would be appreciated if you could inform me & credit the photo @nimsdai Project Possible also please make a donation to the go fund me campaign.Promotion of #ProjectPossible would also be most welcome.https://t.co/wEYu8OHRwE, https://t.co/FVAZrnDSwI pic.twitter.com/eSZRCIsApb

— Nirmal Purja MBE (@nimsdai) May 24, 2019

It is believed that many climbers are making up for lost time following the pandemic, when access to Everest was closed. Climate change and human overcrowding have impacted the mountain too. British climber Kenton Cool, who made his 17th ascent up Everest recently, said there’s far less snow now and the climb is far rockier than previous years.

Last Friday: line to climb Mount Everest. pic.twitter.com/ITJItSk4NQ

— Margot Roosevelt (@margotroosevelt) May 21, 2023

Crowded Hillary steps.
8800 meters, People are lining up to climb Mount Everest. pic.twitter.com/zrow4CGvay

— Sharing Travel (@TripInChina) May 22, 2023

Climbing Everest is the ultimate bucket list goal for so many, but it’s also an overtly commercialized death trap that does more harm than good. Black market equipment sellers offer dodgy oxygen tanks at lower costs. The mountain is covered in the leftover rubbish of former climbers. Human feces has made its way into the drinking water of the local Nepalese population thanks to these adventurers. All that and the mountain is covered in human bodies. If you die up there, you stay there. It’s near-impossible to get a corpse off of Everest, so instead they become handy markers for future climbers. You’re litter.

Sure, it must be a great feeling to scale the highest peak on Earth and live to tell the tale, but with the Nepalese government hoping to cash in on ego and folly, is it really worth it when you’re so likely to die (and probably kill a bunch of Sherpas while you’re at it?) Perhaps take up a hobby with lower stakes that won’t cost you tens of thousands of dollars and your body.

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