If you would like to join in the talkboard discussion about endangered mountain environments please click here. If you would like to do some more work on the future of places like Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail or protecting Mount Everest, please click here to see the GEN school project. Your work could win a prize for your school. Useful web site: http://tqjunior.thinkquest.org/5069/index.html Make a list of all the different types of litter and rubbish mountaineers on Everest might leave behind. Try organising your list under different headings, for example - dangerous, harmless, biodegradable, non-biodegradable. Remember, something which is biodegradable will rot down, although on the higher slopes it is too cold for this to happen.

At 8,848 metres, Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain. It is found on the border of Nepal and China, part of the Himalayan mountain range which stretches across the north of India through to Afghanistan in the west. It wasn't until 1953 that the summit of the mountain was finally conquered. Since then, hundreds of expeditions have set out to climb to the top. Although many have been successful, the mountain has also claimed many lives.

The expeditions consist of those trying to climb to the top and their support teams. They set up their base camps lower down the mountain. This means that literally hundreds of people visit the mountain every year. As a result, large amount of rubbish gets left behind - plastic, papers, abandoned tents, equipment, oxygen bottles etc. So much has accumulated that some people have called Mount Everest the dirtiest mountain in the world. An added problem is that, because of the extreme cold, very little material rots away (biodegrades). A good example of this was the discovery in 1999 of the body of George Mallory ... who had tried to climb Everest in 1924!

Mt. Everest

People were so worried about the build up of rubbish that in 1994 an expedition set out just to clean up the mountain. They cleared away a lot of rubbish and also set up a program to remove old oxygen bottles. In future, all expeditions are asked to pay the Sherpas to take the old bottles from the highest camp at South Col, back to Everest Base Camp. The Sherpas collect them on their way back down the mountain, when they are not carrying as much, then sell them. The bottles are sent back to Kathmandu where they can be disposed of properly. An estimated 1,000 oxygen bottles have been removed from the mountain so far.

The programme to remove oxygen bottles is proving to be successful. Why do you think this is? What else do you think could be done not just to clean-up Everest but to stop it being spoilt in the future? Think about some of the problems carrying out your ideas in such a remote and harsh environment would cause.