TO GO WITH Nepal-Everest-Environment-Pol

TO GO WITH Nepal-Everest-Environment-Pollution by Subel Bhandari Nepalese Sherpa climbers prepare their equipment prior to an Everest clean-up expedition in Kathmandu on April 22, 2010. A group of Nepalese climbers have left for a high-risk expedition to clean up Everest, concerned at the toll that decades of mountaineering has taken on the world�s highest peak. Twenty professional Nepali climbers, including some top summiteers, headed to the Everest Base Camp from where they will begin their ascent of Mt. Everest and collect all the garbage they can from the top including corpses and empty oxygen cylinders.Led by seven time summiteer Namgyal Sherpa, the team will brave thin air and below freezing temperatures to clear at least two tonnes of rubbish left behind by mountaineers. AFP PHOTO/Prakash MATHEMA (Photo credit should read PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP via Getty Images)