Posted: Aug 26, 2009 10:13 am EST
(K2Climb.net) It was the season's funniest report: Altitude Junkies watched a climber dump - yes, junk - into a crevasse.

When sounding off didn't help; the mountaineers retrieved the garbage from the crack, brought it to BC and unloaded it - without a word - in front of the offender's BC tent.

"Nah," said the alleged villain, leader of Tehran Gasherbrum II expedition Kaveh Kashefi, in a short response at Iranian Mountainzone.

His team collected most their garbage and the rest was in care of paid porters, Kashefi said, adding, "there was just one crevasse in a remarkable far distance from C1. It was so deep and dangerous that descending inside and hauling loads of junk out would involve a severe technical activity. It is astonishing that one could enter and take packages of debris out of that crevasse."

Seems that most of all, the Iranians were in an astonishing wrong place at an astonishing wrong time. They dumped the trash right in front of French climber Arian Lemal, in place to research how expedition teams deal with their climbing gear, personal belongings and waste.

Witnesses

The report first arrived not from Arian but Portuguese climber Daniela Teixeira, who dispatched, “We want to congratulate Altitude Junkies for their great attitude in C1. Some members of an Iranian team fixed a rope to approach a crevasse and tossed 2 huge bags of garbage inside, in front of Altitude Junkies members."

"Immediately, there was an argument. Two days later, Altitude Junkies' members (Arian and Michael) went inside the crevasse, recovered the garbage bags, brought them to BC and silently emptied them right in front of the Iranians mess tent. The bags contained gas canisters, plastics - all kind of junk.”

"It’s none of your business"

“We carried a 15kg bag of rubbish down to Gasherbrum I’s base camp and emptied it in front of the Iranians’ mess tent,” Arian Lemal confirmed to ExplorersWeb.

“They stared at me wide-eyed, unable to believe what was happening. On the previous day, I had watched their team leader dump their bag of expedition rubbish into a crevasse; even though I confronted him at the time, suggesting he pack it out, I was told in no uncertain terms: ’It’s none of your business.’”

“At the same time in BC, other climbers' reaction was more vocal and supportive, and word soon spread around the climbing community. When I bumped into Austrian alpinist Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner in Islamabad she congratulated me on our action, which she had heard about while attempting K2 - a full day’s hike from the Gasherbrums.”

”I still loved my time there”

As for Arian’s personal, climbing experience on the Gasherbrums, he is thrilled. “The enormity of these amazing mountains made me feel vulnerable and overwhelmed and although I didn’t stand on the summit – I had to turn back at 7300m due to strong winds on my fourth attempt – I loved my time there.”

“My drive to climb mountains comes from my passion for the environment and the challenge of the climb. Rather than passing time playing cards and drinking tea with fellow climbers in camp, I gathered research for my dissertation on waste management on 8000m peaks by interviewing the people responsible for the waste,” Lemal told ExWeb.

He returned home with a unique and very interesting report based on personal interviews with climbers. The Iranians need not fret; Arian only did his homework, and delivers his blows evenly.

Rubbish part of life?

Here goes Arian's report, straight from the horse's mouth:

"Unfortunately, the Iranians’ attitude is not uncommon. I noticed that 8000m peaks are plagued by abandoned materials of all sorts, including old ropes, anchors, shredded tents and oxygen bottles. While walking on the glacier on two separate occasions, I found an oxygen bottle dated 1980 and then, later, in the middle of an old pile of rubbish left by a recent Korean expedition, I found another one dated 1962."

"Are these items part of history, archaeological artifacts or simply rubbish? In the 1960s and the 80s there wasn’t much environmental talk among climbers and it was the accepted practice to leave rubbish behind."

"Sadly, it seems that things haven’t changed over time, as an American climber pointed out: ‘I don’t expect any 8000m peak to be clean anymore,’ he said. Another added: ’Step by step, you get used to seeing rubbish. It becomes part of the experience.’"

“When I asked about their waste disposal habits while climbing, one Czech climber responded that he had ’bought a cheap supermarket tent to leave it up there’, while a Canadian confessed: ’I crevasse my rubbish.”

“Some climbers made reference to accepted behavior in their home country. ’Back home, we just don’t care, so why would I behave any differently here?’ said one of the Iranians."

"A climber from Argentina made this rationalization: ’Last year I threw away my rubbish at camp four because I had a heavy pack'."

Extenuating circumstances

“Surprised? Probably not, after all there has been much publicity over the years about the accumulating piles of rubbish on Mt Everest."

"Luckily, it appears that only a minority of climbers behave in this manner on the mountains. It was heartening to hear that the majority of climbers were adamant about taking down their rubbish back and keeping the mountain as clean as possible. However, ‘circumstances’ could influence the behavior of any climber."

"Every interviewee referred to these circumstances as omnipresent in mountaineering on 8000m peaks: life or death situations.”

“An English climber simply told me: ’When it comes to security, the environment comes second.’ Finnish Veikka Gustafsson, who recently finished climbing all 14 8000ers said: ’A clean place is important, but life is more important.’ He admitted once having to leave everything behind to escape a storm. He didn’t even take his camera with him, only the film. Another Scottish climber explained to me that his team had to abandon tents and equipment high up on K2 in order to rescue a climber."

Reckless weather

“Other accepted, or tolerated, circumstances to abandon gear and rubbish on a mountain include conditions and weather-related events such as equipment buried by avalanches or swept away by the wind. A German climber regretted seeing his “pee bottle” roll down the mountain and his down jacket ‘flying away like a crow stealing stuff’."

“Some climbers are genuine with regard to their circumstances, but others aren’t – one can tell by their peers. Don Bowie, an experienced Canadian climber testified that a ’a Polish expedition on Broad Peak left everything behind. When I say everything, I mean everything: tents, sleeping bags, solar panels, food, you name it. The guy was a millionaire, he didn’t care. I was disgusted! I had to crevasse a 100kg duffle bag of their gear to reduce the mess.’”

“We are our only witness”

“This year on Gasherbrum I, I witnessed a Korean climber abandon oxygen bottles and the equivalent of three carrying loads at Camp 3 and above. It was hardly a circumstantial situation because the weather was perfect."

"The lack of regulation and control on 8000m peaks also contributes to the accumulation of abandoned material. ’We are left by ourselves up here – said Gustaffson - We are our only witness.’”

“All climbers agreed that it was their responsibility to keep the mountain clean. Said one guide from UK: ’It would be nice if the people who put so much effort to get things up the mountain would put that much effort in getting it down.’ A fellow climber supported this: ’It would be ideal to rely on people’s responsibility, but it will never happen, especially at high altitude. Somehow, people’s values change up there.’ “

Hope!

“With so many people with different value systems and cultural norms, the unexpected and often uncontrollable circumstances, and the lack of regulation, it’s easy to understand why 8000m peaks are often referred to as ‘the highest junkyards in the world’. It is sad to imagine that these mighty mountains are slowly becoming mountains of rubbish, as one climber joked: ’In the future, we’ll have avalanches of rubbish instead of snow’.”

“Rubbish is not only unsightly on the high peaks, but it can pose a hazard to other climbers. One climber recalled a dropped oxygen bottle flying down the mountain, missing him by just a few meters and another had frozen human waste pierce through his tent fabric.”

“There is hope though. Climbers’ attitudes are slowly changing and the sight of abandoned material is affecting climbing behavior: ’The sight of the graveyard of tents at Camp 4 made me take down the tent and the rubbish I intended to leave behind,’ commented one of the Spanish climbers I interviewed. Nevertheless, are high altitude patrols necessary to regulate mountaineering on 8000m peaks or can climbers be responsible to maintain them as pristine and mighty?”

Editors note: junk is an issue also on the Oceans, in Polar areas and in Space. It's hard for most adventurers to throw the first stone, but reports such as Arian's raise awareness among us and make our world a cleaner place, one canister at a time.

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