It Is So Much More Crowded At The Peak Of Everest Than We Ever Expected

The commercialization and crowding of the Everest experience — and the issues that come with it aren't new. The question of what to do with all the, ahem, human waste left by climbers has been a mounting problem for years at the world's tallest mountain. But we didn't have a good sense of just how crowded things are getting on the mountain until we saw this photo posted by climber Nirmal Purja, who said he summited with 320 other climbers:

As Outside points out, it's not always this crowded, but there are limited windows in which summiting is possible, forcing many of the climbing groups to make the climb at once. 

Still — you'd think the best way to get a little solitude on this Earth would be to climb 29,029 feet, but apparently not. 

[Nirmal Purja via Outside]