The rise and fall of mass mountaineering

Experienced mountaineers are responding to the challenges of overcrowding, pollution and socio-cultural impacts caused by tourist climbers by calling for more responsible and sustainable mountaineering practices.

The horror of the heights

Once the greatest challenge in high altitude mountaineering, decades of guided trips to the top have turned the once mighty Mount Everest into a mere item on adventure tourists’ bucket lists, but the sheer number of attempts on the summit every climbing season means its cumulative death toll continues to grow.