Mountain guardian cleans up the climb
Tibetan guide leads campaign against trash on one of the world's most sacred pilgrimage routes
Birth of a campaign
In that year, A Qingbu first proposed a cleanup. But it was not until 2006 that he formally led one. Twenty-three people joined him, all carrying their own food and bedding for the journey. They had no way to haul the garbage out of the mountains. So, they did what they could, gathering the trash along the route and burying it in open places without vegetation.
"At that time, we didn't have the conditions to transport it down," A Qingbu said. "We just buried it. Simple burial."
Local Tibetans began to join him. "We shared the same faith. Mount Kawagebo is not just a mountain to us — it is a deity, a protector and a sacred presence. We cannot turn a blind eye to the trash issue," A Qingbu said.
In 2009, a breakthrough came. Trekkers from other parts of the country, learning of A Qingbu's efforts, donated money to buy bamboo baskets. A Qingbu placed them along the kora route as makeshift trash bins. The baskets were held up by bamboo poles, but they rotted quickly — lasting two years at most.
Then A Qingbu saw something in Dali city in Yunnan — small baskets made from recycled steel wire from tires. He had an idea. He commissioned larger, heavier baskets made of iron frames. "They cost more, but they lasted," he said. "Without damage from avalanches or falling trees, they could survive seven or eight years."
A Qingbu placed 500 iron baskets along the trail. With donations from his customers, he also put up bilingual signs in Mandarin and Tibetan, urging pilgrims to protect the mountains and the environment.
A Qingbu usually launches his cleanup campaign twice a year. The spring campaign is from late May to early June, before the summer vegetation grows thick. "The garbage is easier to find when the plants haven't grown yet," he said.
The second is in October, after the autumn frost kills the grass and leaves. "When the vegetation dries, the trash stands out."
A standard cleanup takes eight or nine days — the same time as a kora. A thorough one takes 20 days.
