Giant Drones to Carry Trash off Mount Everest

Despite major efforts over the past few years to clean up Mount Everest, there are still tons of trash piled up so high that it looks like a landfill. Visitors to the world’s highest mountain have left around 50 metric tons of waste behind over the years.

To help solve the garbage problem, Nepal will be using unmanned “heavy lifter” drones that will sound like a “swarm of bees” according to a story in The Kathmandu Post. The drones are manufactured by Chinese drone maker Da Jiang Innovations (DJI), which also makes consumer drones in the U.S.A.

The first DJI drone, which was tested at Everest in April, carried 500 pounds of trash from one camp to another in only an hour, a feat that would take over a dozen climbers around six hours. The Khumbu Icefall is getting more dangerous each year due to warming temperatures. “Going up there one part of the day and coming down the next day could look very different, and the probability of that getting worse with a warmer climate increases,” said Paul Mayewski, a researcher at the University of Maine.

The goal is to have the local Sherpa operate the drones after future training sessions. “Yes, there are concerns that the machines may actually cut jobs. But our sole purpose is to reduce potential deaths in the Khumbu Icefall, the danger zone,” said Jagat Bhusal, administration officer of the Everest municipality.