The Truth Behind Mount Everest's Controversies

a few months ago I summited Mount Everest and while there I witnessed several serious problems going on that need to be talked about but I also see a lot of straight up false and exaggerated info being passed around so after documenting literally every moment of my climb I'm going to share all the things I found surrounding these issues and controversies starting off with of course the trash for my experience there was some degree of trash prominent on every single part of the climb let's start off with the Trek to base camp around 30 ,000 people will Trek to Evers base camp every single year and just about 1% of those will climb to the top but even with these numbers surprisingly the Trek in was way cleaner than the actual climb throughout the trail there were several of these Stone trash cans that you could throw away whatever you had into very easily and there was also recycling centers around the mountain that were turning trash into art so really there was no excuse to leave any of your waist behind one thing I did notice was of course as we went higher up in altitude the more trash trash would accumulate for instance going through gorp and lishe there was definitely more trash compared to any of the other Villages but it wasn't anything severe yet I would say even arriving at base camp the entire Zone was pretty clean despite the entire Place being a civilization which we'll go into more later now this cleanliness of the mountain is because trash can easily be broughten down by Porters trekers and helicopters but once you start moving past base camp into the kumu icefall things get a little bit more dice the problem is once you start pushing into 18 19,000 ft you're now risking your life as you move through the kumbu icefall up into the higher camps climbing becomes more difficult because of the altitude and the terrain is ultimately more technical so bringing down any sort of trash is going to be a lot harder than what it was previously now as I was moving through the kumu ice fall I did notice a few bottles and pieces of trash here and there but honestly it wasn't anything severe and same goes for Camp 1 this makes sense though because neither of these are popular campsites and most teams will just end up moving through them but once we get to Camp 2 things get a little bit more active Camp 2 was almost as much of a civilization as base camp and there was much more trash left behind by various different climbers compared to any other previous points on the mountain the good news is that helicopters still fly up here and there is a lot of foot traffic which means there is still efforts to bring the trash down Camp 3 on the other hand is much more dangerous less accessible and therefore was the first location on Everest that was visibly the most trashed as the season went on more and more trash started building up at Camp 3 which is around 23,000 ft things like cooking supplies leftover tents My Expedition leader Garrett Madison actually commented about how some teams will cut their logo out of their tents so when they go down and they don't need a tent anymore they can just leave theirs there cuz how is it going to be traced back to them there's no repercussions things only get worse from here though as pushing right right beneath the death zone at Camp 4 it was an actual dump like simply play this place was trashed just look at this video I filmed I can barely name most of the things that are in this shot essentially so many teams had summited right before we had gotten up there so as they were coming down they thought hey we don't need these supplies anymore we're going to get out of here we don't need these things so let's just leave them behind get rid of some of the weight and nobody will even know it even smelt horrible up there which is very weird because at altitude I lose my sense of but I walked in there and it smelt like something I don't even know what if you thought it ended there though well you would be wrong because as we were pushing up the Summit Ridge and making our way to the actual Summit there was a coke bottle empty Coke bottle laying there right on the ground which is just absolutely unacceptable because I mean that thing is light as feathers there's no reason you should not be able to carry that down remember the higher up you go on Everest the more trash you're going to see because if people don't bring down their own trash other people are essentially risk in their lives to bring other people's waist down there's no helicopters that fly above Camp 2 and nobody wants to stay in the death zone long enough to pick up all of it and of course if you want to actually get rid of some of the poop it's it's frozen in the ground you have to dig at it with an ice axe personally I'm not really qualified to give a solution to this problem other than that climbers just need to be better myself and my team brought down every single piece of trash and poop we produced even if it weighed literal pounds brought it all the way down to the base camp we waste deposits and we just we didn't complain right you just have to do it take it in take it out simple so is Mount Everest covered in trash well really the only bad spots are at Camp 3 and Camp 4 which in the grand picture isn't a lot of the mountain but it's still unacceptable and you know people leaving their trash up there just need a lock in now one of the next biggest issues that people talk about regarding Everest that could contribute to the trash is the lines there's been several famous videos and pictures showcasing large lines on every which gives off the external impression that the entire mountain is an incredibly overcrowded mess so here's what I found now there was some small lines on the track into base camp but that's not really going to be our Focus because of course there will be there's 30,000 people going to the same spot but again as we get into the kumu ice fall things gets harder to Traverse everyone slows down and of course that's going to cause some buildups the first significant line I encountered was going through the kumu ice fall now during this season there was this giant ice wall that had formed which was very technical very Steep and I mean just coming up on this thing I saw a huge line of people and I was like oh boy here we go it was just a very technical wall that some people had to be pullied up with by like a rope and a pulley system as well as their bags because they were too heavy which is obviously going to cause some slowdowns and lines which myself and many others caught on camera there's some places that you just don't want to get caught standing around and the ice fall is one of them because at any moment a 10 Megaton piece of ice ice can just crush you like not even kidding luckily I got through the ice fall fine and it was smooth sailing all the way up until Camp 2 where I witness the most extreme and large lines of the entire season you see as I mentioned previously my team and myself were a couple days past the majority of the other teams on the mountain so as we were at Camp 2 we could see every single team that was ahead of us moving up from Camp 3 to Camp 4 I mean my teammate Tyler described it as a black mamba and there's just no other better way to describe that thing if you saw a viral video of lons on Everest this year this is most likely where it took place and these same people went up to the summit together and that just created even more lines which were all documented as well fortunately these lines and crowds cleared out as we moved up from Camp 3 to Camp 4 and although my Sherpa furba and I did have to pass some people on our Summit push the crowds never affected us too severely so is Everest an absolutely overcrowded mess while my opinion not really I guess it depends on what you consider overcrowded but the whole reason that it seems crowded and these large lines do build up is because of marginal weather windows that forces everyone to go up at the same time and you know 90% of people going up at the same time it's obviously going to create some lines cuz they want to get to the summit so they're going to take that chance as soon as they can like I said our Summit day really wasn't that crowded I mean we had moved up a couple days past the majority of the team so of course there was going to be less people and I'm assuming as the season went on and on it got even less crowded so the whole overcrowded controversy is a bit blown out of the water in my opinion um as long as everybody's confident prepared and actually trained to be there then I don't really see it as a problem but uh of course that's going to bring us into our next major issue it's currently a common perception that everybody climbing Everest should not be there they're just inexperienced idiots that cause all the lines that we've just went into now let me clarify I am nowhere near a professional climber I don't consider myself a professional climber I simply just trained my body to an extreme level and picked up the proper Technical Training that I would need to climb Everest and I made it happen with that being said as you start climbing Everest you do realize it's been made as easily as possible for everybody involved there's fixed lines 95% of the way from base camp to the summit that 5% being in the western Kum which is just because it's so flat there you don't need them guides Sherpas and porters do most of the heavy lifting in setting up of camps meaning you really don't need as much Technical Training as you did years ago and by years I mean decades one instance that does fit The Stereotype that I noticed was climbing through the kumu ice fall so we just started our climb we're moving up this thing and I noticed a climber that was being short roped by their Sherpa meaning they were just connected to them being dragged up they didn't even have a backpack on and they were on oxygen brv oxygen in the kumu ice fall you're supposed to hop on that after Camp 2 minimum even though I didn't film it this this was the most extreme example of an inexperienced climber I had ever seen on my entire Everest Expedition luckily I did not notice any more instances of this as I moved from the kumu ice ball up to the summit because likely if you were in that state or condition I don't think you would have made it up very far because I didn't see much more instances of that I do think that my team and many of the other climbers that are there do have the physical and mental and Technical capability to make it up Mount Everest in today's environments I mean and as you can see from my footage of multiple occasions on the ascent there really isn't anybody just being pulled up by Sherpa um but of course the fact that there even is an example of this is kind of concerning it definitely is an issue that could be solved by the nepolis government saying hey you need to do X Y and Z before you even attempt Everest unfortunately there is a lot of lower cost sketchy guiding companies that will take you up Everest regardless of the experience you have cuz they're just trying to make a buck that's why it's very important to only go on Expeditions with the established reputable companies that actually require previous experience because you might get paired up on a team with someone that has no idea what they're doing and it's just a recipe for disaster now the next major issue that's talked about a lot and is kind of the reason why a lot of these other problems happen is the overc commercialization of Everest the current impression is that today as long as you pay enough money you can assure your spots on the Summits of Everest versus 50 years ago I mean you had to go go through hell get frostbites carry all of your own gear be self-sufficient all just for a smidge chance of summiting while this isn't entirely the case overc commercialization of Everest is visible from base camp all the way up to the summit so let's break it down like I stated previously upon entering base camp I was welcomed with an actual civilization there was dozens of different companies hundreds of tens ranging from single person homes to gigantic Mega does now we have to realize there are so many different companies offering different amenities and services at base camp you can go on the extremely low end of $30,000 and get a single tense that you'll spend most of your time in food that may get you sick and much less support on the actual Mountain there's also the higher end in the hundreds of thousands of dollars where a guide service will give you as much support as you need as much oxygen as you need great food literal Mega does with lounges and espresso machines inside of them Etc 99% of people will find themselves somewhere between these two sides but at the end of the day you're still going to have to walk up with your own feet regardless of what company you get with you're still going to have to get down on your own or else you will be left to die up there unless if you're this guy who just got carried by a sherpa on his back I do not think anybody climbs ever thinking they can just buy their way to the top it's always going to be dangerous and difficult but with that being said it can be made more easy and accessible with how much you're willing to spend I actually made a video where I was completely trans parents about the $75,000 I spent towards my guiding company they gave us really nice base camp tents had amazing chefs oxygen pass Camp 2 and a personal Sherpa which I only had on Summit day of course these things allow me to recover and climatize better but the main reason I went with this company and spent that price was because of their safety record and Summit success rates which in my opinion are the two most important factors now there's also a lot of talk about how the commercialization of Everest affects the sherpa in the local nepes people so I went out and actually asked them about it while I was there here I asked A store owner in nam one of the villages that you Trek through on the way to base camp about the whole situation it's been getting popular to climb Everest a lot more people has that been good for your business uh yeah nice I also asked a few other Porters and locals about the whole situation and for the most part they said it benefited them financially because of all the money that was coming in but there was one Sherpa I interviewed at base camp that had quite a different opinion how long have you been a sherpa before I'm during this since uh 2019 2019 so 5 years what do you think about the growth of kind of popularity of climbing in general uh gen uh not that much good engl you don't think it's good yeah do you think that uh this needs to be more regulated yeah really so what's the biggest problem you would say the the um ice full ice all dangerous yeah you're climbing Everest yes so why cuz a lot of people think it's dangerous why are you climbing it is the is the money's problem are you his family are you a sherpa or a guide yeah Sha Sha for how long I am East the East Mountain East the 17 years 17 years yeah so how much times have you summited ever nine time summit nine times yeah so how do you feel about the westerners and everybody coming to climate climate is this every year is to change for the better or worse yeah better yes any problems trash is the ice is he very danger I dangerous yeah he every is change do you think people should still be allowed to go yeah yeah awesome thank you I appreciate your work very impressive perspectives of Sherpas are always going to vary on this matter for the most part all the Sherpas I met were literally some of the happiest people I'd ever met on Earth but obviously there's some in completely different situations that we need to consider all in all though it is without a doubt that commercialization of Everest is a spectrum and it can cause many of the issues and problems we've talked about in this video it definitely is outrageous that some climbers like we mentioned before do think that they can just pay an absurd amount of money to be brought up the mountain but unless the nepes governments limits their permits there's always going to be company is trying to set up operations in the regions and capitalizing as much as possible now aside from the trash lines inexperienced climbers and the commercialization of Everest one of the most talked about issues is the deaths 2023 was one of Everest's most deadly Years yet in 2024 it came close with a tragic eight casualties so the data shows that yes the issue that many people talk about of rising deaths and even people's bodies being left up there whether it be a sherpa or a climber are true while I did encounter a few pretty intense rescues such as this climber right here being dragged down the lce face likely suffering from Hae or haste I didn't see any dead bodies during the entire climb up until Camp 4 to the summit while moving up the Triangular face we had noticed a climber that was just to the left of the fixed lines we shined our headlamps on him and he was just right there um he was a couple days old he was from all the groups that had gone up previously like I mentioned there's also another climber who passed right on the trail it was a Kenyan climber and he was right beneath the summit it's unsure of whether or not he had made it or not if he was on his way up or on his way back down but he was climbing without oxygen and yeah he never made it back down it's safe to say that they had died from extreme altitude sickness which is either going to be Hape or Hast and it's unsure if their bodies were broughten down I mean they were right on the trail so I think most of the ones that are on the trail are brought down but of course of course there are dozens out there that have fallen so far or are so deep in the snow that they're unretrievable despite the mountain being more accessible easy and kind of I guess tamed in a sense the deaths are still clearly prominent and Rising so what are the actual causes for that well like the two climbers I just mentioned most of the time it's going to be either Hape which is when your lungs fill up with fluid or haste which is when your brain swells both of these are just due to a decrease in the oxygen saturation at such high altitudes when you move from Camp 4 to the summit the oxygen saturation is about 40 to 33% of what it is at sea level so a lot of climbers will just get so weak so tired that they get the Summits but they physically cannot make it back down or their brains are just so out of whack that they make a decision very rash decision and it seals their fate while there was a few deaths this year due to fall most of the time it's going to be related to the altitude cuz you're living on a Lifeline up there you're sucking out of oxygen and you can't spend too much time in the death zone because your body just cannot adapt anymore besides for the summit push there's also a lot of deaths that occur in the kumu ice fall tragically most of these are Sherpas ice doctors and porters because they're the ones that are passing through it the most whether it be fixing lines or bringing gear up all to make climbing the mountain possible for anybody with the cause of deaths in mind the only logical reason why the deaths would be rising is because of these skyrocketing interest of climbing Everest I mean every year there's hundreds of climbers making their way for the summit now I think this year there was 300 to 400 and 2019 was the biggest year historically the best way that these deaths can be prevented is with proper decision making and preparation and most importantly knowing when to turn back and going with the right team usually people don't just die on a mountain with the snap of a finger it was usually a sequence of events that unfolded which could have been mitigated or avoided such as pushing up during bad weather or when climbers Health was worsening things like that that in hindsight could have been avoided or mitigated overall all of these issues revolving Everest have become extremely controversial and definitely can be worked on um if you do feel passionate about any of these issues especially the loss of high altitude workers in the kumbu ice fall which I just mentioned please check out the Juniper fund I've linked it to this video but its mission is to provide Financial relief and support to families of high altitude workers that's lost their lives on the mountain while trying to provide for their family whether it be a sherpa or Porter like the ones we mentioned previously but anyway I hope you all found this video thought-provoking and it helps you formulate your own thoughts on the situation if you enjoyed it subscribe as I post a lot more mountaineering content and yeah thank you for watching