I heard this report on NPR four days ago about a project to take photos of Mount Everest that exactly match those taken over the last century to see what changes have occurred, especially the extent to which the glaciers have receded.
As part of this project, they have created a composite of 400 photos that is two gigapixels in size, with such high definition that you can zoom in really close and still see fine details without blurring. You can see the photo here and use the navigation buttons to zoom in and move around by panning left and right and up and down.
While it is great fun to be able to get so close and personal with the highest mountain in the world, it is disturbing to see so much brown and so little snow and ice near the summit, as a result of the receding glaciers.
That’s amazing, Mano. I played with that for 15 minutes! I wonder how I could make a screensaver out of that photo!
Not sure how much snow and ice you’d see in a summer photo -- which this one appears to be. Many of those rock faces are too steep to have much on them. Some are even bare in winter photos. The telling thing will be the reduction in the glacier.
Look at all the people!
And all of their stuff!
At the lower margin of the glacier there are a lot of little blue tents around the perimeter of the huge campsite. Outhouse sized. I’ll bet the contents of those don’t get hauled off the mountain.
I heard recently of attempts (largely by the Sherpas who live and work in that area) to organize trips to clear the mountain of all the junk (and the dead bodies) that earlier expeditions have left behind.
I’ve heard of the Sherpas’ efforts too, Mano. I heartily applaud them though they certainly have their work cut out for them. There are thousands of empty oxygen bottles alone scattered along the trails.