So how are the two main crises of recent times affecting Everest? Well the first, climate change, is having pretty much the same effect as elsewhere in the Himalayas. Melting glaciers with glacial lakes so swollen they threaten to burst their banks, flooding further downhill, bridges and houses of locals washed away - all this has been plain to the sherpa population and it's accelerating.
And the global financial crisis - has it affected tourism? Not so apparently, at least not yet. 27,000 people disembark in and around Everest annually, compared to only 3,000 local sherpas. Aherm...we'll leave the ecological effects of this to another posting.
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