There's Too Much Piss on Mount Everest – Mount Everest Has Become So Overcrowded With Hikers They're Melting Its Glaciers With Their Urine

Climbing Everest used to mean something. Has anybody read the book 'Into Thin Air'? I started it about 10 times as a kid for a summer book report before I inevitably ran out of summer and turned to spark notes. But after learning what happened in that book, the thought of climbing Everest seemed nearly impossible. Like it would take a true super human endurance athlete to reach to the top. 

It still does. I think. It's not like Mount Everest has gotten smaller. But when you see so many pictures and videos of this nature... 

You can't help but wonder is it's really that impressive. I mean... I know it very much still is. I don't want to take away anything from people who've climbed it, or make it sound like I think I could do it on a whim or something. But that might be what you'd think based on that video alone. That is SO MANY people. That's not what I grew up thinking climbing Mount Everest looked like. 

In some ways, I suppose all the people might make it even harder. Or at least more annoying, depending on who you are, if you're forced to climb at the pace of the group. 

My point is, so many people are climbing Mount Everest that it's losing a bit of it's aura. At this rate, people are going to start treating those who summit Everest like Dave treats marathon runners.

I actually kind of loved this Mount Everest story from earlier this year. I loved it for Mount Everest.

"Oh, people don't fear our mountain anymore? We can change that." – As if the people of the mountain thought climbing Everest had become too easy and decided to play a little defense. It does make the feat all the more impressive when you have to navigate your way around evil sherpas who are trying to poison you. And if these hoards of climbers aren't respecting the mountain, and constantly leave it looking like this.

Well fuck it then. Maybe the people who climb it without doing their due diligence deserve a little poisoning. 

And now, in more recent "there's too many people on the mountain" news – the climber's piss is melting the glaciers.

NY Post – After standing the test of time for 50 million years, the world’s tallest mountain is under threat from an unlikely source: our pee.

Urine deposited on glaciers is enough to melt over 150 tons of ice and snow on Mount Everest every year, according to an a-thaw-calyptic study in the Regional Environmental Change scientific journal, as reported by the Independent.

“Urine, with a temperature of around 37°C (human body temperature), causes the ice to melt,” wrote the study authors, who were sent by Nepal’s Survey Department to determine the impact of humans on Everest.

Here's a fun fact I learned today about Mount Everest: When you climb the mountain, if you take a shit, you have to carry your shit back down the mountain with you. You can't leave it behind. Like Vladimir Putin when he visits foreign countries. 

Except most people who climb Mount Everest don't have their own poop guys. So they've got to pack it up with the rest of their belongings and carry it back to the "collection barrel" at base camp. But they never made any rules about piss. I guess they never envisioned a world where Mount Everest would become so accessible that climbers would produce enough piss to fill an Olympic swimming pool in a single season.

The researchers focused on the spring season in 2023, when roughly 2,000 people descended upon base camp, situated some 17,958 feet above sea level, the Daily Mail reported.

According to their calculations, the pee generated by the enthusiastic climbers totaled roughly 3.181 liters (0.8 gallons) per person. That means on a 50-day journey, the overall leakage hits 338,299 liters — more than 89,000 gallons.

The researchers estimated that the heat from heeding nature’s call could melt around 154 tons of ice in a single season.

When coupled with the thousands of gallons of gas used for heating and cooking, that figure jumped to 2,492 tons — enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

There's so much piss trickling down the mountain, it's causing problems for base camp. Everest Base Camp sits on top of glaciers, and temperatures at base camp are increasing twice as fast as the rest of the glacier. We've reached the point where scientists think the wise thing to do is move base camp all together.

Nonetheless, the scientists are calling for Everest Base Camp to a dryer spot with less melting potential

“Relocating the base camp to an ice–free site could help to mitigate human–induced glacier melt while fostering more sustainable mountaineering practices,” they wrote. “If implemented, relocation could reduce the stress on the Khumbu Icefall, enhance expedition safety, and contribute to a more resilient mountain ecosystem.”

That's a lot of hikers. A lot of piss. Again, I hate to disparage anyone who aspires to scale Mount Everest. But at the same time… that is so. much. piss.

Is there not another mountain people want to climb? It's almost like Mount Everest has done too good a job marketing itself. Everyone wants to say they climbed Mount Everest. It's not even the most difficult mountain to climb. But I guess that's the problem. It's the tallest mountain in the world, and the right level of difficulty that it's very climbable for people who have the time and money to prepare for it. Still… there's gotta be another similar mountain out there that can put together a good sales pitch. Someone who could handle a little more foot traffic. Someone with the bandwidth to take some piss off Mount Everest's hands.