Youth to clean up Everest

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Somehow the words "Mount Everest" conjure up images of a remote, difficult-to-reach trekker's paradise. It's hard to imagine a place with so much natural beauty strewn with garbage left by careless hikers and tourists.

Edmonton high school student Jason Twin heard about the environmental problems in Nepal and decided to do something about them. He's joined Youth to

Everest Canada and, along with three other young Canadians, he's heading to Mt.

Everest on May 1.

The team of four will work with 20 young people from New Zealand and the Sherpas, the indigenous people who live on the borders of Nepal and Tibet high in the Himalaya mountains, to try and right some of the environmental wrongs plaguing the region.

The Everest area's popularity is creating great strains on the environment. The 8,000 visitors a year stay in lodges and burn wood for cooking and heat, which is destroying the forests at the base of the mountain, Twin said. Visitors rarely take their non-biodegradable garbage out with them.

A total of 8,000 kilograms of garbage was collected and disposed of in 1990

and 1991 by YTEC teams.

This year's Youth to Everest group will collect and bury rubbish in five villages, supply tourist lodges with rubbish baskets and employ staff to collect and dispose of rubbish regularly. They hope to set up solar panels to heat the lodges and cut down on the wood cutting in the forests.

To finance his trip, Twin must raise $4,600. Fund raising plans include a raffle for two pairs of mukluks, made by Jason's grandmother, a benefit dance at Edmonton's Sacred Heart Church on Feb. 27 and a pancake breakfast on Feb. 14, also at the church.