US scientist sounds warning on future Everest dangers

Mount Everest and its surrounding peaks are increasingly polluted and warmer, and nearby glaciers are melting at an alarming rate that is likely to make it more dangerous for future climbers, a U.S. scientist who spent weeks in Everest region said on Tuesday, June 4.

Prof. John All of Western Washington University said after returning from mountains that he and his team of fellow scientists found re was lot of pollution buried deep in sw, and that sw was surprisingly dark when y processed and filtered it.

“What that means is re are little pieces of pollution that sw is forming around, so sw is actually trapping pollution and pulling it down,” All said in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital.

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All and his team spent weeks testing sw on Everest and its surrounding peaks, as well as plants on foothills.

“ warming temperature is melting glaciers and sw around Mount Everest very quickly, so what happens is even when re is a storm it melts in a couple of hours,” he said. “ glaciers are retreating dramatically because of global warming.”

He said because glaciers are getting thinner and smaller, it is making it more dangerous for climbers.

team h been planning to climb both Everest and sister peak Lhotse, but crowding on Everest forced m to change ir plans. y climbed up to last camp at 8,000 meters (26,240 feet), last point two mountains share, and only reached top of Lhotse.

Hundreds of climbers h lined up on May 22 and 23 to attempt to reach Everest’s summit, creating a traffic jam that is being blamed for deaths of several climbers.

All said it was too risky for his team to collect samples with that many climbers moving very slowly.

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scientists said samples and data would be processed once y return to United States, and y would n issue a report on ir findings. y h done similar research in area in 2009.

“Overall, past 10 years have seen a lot changes in mountains, and y all have been for negative environmentally in terms of long term survivability of glaciers,” All said.