My First Assigment: 1st International Mt. Everest Day

I was sent to write a story and shoot photos of a sculpture exhibit of "waste" taken down from the summit of the tallest mountain in the world; Everest. The photo that was chosen was not my favorite but notwithstanding, it was good first assignment. I have never been so excited to cover fluff. At least it is fluff in a different culture and country!

Beautiful waste from Everest

by Tess McEnroe

A sculpture symposium called “A Beautiful Waste” was held yesterday to mark International Mount Everest Day at the Nepal Tourism Board exhibiting pieces of waste taken down by climbers from the summit of Mount Everest.

The exhibit was sponsored by a variety of groups including the Rotary Club Nepal, to put the waste to good use in forms of sculpture that will be constructed by a group of 13 artists by Friday. Sunday was the start of the project and during this week, the artists will use the so-called “waste” to be made into works of art. This project has been awaiting this exhibit since 2005.

Gopal Sunder Lal Kakshapati, the President of the Rotary Club said, “We wanted to do something for the waste and make an eye-opener for people. There is no value in keeping all of this in a room, so it was my idea to turn the waste into something beautiful.”

Chief guests of honor at the opening ceremony included Kali Das Shrestha, a well-known Nepali fine artist, the President of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, Ang Tsering Sherpa and Mahabbur Rehman from Bangladesh.

During this week, the Rotary Club will decide whether to sell the final sculptures, or put them in museums, possibly in Pokhara. The final cost of getting the “waste,” down from the summit will be about $200,000. The artists' materials included everything from metal scraps from a helicopter crash, to combs and shoes, brought down to the Everest base camp.