Last surviving member of the first team to conquer Mount Everest says it is crowded and dirty now

By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA
Associated Press

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — The only surviving member of the mountaineering expedition that first conquered Mount Everest says the world’s highest peak is too crowded and too dirty and the mountain is a god that needs to be respected. Kanchha Sherpa, now 91, was among the 35 members in the team that put New Zealander Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay atop the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) mountain on May 29, 1953. He said in an interview that it would be better for the mountain if the number of climbers were reduced. There have been concerns about the number of people living on the mountain, generating trash and waste, but authorities have no plans to cut down the number of permits they issue.