2 Latest News on Mount Everest (highest webcam and a toilet?)

1.  World's Highest Webcam Installed Atop Mount Everest

Thanks to the camera, you don't have to be a "Super Sherpa" to enjoy views from atop the highestmountain above sea level.  The camera was installed as a part of a program to monitor climate change in the Himalayan region, reported Treehugger. The camera was placed on Kala Patthar summit, 18,000 feet (5,600 meters) above sea level, near a base camp. The summit of Everest is at 29,035 feet (8,850 meters) above sea level.

You can also view the webcam for free.  Click on this to view.  The webcam is only active during daylight hours at 0600 to 1800 hours Nepalese time which  translates UTC +5:30.

 

Screen shot of the Everest webcam credits:  ouramazingplanet.com

Can I videochat with my girlfriend when we're done installing this?  credits:  Techtree.com

I was also wondering if I can use that webcam in the event that I reach atop of Mount Everest.  Well, just to say hi to people down below.

via ouramazingplanet 

 

 
2.  Environmentalists call for toilets on Everest

KATHMANDU — An environmental group is asking the Nepal government to consider installing portable toilets on Mount Everest for climbers caught short at the roof of the world.

Eco Himal says the thousands of trekkers who set off from the South Base Camp in Nepal each year would do a better job of keeping the place clean if they and their porters had somewhere civilized to go when nature called.

"Human waste is a problem, of course," said the group's director, Phinjo Sherpa. "I am merely suggesting that if we have public toilets they can be used."

Many groups bring expedition toilet cans, but Phinjo Sherpa said porters were often left with little choice but the nearest snowdrift.

Environmental activists say Everest is littered with the detritus of past expeditions, including human waste and mountaineers' corpses, which can take decades to decompose because of the extreme cold.

In 2010, an estimated 5,000 persons trekked the mountain.  I think that's a growing reason why environmentalist are starting to proposed such measures, and rightfully so.

 via AFP

 Some short facts about Mount Everest:

• Mount Everest was formed 60 millions years ago and continues to rise about 2 inches every year.
•  First to climb to summit: Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay on May 29, 1953.
• It is called Chomolungma or Qomolangma in Tibetan, which means "Holy Mother."