Mount Everest glaciers are under threat and melting — thanks to climbers relieving themselves (only 4.39 years left)

NY Post ^ | 9/04/26 | Ben Cost

[Libloather]

Urine trouble, Mount Everest.

After standing the test of time for 50 million years, the world’s tallest mountain is under threat from an unlikely source: our pee.

Urine deposited on glaciers is enough to melt over 150 tons of ice and snow on Mount Everest every year, according to an a-thaw-calyptic study in the Regional Environmental Change scientific journal, as reported by the Independent.

“Urine, with a temperature of around 37°C (human body temperature), causes the ice to melt,” wrote the study authors, who were sent by Nepal’s Survey Department to determine the impact of humans on Everest.

The international team of scientists studied the Khumbu Glacier, the home of the Everest base camp on the mountain’s Nepalese side. Hundreds of people congregate there each year before attempting to summit the 29,035-foot wonder.

These throngs have turned this majestic pinnacle into a “Burning Man”-esque tent city producing disruptive noise, Himalayan trash mounds, and of course, mountains of human waste.

While climbers have been required to pack out their poop in bags since 2024, climbers still relieve themselves directly onto the ice.

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TOPICS: Local News; Outdoors; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: andamagicunicorn; climbers; everest; fakescience; glaciers; melting; mounteverest; nypos; urine

[The_Media_never_lie]

When humans pee, it is environmentally harmful, but when animals do it, it is just fine. Double standard.

[Steve_Seattle1]

"Urine deposited on glaciers is enough to melt over 150 tons of ice and snow on Mount Everest every year, according to an a-thaw-calyptic study in the Regional Environmental Change scientific journal . . . "

Sounds like pseudo-scientific BS.

[V_TWIN]

“the Regional Environmental Change scientific journal...”

Gotta keep that grant money coming in somehow.....no matter HOW absolutely ridiculous the findings. SMH

[Red Badger]

Ping!.......

[FirstFlaBn]

All the dumbasses here fail to understand that it’s the tourism dollars that matter to the locals; it’s only the outsider busybody usual suspects who are in a tizzy.

[redinIllinois]

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[redinIllinois]

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[ealgeone]

Well I guess we've uncovered the real reason for climate change.

How many people in the third world pee wherever?

[butlerweave]

Antarctica gained a record 695 billion tons of ice in just 2 years ,LOL

[usurper]

If the situation is so dire on Mount Everest, why not just stop people from going there?

Because it's not dire, just like the rest of the environmental click bate BS. They need to find a new graft this one is getting old and stale.

[xp38]

The timing of this following the Nepal floods raises a Spockian eyebrow.

[dfwgator]

"Mount Everest, forbidding, aloof, terrifying. The mountain with the biggest t*ts in the world."

*Gong* "Start Again!"

[PeterPrinciple]

So, the urine gives up it’s heat and become ice. There is no loss of ice.

[wardaddy]

Effing nonsense

[quantim]

Moral of the story, pee evaporates.

Does ice evaporate?

AI Overview (Google)

Yes, ice can turn directly into water vapor without melting first, a process scientifically called sublimation.

How It Works

Vibrating Molecules: Even when water is frozen, its molecules constantly jiggle and vibrate.

Breaking Free: Some surface molecules gain enough energy to break free from the ice completely and drift into the air as a gas.

Skipping Liquid: The ice changes straight into a gas without ever turning into a puddle of water.

Where You Can See It

In the Freezer: Old ice cubes shrink and get smaller over time because the cold, dry air pulls the vapor right out of them.

** Outdoors:** Snow or ice on the ground or your roof can slowly vanish on cold, sunny, or windy days even when the temperature stays below freezing.

[KitJ]

"Do like Kevin Costner in Waterworld."

Exactly my thought. How funny.

PGR88 says: "I'll remember this next winter when I need to shovel the driveway."

I'm laughing out loud at that one. Maybe my neighbor with the snowblower will come help if they see me melting snow with my bladder?

Libloather, you'd better cut your timeline below 4.39 years because I'm going to urinate in a little bit. Melting glaciers and global warming is now caused by humans urinating????

[BTW, I'm fascinated by your countdown timer to destruction. I think you explained before you based it off an AOC comment? Mr. Gore insisted we would all be dead by 2015 if we didn't vote for him and Slick Willie.]

[alexander_busek]

Any ice on Mt. Everest which is melted by urine almost instantly re-freezes!

The mountaineers are actually helping to fight the "rising of the oceans" by sequestering water at high altitude.

But don't lick yellow glaciers!

Regards,

[neverevergiveup]

Made me think of a good name for a band — ‘Hot P**s’. (Yes, I know, I need more sleep and more maturity).

[rdcbn1]

This is the most absurd article I have read in a long time

Everest is a huge mountain range with an altitude at 30,000 ft up in the jet stream and temperatures ranging from -18C to -60 C and hurricane force winds oo

Basic thermo dynamics demonstrate that any contribution by humans to the energy balance is so negligible it is unmeasurable

The real problem on Everest is that it is becoming very polluted by human waste and garbage that immediately freezes and never goes away which is the opposite of the issues in this article

[ChessExpert]

Next headline:
Peeing in the Snow and the End of Winter.