By the late 1980s, Mount Everest had a problem. Trails in the region, and even the slopes of the revered peak, were experiencing a major side effect of 30 years of climbers coming to the area: garbage.

“They used to say, ‘One can easily reach Everest Base Camp by following the toilet paper trail,” says Yangji Doma Sherpa, a spokeswoman for the (SPCC). What’s worse, no one was there to pick up the roughly 30,000 pounds of human waste and 50,000 pounds of burnable waste created each year by climbing teams on the region’s most popular peaks.

That led to the creation of the SPCC. Beginning in the late 1980s, Ngawang Tenzin Zangbu, of the region’s most important monastery, the , began working with Mingma Norbu Sherpa, a local who had risen high in the ranks of the World Wildlife Fund, andÌęstarted campaigning to clean up the Khumbu valley. In 1991, they founded the non-profit SPCC specifically to deal with the trash and waste problems. It soon began undertaking projects like building toilets at the base camps of Ama Dablam and Island Peak and installing trailside garbage bins and beginning door-to-door garbage service for lodges in the Khumbu’s largest villages.

But as the SPCC worked to keep the valley clean, they encountered a new problem: Garbage collection is expensive. While the SPCC receives some money from Sagamartha National Park, Doma says each year they only get a small percentage of the overall fees collected by the park. (The SPCC did not provide numbers. Getting hard numbers from any Nepalese governmental agency—or NGO—is next to impossible.)

So, in the late 1990s, the SPCC came up with another way to raise funds: The Icefall Doctors. Financed by the SPCC, the Icefall Doctors are a group of roughly eight Nepalese that set a route of ladders and fixed ropes through the Icefall to Camp I before guided clients arrive. Before the Doctors, western outfitters and climbing Sherpas worked together to piece together to set the route. Though it was a departure from the organization’s original mission, the SPCC took over maintenance of the route in 1997 and charged climbers $500 each. (That amount was raised to $600 this year.) In recent years, as the number of climbers on the mountain has exploded, that has created hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue. (The SPCC said it couldn’t confirm that number, which șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű calculated based on the number of successful summits each year.) The SPCC says it then uses excess funds to finance the garbage program.

While virtually the entire Everest community agrees with the need for waste management, and many applaud the SPCC’s work down valley, questions surround the distribution of Icefall revenue. Many climbers say that the quality of gear used in the Icefall—from ladders the Doctors’ personal ropes, boots, and packs—falls below what that kind of money should produce.

“Last year’s tragedy showed some of the real problems with saving money on the route,” says Dave Hahn, a guide with who has summited Everest 15 times. A week before last year’s tragedy Hahn had asked the Doctors to double up ladders in the points threatened by avalanches. “I’d like SPCC to field the strongest, best equipped, most experienced squad of Icefall Doctors that they can. Sadly, things have been going in the other direction in recent years,” says Hahn.Ìę“It's no surprise that they hadn’t been able to accomplish that. They were doing the best they could under the circumstances. I’d just like to see some different circumstances.”ÌęHahn says that in recent years, the Doctors have even relied on gear donations from Western outfitters in order to be properly equipped.

While the number of climbers has doubled over the years, funding for route setting has not increased, and the SPCC’s focus has remained on initiatives that deal with the regional garbage problem. Because of that, many have argued that it’s time for outfitters, the SPCC, and the government to give the Doctors more and better resources. “Their personal gear could be improved,” says Pete Athans, a veteran guide who helps train the Doctors each year. “The ladders and rope quality could be improved significantly.” That’s not to mention things like helicopter flights to help them plot the route, and higher wages. (The Doctors make significantly less than the Sherpas who work above Base Camp—despite spending far more time in the Icefall.)

“As good as [Icefall Doctors] like Ang Sarki Sherpa and Nyima Dorje Sherpa are, there were only six of them last year,” Athans says. “I think having more eyes is going to be critical.”

To do that, though, someone—either outfitters or the SPCC—will need to cough up. Some outfitters say they’d be willing to step up, although years of stagnant investment in the Icefall have bred skepticism of the SPCC that may be hard to overcome.Ìę

“There are a lot of things that need to change but ultimately there are a lot of smart people trying to garner support and make it happen,” says Athans. “There’s been a tremendous outpouring of ideas and effort since the avalanche. If we don’t take advantage of that, that’s the real tragedy.”Ìę

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Last year, after 16 Sherpas died in an avalanche on Everest, many predicted an end to commercial climbing on the mountain. They were wrong. But as climbers converge on Base Camp this April, these five questions are sure to generate controversy.

1. Is There a Safe Way Through the Icefall?

For the first 28 years of Everest exploration, starting in 1922, the Nepalese side of the mountain was off-limits; climbers launched their attempts from the Tibetan side. Once the Nepalese government opened the mountain to climbers, teams were stymied by the Khumbu Icefall, a treacherous corridor filled with huge, constantly shifting ice blocks, crevasses that appear without warning, collapsing seracs, and frequent avalanches.

In 1952, a Swiss team pioneered a route through, and a year later, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay used it to reach the summit. The Icefall has been part of the standard route ever since, though it remains a dangerous zone: 34 Sherpas and five Westerners have died there since 1963.

Each April, a group of eight Nepalis called the Icefall Doctors select the safest passage, an increasingly perilous job as climate change renders it ever more unstable. “There are no pros to these routes; they’re all cons,” says veteran guide . “Some just have fewer cons than others.”

Left Route: The most direct path to Camp I and the one used last year, it once had a distinct advantage: a massive bergschrund—a gap between a glacier and a mountain—collected falling debris off the west shoulder, preventing it from reaching climbers. But the void has steadily filled with snow and ice, diminishing the buffer. Still, if the Icefall Doctors can’t find a way through the middle of the valley, they’ll likely opt for the left side.

Middle Route (Upper Section): To get between the towering 100-foot seracs—or to cross the area’s multiple crevasses—the Icefall Doctors link as many as eight ladders to bridge gaps. In 2014, they spent four unsuccessful days searching the area for a good route. (It was last used in 2001.) This year they hope to find one with the help of radar devices that can be mounted to a helicopter or dolly to create a moving map of the shifting terrain.

Right Route: The Icefall Doctors examine conditions here each year, but it’s rarely considered a viable option because it’s so open to the seracs that frequently fall from above. Otherwise, it’s similar to—but longer than—the upper middle route.

Middle Route (Lower Section): The fastest-moving part of the glacier, this area is extremely unstable. “It’s becoming river-like,” says guide . The Icefall Doctors will likely avoid it yet again this season.

Football Field: An anomaly on the Icefall: a relatively flat area at approximately 19,000 feet. “The question really comes down to where you go once you’re at the football field,” says Morton.

2. Is Alpinism on Everest Dead?

With paying clients clogging the summit queue, serious climbers face a narrowing window for their bold ascents—and descents

Kilian Jornet, 27

The Spanish ultrarunner has already made speed ascents of Denali and Aconcagua. This spring he’ll try Everest—without oxygen. He’s aiming to make the summit in under 20 hours.

Willie Benegas, 46, and Matt Moniz, 18

After last year’s avalanche, the two shelved their plans to try the . They’ll return this year to make another attempt.

Raphael Slawinski, 48

The has hopes of tackling a new route up the mountain’s northeast face, which has been successfully climbed only once, by a Russian team in 1996.

3. Is the North Side Safer?

After last year’s avalanche, some predicted a migration to the Icefall-free northern side, but only one Western team made the switch: , led by Adrian Ballinger. Those who stayed claim that the ability to use helicopters for rescues and the proximity to hospitals outweigh the dangers. But Ballinger stands by his decision. “The things that go wrong on the north side are running out of oxygen or sitting down from exhaustion,” he says. “Sherpas don’t do that. They die in crevasses or avalanches.”

The north is more difficult, but Ballinger hopes to temper that by keeping his client count low (six climbers) and his staff-to-client ratio high, and bringing a full-time doctor. It’s an expensive endeavor—Ballinger is charging $79,000, compared with roughly $50,000 for a south-side climb—but he thinks it’s necessary. “The future of Everest needs to be on the north side,” he says. “It’s the only ethical way of running this business.”

4. Will Veteran Sherpas Refuse to Climb?

Outfitters have had no problem hiring Sherpas. (The job pays ten times the average annual salary in Nepal.) But those with experience and clout—including the sirdars for and —are opting to manage Base Camp, join expeditions on the north side, or stay home. Why? To avoid the Icefall. “Something happened inside me when I dealt with the dead bodies after the 2014 avalanche,” says Lakpa Rita, Alpine’s longtime sirdar. “Every time I go back, I remember all the moments that I don’t want to remember.”

5. Should Helicopters Ferry Gear to Camp I?

One way to reduce the risk that Sherpas face in the Icefall: airlift equipment to Camp I instead of having them carry it. Russell Brice, owner of , has advocated this approach since 2013, but the Nepalese government has yet to grant permission. Meanwhile, some guides, including 15-time summiter Dave Hahn, oppose heli-assisted ascents on principle; others worry that a helicopter crash on a crowded mountain could be disastrous. Does the benefit to Sherpas negate these concerns? We calculated the cost of transporting 9,000 pounds of gear—enough for 12 clients—using each method.

By Sherpa: 220 Icefall trips costing $7,150*

By helicopter: 21 trips costing $42,000

*Cost assumes 20 Sherpas, each making 11 trips and earning approximately $32.50 per trip.

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Using tools from psychology and advertising, avalanche researcher Ian McCammon has spent the past 20 years analyzing what he calls the psychological terrain. The upshot: more accidents are due to decision-making errors rather than misreading the snowpack. How do you avoid these “heuristic traps,” as McCammon refers to them?

1. Everyone in your party should be educated. The has a list of accredited courses.

2. The night before entering the backcountry, check the local avy report and discuss possible routes, the weather, and the quality of the snowpack.

3. In the field, talk to one another about everything—your comfort level, how the snow looks, what effect the wind has had, and so on.

4. Discuss potential red flags you might be ignoring: Is the fact that you ski the run all the time providing a false sense of security? Is social pressure or a scarcity of good snow affecting your judgement?

5. Before you opt to ski a particular slope, make sure that everyone in your group is comfortable with the choice and knows the order you’ll ski in and the location of all safe zones.

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Don't take on the backcountry without knowing what you're looking at when you see that grand hunk of rock and fluffy white stuff. Each mountain hosts any combination of ever-changing features and conditions—here's a breakdown of what to pay attention to, and how it can affect your safety.

1. Wind can displace tremendous amounts of snow, in some cases affecting the nature of the snowpack much more than a new storm. Wind-loaded slopes can be dangerous, while wind-eroded slopes are usually fairly safe.
2. Cornices are obvious indicators of the prevailing wind direction. Downslope of a cornice, you’ll often find a wind slab—a cohesive layer of wind-deposited snow. Big dumps, high winds, and recent warming can cause cornices to break off and trigger an avalanche.
3. Large buried rocks, patches of brush, and cliff bands tend to be weak, shallow zones in the snowpack. Skiing above a cliff band is never a good idea, especially if the slope is avalanche prone.
4. Loose-snow avalanches, one of two main types of avalanches, often called point releases, usually start from a single source—often your skis—and fan outward.
5. Over time the sun can help consolidate layers within the snowpack, making them more stable. It can also create dangerous layers like sun crust. Pay close attention to slope aspect—snowpack can vary dramatically depending on how much sun it gets.
6. Surface hoar is a layer of feathery crystals that sprout from exposed snow on cold, clear, calm nights. While beautiful, the crystals don't bond well and are notorious for causing weak layers that can persist for weeks.
7. Before descending an avalanche-prone slope, identify safe zones, places where members of your group can watch one another from a secure location, such as a ridgetop or a tight cluster of trees on a low-angle slope. Descending one at a time minimizes the group’s exposure and ensures the maximum number of searchers if someone gets buried.Ìę
8. The prime avalanche angle for a slope is 38 degrees, with most slides occurring between 35 and 45 degrees. Slopes less than 30 degrees rarely slide.Ìę
9. Slab avalanches can propagate farther and create larger slides. The basic recipe is a slab, a weak layer, a bed surface, terrain steep enough to slide, and a trigger.
10. Terrain traps are features that increase the consequences of getting caught in an avalanche. Concave traps like streambeds and gullies allow avalanche debris to pile up, making a deep burial more likely. Plus, icy streams can cause hypothermia.
11. Small, young, widely dispersed trees, especially those with limbs growing only on the downhill side, are a red-flag warning of a frequent slide path.
12. Avalanche paths that spill over roads can cause a depression zone on the flat surface, where debris piles up, making it harder to perform a rescue.
13. The snowpack often isn’t as cohesive on a convex slope, commonly called a rollover. Gravity’s mission—to pull snow downhill—gets help from the curvature, making it more prone to sliding.
14. A concave slope naturally compresses snow—an important terrain feature that can add strength to the snowpack.Ìę
15. On the way up, using an established route, either a skin track or a boot-pack, through trees saves the slope for fresh tracks and keeps you out of the path of any slides. Evaluate avalanche terrain on your ascent and try to choose the route with the least exposure.

How to Stay Safe in the Backcountry

You know what to look for on the mountain. Now see more tips on skiing for your life.Ìę

Analyzing the Snowpack

Stable: When you dig a snow pit, a stable snowpack might resemble a big slice of birthday cake. It starts with a firm bottom layer and remains fairly uniform throughout, with a lighter, softer consistency at the top, like a layer of frosting.

Unstable: In an unstable snowpack, hardness can vary widely from layer to layer. If harder layers end up on top of softer ones—what some forecasters refer to as dictionaries over cornflakes—any disturbance (new snow, warming trends, rain, and, of course, skiers) can trigger the weak layers to collapse and the dense layers to slide.

Avalanche Deaths, By the Numbers

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Heading to the backcountry responsibly means knowing how to handle the worst. Equip yourself with these three basic tools. Really make sure you learn how to use them quickly and intelligently in an emergency. When we say this is life-or-death knowledge, we mean it.

Beacon

Beacons have become increasingly sophisticated over the years, but the best one for you is the one you’re most comfortable using. If you don’t practice as often as you should, keep it simple. For people who spend a lot of time in ava­lanche country, Ìę($500) offers the longest range of detection: 70 yards. The simplified interface uses large pictographic instructions to keep you focused.

Use It Right: Beacons transmit and receive radio signals over a relatively small (60- to 100-foot) range. When a person is buried, rescuers switch their beacons to receive mode, spread out across the debris, and search in a coordinated pattern. To hone your skills, head to one of the 40 beacon parks at ski resorts and trailheads across North America (find one at backcountryaccess.com), then go practice in the field.

Video: How to use your a beacon

Probe

The ideal probe is long (at least 240 centimeters) and deploys with a flick of the wrist. One of our favorites: Ìę($155). The ten-foot-long iProbe Two has a built-in receiver that beeps when it detects the signal from a burial victim’s avalanche beacon, so you can find your target on the first try. Avoid ski poles that convert to probes; not only are they usually too short, but removing ski baskets and screwing -together segments wastes precious time.Ìę

Use It Right: Once you’ve located a beacon signal, work in a spiral pattern, probing every ten inches outward from the center of the signal. Insert the probe at a 90-degree angle to the snow. As soon as you’ve got a strike, leave the probe in place and holler for the rest of your team to come running with shovels.

Shovel

While it might be tempting to save weight with a plastic blade, avalanche debris is often hard and compressed. Choose a shovel with a sturdy aluminum blade and an extendable handle that you can assemble in a panic. We like the new dozer-style scoop models, like the Ìę($196).ÌęThere aren’t many instances in which you need an ice ax (or what the French call a piolet) and an avalanche shovel at the same time. So BCA came up with a single tool that incorporates both. It also includes hardware for rigging a rescue sled out of compatible skis.Ìę

Use It Right: Once you locate someone, note the depth of your probe strike and move downhill that distance. Then start burrowing in. Save energy by shoveling snow to the sides of the pit. Position secondary shovelers in a triangle formation behind you—to clear away snow and rotate in as fresh shovelers.

Is there really an app that turns your phone into an avalanche beacon?

No. However, in 2016, Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of TechnologyÌędeveloped an app—tentatively dubbed Appalanche—that uses a smartphone’s transceiver to help triangulate the position of a buried person via radio signals. Everyone in your group must be running the app, and the more people there are, the faster the process works. While the app could make a vital backup safety tool, it's not intended to replace a beacon. “It’s meant to be a supplemental resource,” says KTH's Petter WirfĂ€lt. Just remember: cell phones can cause beacons to go haywire, so keep them at least 17 inches apart. KTH hopes to have an Android version available this ski season. —Will EgensteinerÌę

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With an estimated 30 million deer in the United States alone, and the ever increasing emphasis on locavore eating ethics, it’s time you traded in that Patagonia catalogue for ’s and started learning how to provide on a whole new level.

Field Dress
Not only does field dressing make lugging your deer back to the truck way more manageable, it also is critical to preserving the meat. First, prop the deer belly up against a rock or tree, positioning the head higher than the body. Snap on a pair of rubber gloves, keep your bear spray handy and pull out a sharp four-inch blade. “Be damn careful,” says Wyoming native Tyrel “Tex” Mack whose been hunting since he could walk. “This is where hunters slice femoral arteries.”

With the knife oriented towards the sky, slice a two-inch deep opening from right above the deer’s nether reaches all the way up to the bottom of the ribcage. Roll the deer on its side and let gravity do the dirty work of spilling out the organs then clean up with a few careful cuts of connective tissue. Next, carve out the diaphragm, the muscle situated below the heart and lungs and above the intestines. Find the esophagus, a tube hanging out between the heart and the lungs. Grab the esophagus right above the heart and make a cut just above. With the diaphragm and esophagus out of the way, the rest of the organs are ready for removal. Don’t forget you can eat some organs (liver, heart are tasty, kidneys tend to be a little strong.

Remember, depending on what kind of land you’re hunting you may be required to dispose of your gut pile—a major wildlife attractant and riddled with problems related to the use of lead bullets (which you shouldn’t be using anyways.)

Skin
Back at the ranch, lasso the deer by the neck, and suspend it at head height in a spot that’s cool, safe from critters, and where you can let it hang for a few days to cure without freaking anybody out. After two to four days, it’s time to start cleaning. Cut all the way around the deer’s neckline, intersecting with the earlier cut used to splay the deer open. Begin peeling the hide away from the body, using your knife to cut at the fascia. Once you’ve peeled the hide back to the shoulders, use some cutting and twisting to remove the forelegs just above the knee joints. Make a cut running from the insides of the deer’s hind legs to the intersection with the initial slice made in the field. Continue working the hide off the body, until you reach the tailbone. Cut through the tailbone and keep pulling the hide off until reaching the dark, inner thigh patches marking the tarsal glands. Cut the hind legs off right above the glands.

Process
First head to the library for the butchering bible, complete with 130 illustrations. Then stop at the grocery store for freezer paper. Invite a few friends over for dinner, the caveat being they’ve got to help harvest. Otherwise expect to spend the rest of the day alone in your garage reeking of meat. Start with the front legs for roasts and stew work your way down the body making sure to grab the back straps and tenderloin as you work your way down the ribcage. White lines of connective tissue help guide your cuts and you’ll quickly find yourself surprised by how easy it is to follow the bodies of muscle if you let a little intuition sneak into the process. Trim off any unwanted bits and pack it up in a piece of freezer paper. Last, drag out the meat grinder and use all the random bits for burgers you can throw right on the grill as promised to your sous chefs.

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Nothing too complicated about this project—use solar radiation, a principle as old as the sun itself, to heat water. The trick is transferring the energy from one body of water (your solar hot water preheat system) to another (your shower.)

The exact details of how you’ll rig your system will vary depending on the climate. Regions with lots of days below freezing can result in frozen pipes, so proceed with caution, but building your own preheat system is way simpler in warmer climes. Before hitting the hardware store, stock up on some back issues of magazine—a treasure trove of DIY renewable energy projects.

A simple system perfect for the southlands starts with painting a 55-gallon drum black. For bonus points, build an insulated box with a glass top around the barrel. Now, study up on plumbing and install a line between your domestic water supply, your newly minted solar hot water preheat, and your hot water heater. If the pre-heat gets the water hot enough, the hot water tank won’t even turn on. If it’s not hot enough, the water heater will add heat to bring it up to temperature.

“This is a simple way to save a bunch of energy especially in hot climates. After all energy from the sun is free,” says Andy Tyson, owner of the solar design and installation firm .

In cold climates, extra insulation and care should be taken when designing a pre-heat system. Consult with a local solar thermal installer or take a class from a reputable institution like in Carbondale, Colorado.

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Western Mountaineering Flight Pants

These toasty, 13.6-ounce, are made from Gore Windstopper fabric and feature full-length side zips and DWR coating. They left us wondering how we’d ever camped without insulated pants. Our only gripe: no fly.

Jetboil Sumo TI Stove

Canister stoves may suffer from low flow in cold temperatures, but the effect, we found, was marginal. Even with temps in the teens, the 12-ounce boiled water faster than the competition.

Sierra Designs Zissou 0 Sleeping Bag

Each feather in the roomy is treated with a water-resistant coating, so it takes up to 10 times longer for water to soak in—and dries much faster when it does. This might be the ultimate winter camping bag.

Mountain Equipment Co. Expedition 2 Booties

allow you to tromp around camp and in powdery woods without a worry.

Backcountry Access Dozer D-2 EXT Hoe Shovel

A quick adjustment to the ’s handle transforms it from a basic avalanche tool into a backhoe-like device that moves snow like a rake. At 1.9 pounds, it’s heavier than most pack shovels, but it’s more efficient, too.

Mountain Hardwear Nilas Jacket

If there’s one item to splurge on, it’s a highly packable, superwarm puffy like the 850-fill down .

Nao Headlamp

Who says you have to take off your gloves to adjust your headlamp? Sensors in the automatically adjust the amount of light to what you’re looking at.

Vaude Norrsken Sleeping Pad

Conventional wisdom holds that in winter you need two pads: a closed-cell one layered beneath a self-inflating one. Another option is to simply get yourself a fancy pad like the 1.4-pound . The baffles of PrimaLoft Infinity insulation kept us toasty on a Teton night in the twenties.

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5.10 Coyote Canvas

We haven’t found a women’s climbing shoe as comfortable as the 5.10 . Credit the gender-specific build (read: a higher arch with lower overall volume in the instep) and the company’s legendary stickyÌęrubber. Velcro straps mean you can air out tired feet on a belay ledge and then cinch down a snugger fit when you need it.

Verve Loleda

With organic cotton, Lycra, and other ingredients sourced from California, Miami, and the Carolinas, and stitched by a crew of grandmas in Boulder, Verve’s flattering and soft are as all-American as it gets. They also stand up to rough walls.

Trango Zenith

Weighing half as much as manyÌęhelmets on the market and vented in nine places, Trango’s leaves few excuses for not protecting your skull. Plus, it has a slim profile for easy packability.

Athleta Long Sleeve Twist

Fun, funky, and functional, Athleta’s minimizes sweat with a moisture-wicking yet breathable blend of spandex, nylon, and polyester. The top is fitted, but it stretched like a second skin when we were reaching for holds in Wyoming’s Sinks Canyon. And its antibacterial coating nixed odor.

Krieg Chalk Bag

°­°ùŸ±±đȔ’s have more than just fun prints—they’re also equipped with an easy-to-adjust waist belt, a brush holder, and a small zippered pocket.

Stonewear Designs Dryflex Double Cross

If jug haul has multiple meanings for you, Stonewear Designs’ polyester-and-spandex is what you want. A unique double-strap-construction design equals support for girls up to DD, but without compromising any of the range of motion needed for scaling walls.

Black Diamond Siren

Black Diamond Equipment’s has two bands of webbing that distribute pressure evenly, so if you fall, you’re better cradled. Speed buckles on the waist belt and leg loops eliminate dangling webbing and the possibility of mis-threading. All of which makes this lightweight harness less prone to user error.

Arc’teryx NoZone

Arc’teryx’s latest iteration of the popular is a streamlined beauty without a single superfluous buckle or strap. Weighing in at 2.2 pounds, the NoZone is made with a combinationÌęof two kinds of ĂŒber-durable yet lightweight, water-resistant Cordura nylon. It comes in three sizes—unless you’re schlepping camping gear too, opt for the 35-liter version.

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When rain threatens, toss in this waterproof 12-ounce alpine climbing shell, with its mid-hip length, helmet-compatible hood, and lofty pockets. It has all-over stretch, so we never felt inhibited.

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