Clean Mountain team of Army heads to Everest Base Camp

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Apr. 18: The Nepali Army team has moved from Namche of Solukhumbu to clean and collect mountain wastes including on Mt. Everest. 

The Clean Mountain Campaign-2024 team with soldiers to clean Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse mountains left Namche for Everest Base Camp on Wednesday.

Prachanda Bikram Bhartai, Lieutenant Colonel and chief of Ranashur Company, Namche, said that two of the 13-member team including twelve Nepali soldiers and one Sherpa guide headed towards the base camp from Namche on Wednesday and of them, two persons have stayed at Namche for emergency operation.

The team of the campaign, which landed in Syangboche by an army helicopter on April 14, left for the Base Camp after staying in Namche for two days.

The team led by Major Aditya Karki interacted with the locals to make the campaign effective, said Lt. Colonel Bharati. The team led by Karki will reach the Everest Base Camp after about seven days of trekking. 

During the trek, the team will also collect some of the wastes thrown on the foot trail to the base camp for raising awareness and promoting the campaign, said Bharati. 

According to the Nepali Army, the goal of collecting about 10 tonnes of waste from different camps of Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse mountains has been taken as part of the campaign with the motto 'An Endeavour to Save the Himalayas'.

Earlier, at a ceremony held at the Army Headquarters on Thursday last week, Chief of the Army Staff (CoAS) General Praburam Sharma handed over the flag to Aditya Karki, the leader of the campaign, and announced the commencement of the campaign.

The Ministry of Forests and Environment, Khumbu, Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality, Nepal Mountaineering Association, Himalayan Rescue Association and other organizations are providing technical assistance to make the campaign led by the Nepali Army a success under the national programme of the government. 

The Nepali Army believes that the campaign will help to minimise the impact of environmental pollution and temperature rise, which is a global challenge now.