CCTV News:Recently, it was reported on the Internet that "Everest Base Camp will be closed indefinitely", which aroused public concern. In this regard, Xizang Sports Bureau responded yesterday (14th): the news that Mount Everest Scenic Area is permanently closed on the Internet is untrue. The "Everest Reserve" will continue to be open conditionally, and mountaineering activities that comply with laws and regulations can still be carried out.
Visitors can also watch the withdrawal of the base camp from the core area.
The "Everest Ban" circulated on the Internet is an announcement issued by the Everest Administration Bureau of Dingri County, Xizang on December 5, 2018. According to the announcement, starting from 2019, "no unit or individual is allowed to travel in the core area above the Rongbu Temple in the Everest Reserve". The location that tourists can reach is evacuated from the Everest tourist base camp to the Rongbu Temple 2 kilometers away, but the tourists’ viewing is not affected. In addition, visitors can also enjoy Mount Everest from three angles through the viewing platform of Mount Everest Highway and the viewing platform of Mount Everest on National Highway 318.
Everest protection zone core buffer experimental area
The Mount Everest Reserve covers four counties in Shigatse, Tibet, namely Dingri, Nyalam, Jilong and Dingjie, with a total area of 33,800 square kilometers, including five peaks located in China and on the border between China and Nepal with an altitude of over 8,000 meters. Everest reserve is divided into core area, buffer area and experimental area. In 2018, the functional zoning of Mount Everest Reserve was readjusted and approved by the State Council. After adjustment, the Rongbu Temple, which belongs to the experimental area, can engage in scientific experiments, teaching practice, visits, tourism and other activities according to the Regulations of People’s Republic of China (PRC) Nature Reserve.
The reception service for climbing Mount Everest is limited to spring every year.
According to the introduction of Xizang Sports Bureau, every spring, a mountaineering base camp will still be set up in Mount Everest Reserve, with an altitude of 5,200 meters, but ordinary tourists without mountaineering permission are not allowed to go. The location of the mountaineering base camp will remain unchanged in 2019.
In fact, in order to better protect Mount Everest, starting from 2018, the reception service for climbing Mount Everest is limited to spring every year, and the number of climbers is controlled at around 300.
In the spring of 2018, 8.4 tons of various kinds of garbage were collected during the mountaineering season.
During the mountaineering season in the spring of 2018, the mountaineering management department of Xizang carried out three large-scale garbage cleaning, and collected and cleaned 8.4 tons of domestic garbage, mountaineering garbage and excrement. Including the toilets in the camp and the excrement on the mountain peaks, are collected and brought back as required, and some of them are provided to local farmers and herdsmen for agricultural production, instead of "lying with the holy ice and snow" on the internet.
This year, the Xizang Sports Bureau will also issue the Measures for the Management of Mountaineering Wastes on Mount Everest, and for the first time, the bodies of climbers above 8,000 meters above sea level will be treated in a centralized way.
Nima Tsering, director of the Sports Bureau of Xizang Autonomous Region, said: "It should be said that the environmental protection of mountaineering on the north side has been improving, and we have already cleaned Mount Everest several times. In addition, we also set up the Himalayan High Altitude Mountaineering Environmental Protection Foundation to carry out various high-quality developments in accordance with this mountaineering management regulation. This year, we have a measure for collective resettlement of remains, and this activity may be carried out at the end of April and May. "