6.000 liters of urine a day. That’s what the nearly 2,000 people who climb each high season leave at Everest Base Camp.
It sounds almost comical, but the figure is real and comes from an international study: since it leaves the body at body temperature, that urine acts almost like hot water on ice. Scientists estimate that it can melt up to 154 tons of snow in a single season. Added to that is the heat from camping stoves and the soot left by campfires, which also wear away at the Khumbu Glacier from within.
The issue already concerns Nepal so much that authorities are considering moving the base camp to an ice-free area and tightening waste-management rules. It turns out that not even the highest mountain in the world is immune to what we leave behind 🧗♂️♻️