The increasing number of mountain climbers made them a significant source of anthropopression. The paper is focused on the devastating impact of non-toilet human waste on high-mountain environment and discusses the sc...The increasing number of mountain climbers made them a significant source of anthropopression. The paper is focused on the devastating impact of non-toilet human waste on high-mountain environment and discusses the scale of this phenomenon. Four male members, of mean age 31.5 （±0.5） years, volunteered for this study. The study was conducted above 12,286 feet （3,745 m）, and consisted of 12 days of measuring human excrement output, as well as calorie and liquid consumption. The average results showed the amount of human excrement remains left by climbers in high-mountain environment on a daily scale; i.e., feces of approximately 128 g （32 g without water） and approximately 1.8 L of urine. During this study, the average daily diet consisted of 4,000 （± 500） calories and average 3.6 （± 1.1） quarts （3.8 ± 1 L） of water. Based on these data, an example calculation of quantitative values of human feces and urine left by climbers in 2013 on Denali （Mount McKinley） was conducted. Results show that the 1,151 people that climbed Denali within 18 days （the mean residence time in the massif） left behind over 660 kg of feces and more than 37 thousand liters of urine in the massif in 2013 alone.展开更多
文摘The increasing number of mountain climbers made them a significant source of anthropopression. The paper is focused on the devastating impact of non-toilet human waste on high-mountain environment and discusses the scale of this phenomenon. Four male members, of mean age 31.5 （±0.5） years, volunteered for this study. The study was conducted above 12,286 feet （3,745 m）, and consisted of 12 days of measuring human excrement output, as well as calorie and liquid consumption. The average results showed the amount of human excrement remains left by climbers in high-mountain environment on a daily scale; i.e., feces of approximately 128 g （32 g without water） and approximately 1.8 L of urine. During this study, the average daily diet consisted of 4,000 （± 500） calories and average 3.6 （± 1.1） quarts （3.8 ± 1 L） of water. Based on these data, an example calculation of quantitative values of human feces and urine left by climbers in 2013 on Denali （Mount McKinley） was conducted. Results show that the 1,151 people that climbed Denali within 18 days （the mean residence time in the massif） left behind over 660 kg of feces and more than 37 thousand liters of urine in the massif in 2013 alone.
