Inside the mission of Everest’s first mountain rangers

Stationed at Camp II, Nepal’s first Everest rangers monitor climbers, enforce waste rules and tackle growing garbage on the peak.

The face was sunburned and weathered by years in the high Himalayas. Thin and pale from weeks spent above 6,000 metres, the man in a black cap quietly stepped onto a stage in Kathmandu last week. He was introduced as Ngima Wangchu Sherpa—Nepal’s first mountain ranger.