Rich People Hiking Mount Everest Now Forced to Bring Their Poop Back With Them

Mount Everest is basically a mountain of human dung.

Hiker's Duty

Back in the good old days of summiting Mount Everest, you could just shimmy down your pants, drop a deuce, and leave it right there on the snowy ground.

The problem with just leaving poop on the highest peak in the world is that the environ's extremely cold temperatures are not at all conducive to degrading biological matter. In addition, poop runoff is a problem at lower elevations — to the degree that they've contaminated the local watershed.

Basically, Mount Everest is covered in human feces. It's a problem that hikers, sherpas and local officials have been complaining about for years.

But now, according to CNN, new poop rules are in place. If you want to climb Mount Everest from Nepal, the most common entryway, you gotta take your crap back with you instead of leaving it on the mountain.

Hikers, who are already paying tens of thousands of dollars to climb Everest, are required to bring with them two bags for their poop, each of which can be used for six bowel movements. When you put poop in the bag, officials say, chemicals inside cancel out the smell and make the poop solid.

Dirt Mountain

The issue with leaving excrement on the mountain, besides it being unsightly, is that it can contaminate the supposedly pristine snow and glacier ice of the landscape. Melted runoff can pollute drinking water, making climbers and non-climbers alike sick.

"Every year, it is getting worse with poop," Everest veteran climber Lakpa Rita told Outside magazine back in 2015. "People just dig holes at Camps I and II, and it melts out and smells terrible. When it melts out, it gets into the water, and people are getting sick at every camp."

"The only good part about the human waste situation above Base Camp is that shit freezes fast at 8,000 meters," Everest guide Adrian Ballinger told the magazine. "Beyond that, it’s an inexcusable embarrassment. If you walk from one tent to another in Camp II or IV, you will step in shit. If you melt snow from the camp areas, you are drinking shit."

The other problem that officials have had to contend with is trash on the mountain, from ruined tents to oxygen canisters. The peak has been called the "world’s highest garbage dump."

In other words, it's high time for these wealthy tourists to bring their crap back with them.

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