尼泊尔登山者开展珠峰“大扫除”活动

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.

一项在世界海拔最高的地方开展的“大扫除”活动日前启动。据活动组织者本周一介绍，20名尼泊尔登山者将于本周启程前往珠穆朗玛峰，清理被丢弃在这里长达数十年的垃圾。

In this May 2005 file picture, members of the Mount Qomolangma expedition team climb up to measure the height of the mountain.

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（危险的，奸诈的） terrain（地形，地势） . Some 300 lives have been lost there since 1953.

Namgyal Sherpa and his team of seasoned（经验丰富的，老练的） climbers, carrying empty rucksacks（帆布背包） and special bags, will risk the zone's thin air and freezing temperatures to pick empty oxygen bottles, gas canisters（小罐，筒） , torn tents, ropes, and utensils（器具，餐具） 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（精疲力竭） 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（火葬） it below the base camp for which we have got the family's consent（同意，赞成） ."

New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepal's Tenzing Norgay Sherpa were the first to ascend to Qomolangma 's summit in 1953. That feat（功绩，壮举） 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.