If you’ve got “summit Everest” on your bucket list, better get started now. Apa Sherpa (aka “Super Sherpa”), who’s summited Mt. Everest 21 times, tells Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the trip up the mountain is getting increasingly dangerous as climate change sets in. As Himalayan glaciers melt, bare rock — slippery, treacherous, more prone to rockfalls — has replaced snow and ice. Apa Sherpa told AFP:
Climbing is becoming more difficult because when you are on a mountain you can wear crampons but it’s very dangerous and very slippery to walk on bare rock with crampons.
But even though brave adventurers will suffer/thrill at this new challenge, they’re not the ones affected most by this state of affairs. That’d be the 1.3 billion who depend on Himalayan glaciers for water and energy. It sucks that climate change will ruin some badass vacations, but as usual it’s hard at work ruining some livelihoods too.
