However, many who get the opportunity say that the trip is sullied by the sheer amount of garbage and waste left over by the 800 people who attempt to climb Everest. One mountaineer is calling out the mountain climbing community for their harmful habits.

Although the fisheye photo makes the Earth look minuscule in comparison, commenters couldn’t help but notice the massive piles of trash in the background.

Once a person hits the summit of the mountain, they usually need to breathe in oxygen from a tank due to the high altitude. At this height, many climbers choose to shed layers and leave behind expensive gear to lighten the load. However, they seem to leave their trash at the top instead of trekking the waste back down.

In 2014, the federation ruled that “all climbers scaling Mount Everest will have to bring back 8 kilograms (17.6 pounds) of rubbish under rules designed to clean up the world’s highest peak.”

Climbing Mount Everest has become more popular than ever. Last year, Nepal issued a record-breaking 463 permits to climbers hoping to plant their flag on the top of the dangerous hike.

For instance, microplastics have been found in snow samples on top of Mount Everest, creating a toxic environment for all living things.

During the off-season, clean-up crews go up as high as they can, weather permitting, to bag up and haul out bags of trash. However, the summit can only be reached for a very short span each year, which makes it impossible for crews to get up high enough to remove all waste.

One poignant comment states, “People have managed to turn the top of the world into a garbage bin.”

With expensive gear, guides, sherpas, and the sheer will to complete the mission, around 500 people can touch the peak in a few days of good visibility seen on the mountain.

Due to the mountains and snow coverage, helicopters and rescue teams can’t reach any of the bodies. When someone becomes lost, trapped, or dies on the mountain, it’s the standard to leave them there. In the time that people have been climbing the mountain, roughly 100 bodies have been removed; many of them are the Nepalese sherpas removed by the community and given a proper burial.

By now, it’s too much to ever remove and return to its natural splendour.

Every person who has ascended the peak has been escorted by a Nepalese sherpa; without the local community, climbing the mountain would be virtually impossible. Many critics of the situation have noted that most of the climbers leaving trash behind are from Western countries, who often use labour and resources from third-world countries for their own gain. For now, it’s up to each mountain climber to respect the culture and the mountain by keeping sherpas safe and taking extra bags of garbage off the mountain.