The camp looks like a rising city, and climbers usually spend up to two months in their tents to acclimatize before attempting to climb Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain, which rises 8,849 meters above sea level.
Like many Himalayan glaciers, global warming is causing the Khumbu Glacier to melt at an alarming rate. A 2018 study by researchers at the University of Leeds found that the section of the glacier near Everest base camp in Nepal was thinning by about one meter as the flow through the village was expanding at an alarming rate.
Even if global efforts to limit global warming to 2100 are limited to 1.5 ° C, then it is projected that one third of Himalayan glaciers will melt, according to an additional report for 2019, involving more than 350 researchers from the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development in Nepal, a regional organization in the Himalayas.
The Nepalese government noted that human activities in the camp also worsened the melting of the ice. In particular, climbers who urinate while in base camp or use fuels such as kerosene and gas for cooking and heating contribute to the thinning of the glacier.
“We are currently preparing for the relocation and will soon begin consultations with all stakeholders,” Taranath Adhikari, director general of Nepal’s tourism department, told the BBC.
“It’s basically about adapting to the changes we’re seeing in base camp, and it’s essential to the sustainability of the mountaineering business itself.”
The move is expected to increase the time to climb the summit from Everest Base Camp in Nepal, which is currently about a week, and may encourage climbers to climb the less popular Chinese side of the mountain.
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