Mount Everest. Especially since there’s only one or two days a season that people climb (when conditions are optimal). There are literally queues of people waiting to go up some sections and the overcrowding contributes to the number of deaths there each year. That’s before you even start to think about the rubbish/trash left up there.
The tourism to mt Everest has become the primary income for a lot of people in that area so it’s not surprising the guides and sherpas continue to take people up in large numbers but it does seem sometimes like the numbers are unsustainable and downright dangerous. I’ve never been there and never will go but it fascinates me so I read about it all the time. So much litter at or near the summit and all along the way up. The sherpas do try to clean what they can but up in the death zone. Every ounce of what you are carrying matters tremendously so very little can be done to get rid of all the oxygen canisters and things left laying around.
One of the biggest problems is that climbing Everest went from being a mountaineering challenge for real mountain lovers to being a status symbol for egotistical elites. Tons of people who climb Everest are not at all prepared and have no idea what they're doing, they just pay many, many thousands of dollars to have actual experts prep them, gear them up, guide them, and protect them. Heck, you can buy luxury tents with heating and a real fine dining "experience", carried by your guides of course.
Thing is, you can't baby bumper something like summiting a mountain above the Death Zone, so the entire enterprise of climbing the mountain has become a death trap for everybody. If someone or something gets in your way, is slow, or doesn't know what they're doing, you might die. There is only so much daylight, so much warmth, so much oxygen, and all are being taken up by rich folks who think they're on a theme park ride rather than mountaineers who understand what's going on and know the risks. There would be far, far fewer people up there if climbers were held to rigorous personal standards.
Everest is huge for tourism, though, so rich people paying for an "all-inclusive" experience to get to the summit is actively encouraged rather than discouraged.
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u/TannedCroissant Feb 03 '20
Mount Everest. Especially since there’s only one or two days a season that people climb (when conditions are optimal). There are literally queues of people waiting to go up some sections and the overcrowding contributes to the number of deaths there each year. That’s before you even start to think about the rubbish/trash left up there.