尼泊爾登山者將清理珠穆朗瑪峯垃圾

Twenty Nepali climbers are setting off to Qomolangma this week to try and remove decades-old garbage from the mountain in the world's highest ever clean-up campaign, organizers said on Monday.

Many foreign and Nepali climbers have cleaned Qomolangma, also known as Mount Everest, in the past, but Namgyal Sherpa, leader of the Extreme Everest Expedition 2010, said no one had dared to clean above 8,000 meters (26,246 feet), an area known as the "death zone" for the lack of oxygen and treacherous terrain. Some 300 lives have been lost there since 1953.

Namgyal Sherpa and his team of seasoned climbers, carrying empty rucksacks and special bags, will risk the zone's thin air and freezing temperatures to pick empty oxygen bottles, gas canisters, torn tents, ropes, and utensils lying between the South Col and the 8,850 meter (29,035 feet) summit.

"This is the first time we are cleaning at that height, in the death zone. It is very difficult and dangerous," said Namgyal Sherpa, who has climbed the world's tallest peak, seven times.

"The garbage was buried under snow in the past. But now it has come out on the surface because of the melting of snow due to global warming," the 30-year-old said. "The rubbish is creating problems for climbers ... Some items of garbage are from Hillary's time."

The mountain has become known as being the world's highest garbage dump. Many climbers leave their gear and trash behind as they descend due to exhaustion and lack of oxygen.

Namgyal Sherpa's team hopes to bring down at least 2,000 kg of garbage and the corpse of a climber killed two years ago.

"I have seen three corpses lying there for years," Namgyal Sherpa said.

"We'll bring down the body of a Swiss climber who died in the mountain in 2008 and cremate it below the base camp for which we have got the family's consent."

New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepal's Tenzing Norgay Sherpa were the first to ascend to Qomolangma 's summit in 1953. That feat opened Nepal as a popular tourist destination. Since then more than 4,000 climbers have since scaled the mountain and tourism, including climbing, is a key source of income for Nepal, among the world's poorest countries.

一項在世界海拔最高的地方開展的“大掃除”活動日前啓動。據活動組織者本週一介紹，20名尼泊爾登山者將於本週啓程前往珠穆朗瑪峯，清理被丟棄在這裏長達數十年的垃圾。

之前有很多外國和尼泊爾登山者對珠峯進行過清理，但據“2010珠峯極地探險”活動的領隊納姆格亞爾•夏爾巴介紹，至今還沒有人敢去海拔八千米（26246英尺）以上的地帶清理垃圾，這一區域由於缺氧和地勢危險而被稱爲“死亡地帶”。自1953年以來，已有大約300人在這裏喪命。

此次，納姆格亞爾•夏爾巴將帶領經驗豐富的登山隊帶着空帆布包和特製的袋子，前往位於珠峯南坳至8850米（29035英尺）峯頂間空氣稀薄、氣溫極低的“死亡地帶”，清理遺棄在這裏的空氧氣瓶、儲氣罐、廢棄的帳篷、繩索和器皿等垃圾。

曾七次登上世界最高峯的納姆格亞爾•夏爾巴說：“這是我們第一次在死亡區這麼高的地帶清理垃圾，難度很大，也很危險。”

這位30歲的登山者說：“這些垃圾過去被埋在雪裏，但由於全球變暖導致積雪融化，現在垃圾都露了出來。這些垃圾會對登山者造成不便。有些垃圾甚至是埃德蒙•希拉里那個年代的登山者留下的。

珠峯現已成爲世界海拔最高的垃圾堆。很多登山者由於體力不支和缺氧，在下山途中就將一些器具和垃圾丟在了山上。

納姆格亞爾•夏爾巴的登山隊希望帶回至少兩千公斤的垃圾，並將兩年前遇難的一名登山者的屍體運回來。

納姆格亞爾•夏爾巴說：“我在登山途中看到過三具屍體，已經有好幾年了。”

“我們將把2008年遇難的一名瑞士登山者的屍體帶下山，在登山營地火化，我們已徵得其家屬的同意。”

1953年，新西蘭人埃德蒙•希拉里爵士和尼泊爾人丹增•諾爾蓋首次登頂珠峯，使得尼泊爾成爲一處頗受歡迎的旅遊目的地。此後，共有四千多名登山者攀登過珠峯。尼泊爾是全球最爲貧困的國家之一，包括登山在內的旅遊業是其經濟收入的主要來源。

Vocabulary:

treacherous：dangerous; hazardous（有潛在危險的）

seasoned：of a person having a lot of experience of a particular activity（經驗豐富的，老練的）