氣候暖化，連聖母峰的冰川也融化，多年來在世界最高峰上喪生的眾多登山者屍體因而暴露出來。
根據知名登山老手阿內特（Alan Arnette）的部落格，截至2018年底，已有288人死於攀登聖母峰的路上。阿內特自己攀登過四次聖母峰。2014年，58歲的阿內特成為成為登上世界上第二高峰K2的登山者中，最年長的美國人。
聖母峰坐落在圖博（Tibet）和尼泊爾的邊界上，沿著8848公尺高峰到達山頂有兩條最常走的路線，分別是從尼泊爾出發的南坳路線和從圖博出發的東北山脊。
阿內特說，從尼泊爾出發的路線最受歡迎，但死亡率也比較高。
尼泊爾路線上有5280個峰頂，共有181人葬身，而圖博路線有3,206個峰頂和107人死亡。阿內特指出，這些死亡人數涵蓋了所有登山者，包括只停留在基地營的登山者，不只是攻頂者。
據BBC報導，隨著春天攀登季即將開始，現在圖博這一側已經開始移除屍體。
尼泊爾探險行動者協會（Expedition Operators Association of Nepal, EOAN）告訴BBC，由於法律要求政府機構參與，處理屍體的問題相當棘手。
「這個問題需要政府和登山界優先關注，」EOAN總裁Dambar Parajuli告訴BBC。
2016年BBC報導，將一具屍體歸還給一個家庭要花費數千美元、6到8名雪巴人付出勞力，而這可能造成雪巴人的生命危險。
總部設在加德滿都的亞洲徒步旅行團（Asian Trekking）董事長兼創始人Ang Tshering Sherpa和尼泊爾登山協會主席告訴BBC，通常體重80公斤的屍體在冷凍後必須連著身邊的冰塊一起挖出，總重可能會重達150公斤。
已經登頂珠峰15次的RMI Expeditions登山嚮導韓恩（Dave Hahn）告訴BBC，「移動屍體的最佳時機是意外發生後、屍體結冰前。」
登山者們表示，屍體通常被留在山上，推出視線外或用岩石覆蓋為墳塚。但是現在，氣候變遷正在融化珠峰上不曾融化的冰，不管屍體在哪裡都會暴露出來。
清除屍體的過程最為昂貴。2016年華盛頓郵報報導，從山上移動屍體下山需要花費3萬到7萬美元。
自2008年以來，Asian Trekking董事總經理Dawa Steven Sherpa，也就是Tshering的兒子，和同事們每年定期在山上進行清理工作。他們已經清除了超過1萬5000公斤的垃圾和超過800公斤的排泄物。
2016年，為了尊重死者，他們處置了幾具屍體，其中包括四名雪巴人，其中一人還是他們認識的人，以及一名1975年失踪的澳大利亞登山者。
「如果可能的話，屍體應該被埋葬，」Dawa Steven Sherpa告訴BBC，「但如果屍體是被凍結在8000公尺的斜坡上，那就不一定辦得到，但我們至少可以覆蓋它，留給它一些尊嚴，不會讓人們拍下照片。」
根據ICIMOD國際山地綜合發展中心的最新報告，世界最高峰冰雪融化已經無可避免。報告警告，如果全球暖化持續，到2100年，2/3的喜馬拉雅冰川可能會融化。
ICIMOD報告警告，「氣候變遷對興都庫什山區的影響已經很顯著，包括水資源供應、生態系服務和農業生產，極端天氣正在引發山洪暴發、山崩和土石流。」
「未來幾十年內，氣候變遷可能會在興都庫什山區產生更嚴重的效應。到2050年，該地區的山區氣溫預計將平均增加超過2°C，而海拔越高，升溫幅度越高。」
根據ICIMOD報告中引用的2015年研究，大多數地方冬季升溫幅度將比夏季更大，冰川融化可能會引發大洪水和破壞作物，並且會暴露出更多的登山者身體。
The snow and ice that has shrouded Mount Everest for thousands of years is melting in the warming climate, exposing the bodies of climbers who have lost their lives on the world’s highest peak.
Through the end of 2018, 288 people have died attempting Everest on all routes, according to Alan Arnette, whose blog reports on mountaineering activities throughout the world. The veteran of four Everest climbs, in 2014 at age 58 Arnette became the oldest American to summit K2, the world’s second highest peak.
Sitting directly on the border between Tibet and Nepal, Mount Everest presents two commonly climbed routes up the 29,028 foot (8,848 meter) peak to the top of the mountain – the South Col Route from Nepal and the Northeast Ridge from Tibet.
Climbing from the Nepal side is more popular but also has a higher death total and death rate, says Arnette.
The Nepal side has had 5,280 summits and 181 deaths, while the Tibet side has 3,206 summits and 107 deaths. Arnette notes that the death rates are for all climbers, including those at base camp, and not just those who summited.
The BBC reports that bodies now are being removed from the Tibetan side of Mt. Everest as the spring climbing season is just about to start.
The Expedition Operators Association of Nepal, EOAN, told the BBC that dealing with removing the dead bodies has been difficult because of a law requiring the involvement of government agencies.
“This issue needs to be prioritized by both the government and the mountaineering industry,” EOAN President Dambar Parajuli told the BBC.
In 2016, the BBC reported that returning a body to a family costs thousands of dollars, and requires the efforts of six to eight Sherpas, potentially putting those men’s lives in danger.
Ang Tshering Sherpa, chairman and founder of Asian Trekking, a company based in Kathmandu, and president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, told BBC then, “A dead body that normally weighs 80kg might weigh 150kg when frozen and dug out with the surrounding ice attached.”
Dave Hahn, a mountain guide at RMI Expeditions who has summited Everest 15 times, told BBC that, “the time to move a body is when the accident happens,” before it freezes onto the mountain.
Climbers say human remains are usually committed to the mountain, pushed out of sight or covered with rocks as a burial mound.
But now, climate change is melting ice on Everest that has not been melted for eons, exposing bodies wherever they lie.
Removing the bodies is a most expensive process. In 2016, The Washington Post reported that it can cost between US30,000 and $70,000 to bring a body down from the mountain.
Since 2008, Dawa Steven Sherpa, managing director of Asian Trekking and Tshering’s son, and his colleagues have led annual cleanup efforts on the mountain. They have removed more than 15,000kg of trash and more than 800kg of human waste.
Through 2016, with respect for the dead, they disposed of several bodies – four Sherpas, one of whom they knew, and an Australian climber who disappeared in 1975.
“If at all possible, human remains should get a burial,” Dawa Steven told the BBC. “That’s not always possible if a body is frozen into the slope at 8,000 meters, but we can at least cover it and give it some dignity so people don’t take pictures.”
More warming and melting of snow and ice on the highest peaks is inevitable, according to a new report from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, ICIMOD. If global warming continues, the report warns, two-thirds of Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2100.
The ICIMOD report warns, “Climate change impacts in the mountains of the HKH [Hindu Kush Himalayas] are already substantive. Increased climate variability is already affecting water availability, ecosystem services, and agricultural production, and extreme weather is causing flash floods, landslides, and debris flow.”
“Climate change is likely to have serious effects in the next decades in the mountains of the HKH (well established). By 2050, mountain temperatures across the region are projected to increase beyond 2 °C on average, and more at higher elevations.”
Temperature across the mountains of the Hindu Kush Himalayas is projected to increase by about 1 to 2°C by 2050, and even more at higher elevations, according to a 2015 study cited in the ICIMOD report. Winters are expected to grow warmer at a faster rate than summers in most places, and melting glacier ice is likely to trigger major floods and crop destruction – and expose more climbers’ bodies.
※ 全文及圖片詳見：ENS
