Stories of some of the mightiest mountaineers looms large on the world of internet. Sheer vigour and back-breaking courage is what it takes to be one of them. For the biggest names in mountaineering, it isn’t mere Photo-ops. It is beyond brandishing their bravado. Or that is the case with Nepali climber Nirmal ‘Nims’ Purja MBE to say the least.
They say that there is no real beauty without some slight imperfection. Little did we know this will hold true for greatest of mountain peaks. Earth’s mightiest mountains are littered with discarded oxygen bottles, abandoned cooking gas canisters, ripped tents and tent poles, and all the other detritus of a thousand mountaineering expeditions.
Luckily for us, we have leaders like Nirmal, who have taken upon themselves to clean up the world’s highest mountains, one peak at a time.
Nirmal has to his credit big records and accomplishments. He had planned to trounce all 14 of the world’s peaks that were more than 8000 m in height, in just a single season. To everyone’s surprise, he conquered the same in just six months by smashing all previous records.
Now, Nirmal Purja has turned his attention to cleaning up the Himalaya, with the Great Mountain Cleanup, an ambitious campaign to carry tonnes of rubbish down from the peaks for processing and recycling, providing training and employment for local clean-up teams in the process.
He emphasizes on the importance of preserving the environment, contributing towards halting the climate change and doing what one can do in their capacity.
The first phase of the plan will target K2 during the 2021 summer climbing season, moving on to Mt Everest in 2022 and Manaslu in 2023.
Nirmal is doing this to set out an example. This will bolster a spirit of cleanliness amongst everyone who climbs up.
The objective is not just to physically clean up the mountains, but to nurture a culture of cleanliness, ensuring that mountaineers and local people work together to keep the mountains spotless in future.
The climber’s Elite Himalayan Adventures expedition group is already leading by example, following a ‘clean as you go’ policy to make sure that the only evidence of their presence on the roof of the world is photos of summit celebrations.