New Delhi: An Indian Army team is embarking on a challenging journey to scale the highest mountain in the world to mark 50 years of the first ascent of the Mount Everest by India with an added mission to cleanse the region. The Indian soldiers will not only climb the highest and the fourth highest mountain in the world — Mount Everest and Mount Lhotse — but also clean the Everest region by bringing down non-biodegradable waste.

Taking out the trash: A Nepalese sherpa collects garbage at an altitude of 8,000 metres during the Everest clean-up expedition in May 2010. A group of 20 Nepalese climbers collected 1,800 kilograms of garbage in a high-risk expedition to clean up the world’s highest peak. File pic/AFP