Looking at the title people might get surprised with the idea of seeing Everest as a test ground but nostalgically marking the 60th anniversary of the first scaling, I’m bound to write this articles with full presence and sense. When I talk about working as a test ground, Mt Everest proves to be one of the harshest climates in the world. Mt. Everest has an extreme climate; the summit temperature never rises above freezing or 32° F (0° C). Its summit temperatures in January average -33° F (-36° C) and can drop to -76° F (-60° C). In July, the average summit temperature is -2° F (-19° C) this makes it an ideal ground for health experts to test human limitation at such condition.
To test human limits at such level can unlock the knowledge of how the human body works. Xtreme Everest, the organization behind the expedition has been conducting tests including performance testing on exercise bikes; blood, saliva, hair, urine, nasal swab and spit collection; lung function and muscle and skin oxygenation measurement, and various ultrasound scans and heart ECG measurement at Everest.
From 2007 under the project Xtreme Everest around 200 people trek to Everest base camp to conduct and take part in different experiments on themselves in the death zone above 8,000m. This was the first project, which was a not-for-profit collaboration led by medics and scientists from UCL, University of Southampton and Duke University. The mission obtained valuable data about how cells function at low oxygen levels, how blood is supplied when oxygen is low, and the changes in physiology when oxygen levels drop.
Similarly Xtreme Everest 2 is a project Led by Dr Dan Martin, an anaesthesia and critical care consultant in continuation of the Xtreme Everest project that aims to build on this knowledge, and answer questions the first expedition raised.
"The studies on Everest are trying to be translated into patients fighting for their lives in an intensive care unit," says Dr John Goldstone, an intensive care consultant at The London Clinic, which has helped fund Xtreme Everest.
Over the last two months, thousands of tests have been carried out on both volunteers and the doctors themselves, in makeshift laboratories at the 5,300m-high Everest base camp and at Namche Bazaar, a small settlement at an altitude of 3,500m on the way to base camp.
Apart from that Valery Rozov, 48, an extreme sports enthusiast leaped off Mount Everest to mark 60 years since Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay conquered the world’s highest mountain. He spent more than two years preparing for the jump, including considerable time devoted to developing a special new wing suit. Rozov and his team, which included four sherpas as well as photographers and camera crew, spent nearly three weeks in the Himalayas before the jump on May 5.
In another case British climber Daniel Hughes made the world first video call from Mt. Everest directly to BBC despite undermining the legal prospect of Nepal. "This is the world’s first live video call — never been done before — from the rooftop of the world," Hughes said.
AFP reported, “Nepalese government says Hughes’ interview broke the law because Hughes did not seek the government’s permission for his broadcast.”
With a huge increase of people climbing Mt. Everest the lack of care shown by the government has resulted in Mt. Everest being littered by climbers and mountaineers. The Guardian reports, “This year, 520 climbers have reached the summit of Everest. On 19 May, around 150 climbed the last 3,000 feet of the peak from Camp IV within hours of each other, causing lengthy delays as mountaineers queued to descend or ascend harder sections. Most of the traffic jams are at the Hillary Step because only one person can go up or down. If you have people waiting two, three or even four hours that means lots of exposure. To make the climbing easier, that would be wrong. But this is a safety feature, said Sherpa, who co-ordinates the work to prepare the traditional route up the mountain for clients who pay between $45,000 and $75,000.”
According to climatechangediplomacy, “In a joint collaboration of Nepal Army and Indian Army, the teams have collected over 4,000 kg of garbage in and around the area of Everest base camp. The initiative was called the Joint Sagarmatha Mountaineering and Cleanliness Campaign 2013 which almost took two months. The team collected 2250 kg of bio-hazardous waste and 1,760 kg of less toxic waste that was left by climbers and mountaineer which was handed over to the Mount Everest Pollution Control Committee in Namche of Solukhumbu district on Monday.”
As part of the Mt. Everest 8848 Art Project, a group of 15 artists from Nepal collected 1.5 tons of garbage brought down the mountain by climbers. They’ve transformed the cans and oxygen cylinders—and in one case, part of the remains of a helicopter—into 74 pieces of art that have already gone on exhibition in Nepal’s capital.
Reality of today, Mt. Everest is the highest point on earth and today it requires huge amount of attention and care in regardless of the number and expedition happening. On one hand climate change is drastically affecting the Mt Everest region in melting its Glaciers where as on the other the number of people scaling Everest due to lack of Nepal Government’s supervision is turning into a litter site.
Everest the highest point on earth proves to be an impression of showcasing popularity where on its side it searches its existence.