New Delhi: A signboard installed by a local municipal government at the Mount Everest Base Camp concealing an iconic rock has stirred sentiments to no end on social media.
The rock with the words ‘Everest Base Camp 5364m’ written in red has been an iconic spot for tourists reaching the Everest Base Camp. However, a week back, the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality erected a signboard featuring pictures of the first summiteers of Mount Everest Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary and the peak of the highest mountain in front of the rock. The signboard conceals the iconic line ‘Everest Base Camp’ and only ‘5364m’ is visible.
“Earlier, trekkers recognised EBC for its iconic boulder with the 'Everest Base Camp' written on it with red paint, where countless trekkers and mountaineers have left their mark over the years,” the Himalayan Times report stated. “The stone is still there but has tilted over the years and is now mostly blocked from the view by the new board.”
On March 20, 17-time British Everester Kenton Cool posted on X (formerly Twitter): “This has been put up at Everest Basecamp… I’d love to know people’s thoughts on this.”
His post was viewed by over 19,000 people at the time of filing of this report.
“I’ve stood on that rock and the place round the corner before it was here with just the small rock,” one user with the handle @BeardedTrev posted. “This just feels wrong, it feels commercial, out of place, and I wonder how long before they have a similar sign on summit.”
“I think it’s disgusting actually and disrespectful to the mountains, the scared and powerful places that they are,” @janecull wrote.
“Such an eyesore. Not needed. Don't just shift it, needs to be removed. They can put it on Everest. The plain rock was so much cooler and a good description of the area,” another post read.
However, @EWO_tweets wrote that “it’s better than the graffiti and detritus that litters the landscape”.
“Plus, it’s a stark reminder of how these two brave men managed to do it 71 years ago without modern equipment or a tourism company...”
But, Ganesh Sharma, a tour and trekking operator, said that the iconic stone, with its history steeped in the tales of adventurers and explorers, served as a testament to the rich cultural and historical heritage of the region.
“Its replacement not only disregards this heritage but also threatens to erase the memories and experiences of those who have made the arduous journey to EBC and could be perceived as disregarding the cultural and historical significance it held for those who had visited,” the Himalayan Times quoted Sharma as saying. But the fact of the matter is that the iconic rock does not stand on solid ground. It is part of a glacier and will keep shifting.
“The local government had put up the rock to stop trekkers from going beyond the Everest Base Camp,” Love Raj Singh Dharmshaktu, seven-time Everester and Deputy Commandant in the Border Security Force, told ETV Bharat over phone from Dehradun.
A Padma Shri recipient, Dharmshaktu goes to the Himalayas not only as a mountaineer. He also organises free health camps and free distribution of medicines among local people. He is also instrumental in clearing garbage from the Himalayas, and has at one time brought back the frozen body of a mountaineer. Dharmshaktu said that the rock in question was put up to deter normal trekkers from venturing ahead of the Everest Base Camp because there is a risk of falling into crevasses.
“The rock is an important marker to let trekkers know that they have reached their destination,” he said. Pointing out that the rock is part of a glacier, he said that it will again tilt in four to five years. But what about the signboard that is creating the news?
Dharmshaktu said that after ETV Bharat contacted him, he spoke to climbers in Nepal. They then informed him that the signboard will also be moved according to the rock's location. Moreover, the history of Mount Everest will also be written on the signboard.
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