Climbing as a kind of human impact on the high mountain environment – based on the selected peaks of Seven Summits

Abstract

For the last 40 years a significant increase in the number of high mountain climbers has been observed. It is connected with changing characteristics of the climbing activity and the climber’s profile. Due to the commercial approach to the mountaineering, conquering the high mountains via normal routes is no longer seen as an extreme type of climbing, but as a form of trekking on the high altitude.

This article focuses on three examples chosen from Seven Summits: Denali, Aconcagua and Kilimanjaro - the most popular peaks among the climbers. Due to a huge number of climbers (respectively in 2007: Denali – 1218, Aconcagua – 4548 and Kilimanjaro – 41760) and the lack of education those people affect the environment and through that they disrupt natural ecosystem. Consequences of ecological imbalance include: destruction of vegetation, disruption of fauna, introduction of the new species (plants and animals), pollution by garbage and excrement, disruption of the natural landscape by tourist infrastructure, and noise etc.

Purity of the high mountains depends on two matters: management of mountain areas and climbers themselves (rule Leave No Trace). This paper indicates the negative impact of mountain climbing activity to the mountain environment and tries to find a good-practice of climbing management in mountain areas.