Nepalese climber pushes for cleaner Everest

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

KATHMANDU (AFP) — A young mountaineer from Nepal has claimed a major breakthrough in his bid to promote eco-friendly climbing on Mount Everest, with his team reaching extraordinary heights of cleanliness.

Expedition leader Dawa Steven Sherpa has made it his mission to clean up the world's highest peak, and at the same time revolutionise big mountain climbing by giving out some badly needed toilet training.

"Nobody set out to destroy the mountain, it's just a problem that slowly crept up," said Sherpa, just back in Kathmandu after his Eco Everest team took what could be the ultimate personal hygiene challenge.

The idea of the expedition, he said, was to leave nothing behind -- not even a yellowed pee-hole in the snow.

Decades of heavy-weight...