Big Mountain Clean Up

Tackling waste together across the world

The Nimsdai Foundation aims to inspire others to take action on waste across the globe. To tackle mountain waste, the Nimsdai Foundation established the Big Mountain Clean Up; since climbers first scaled the world’s highest peaks, there has been rubbish and waste left behind. Working with organisations and governments, we tackle this issue by deploying/using highly skilled, high-altitude waste removal teams to clear the mountains.

For those not trained in high-altitude waste removal, there is still plenty of rubbish to tackle closer to home. The Nimsdai Foundation aims through projects like Trash Trek and others to inspire people to tackle personal and community action on waste and rubbish in their own areas. We encourage everyone to adopt protocols like 'clean as you go' and 'leave no trace.'

Through these projects together we can protect our home the Earth.

Everest, K2 and Beyond

For more than 70 years rubbish and waste has been accumulating in the mountains. This causes issues for people and wildlife. With your help we have run Big Mountain Clean Up operations across Everest, Manaslu and K2. We now have ambitious plans to support further clean ups at Kilimanjaro and, with your help, across the world.

Taking action on mountain waste

Often, rubbish like abandoned tents, oxygen canisters, food containers, discarded equipment, and of course faecal matter is left behind. This can be because storms have hit the camps and scattered gear, freezing it into the ice or burying it in the ground, making removing it a huge challenge.

In addition, old ropes from the climbing routes need to be removed so that climbers do not clip onto them by mistake, which can be potentially fatal, because climbers and guides rely on these safety ropes to catch them in case of falls.

Pollutants from this waste are being washed into rivers by rainfall and snowmelt, contaminating water supplies for local populations, posing serious health risks from disease.

Over three years, Nimsdai Foundation worked on Everest, Manaslu, and K2. Removing:

2021 Manaslu - 500kg

2022 Everest - 500kg

2023 K2 - 200kg

The work is difficult and very different from a litter pick at sea level. Teams have to be highly skilled to move on the mountain and remove the waste, which can be frozen into the ground or buried in the ground, needing a huge physical effort to remove. If required, teams use supplementary oxygen to help make this process easier.

Inspiring others

Sadly rubbish and waste is a global problem. We work to inspire everyone, whether in the big mountains or not, to help tackle this issue. Through projects like Trash Trek we aim to inspire everyone to take action and do their own clean up missions. An example is that during the 'Dusk to Dawn' Night Harbour Hike, participants collected rubbish along the first six miles of the route, removing over 7.2kg of waste.