Sargamartha - You have lost your pristine wilderness, you have even lost your name! The slopes of this magnificent mountain, known as Everest to most of the world, are now a garbage dump with an estimated 200 tonnes of climbing gear and waste littering the mountain. Philistines cluster at the base camp.

The trail from Jiri, in the lowlands, to the base camp is known as the toilet paper trail because of the appalling habits of the western travellers.

Climbing Sargamartha is now a matter of money and good fitness. The days of Hillary and Bonnington are gone.

Maybe this is not a bad thing, sacrificing this one mountain to the worst of western adventure tourism, in a effort to keep the bulk of these magnificent mountains relatively undesecrated. The Annapurnas have suffered since I first visited 25 years ago but only in a minor way compared to Sargamartha. Others such as Kanchenjunga, Dhaulgiri and The Kingdom of Mustang are still largely untouched. We can partly thank the mixed blessing of the Maoist rebels for this.

These are magnificent mountains. If you feel the need to visit, as I do, then walk with the softest step their ecosystems are incredibly fragile.