(NOTE: This article was originally published in the India Today issue April 30, 1990)
Softly, a boot sinks into the snow. The calf follows, then the thigh. Each step is a marathon effort. But exhaustion passed a few hundred feet below. Intoxication prevails now. For the air is rare, the vast sky a deep clear blue. The effect is not just physically exhilarating, it is in the realm of the spiritual.
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Or so it has been to thousands of mountaineers. But may not be so in the future. For as the numbers of enthusiastic young climbers grow, so does their litter. Food cans, oil cannisters, ropes, toilet paper, cigarette packets, chocolate wrappers are all left behind on the slopes. Until a decade or two ago, it was a relatively minor problem. Today, it’s come to a point where the supposedly mighty Himalayas are in urgent need of protection.
At an international confer
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