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One of the first Australians to successfully climb Mount Everest has addressed the obsession with scaling the world's tallest peak, describing recent hiker traffic jams as "devastating". Greg Mortimer, who lists Antarctica alongside the Everest region and his home in NSW's Blue Mountains as his three favourite places, told 7 NEWS .
com.au he'd seen a seismic change in modern mountaineering. "Those photos of queues going up to the top of Everest are devastating," he said. "I think that's one of the saddest photos in mountaineering history, really. "How we've commodified Everest." Mortimer climbed Everest back in October, 1984 alongside fellow Australian Tim McCartney-Snape and managed the climb without supplemental oxygen. Decades after completing the feat, the mountaineering legend has turned his attention to taking care of the Earth -- leading a revolutionary push to make Antarctic tourism environmentally sustainable through his expedition company Aurora Expeditions. Mortimer scaled Everest when "there was no one else" on the summit and founded Aurora Expeditions with his wife Margaret after falling in love with Antarctica during early tourist voyages. "The combination of having a nice ship to play with, having adventurous people in tow and being able to explore and see the ends of the Earth. That cocktail impacts on people and impacts on me as well," Mortimer said. Four decades later, environmental sustainability has become fundamental to Aurora's operations on their ship the Douglas Mawson, featuring cutting-edge technology to reduce their footprint in the polar region. The company has partnered with two innovative startups -- Countercurrent from UNSW, which uses satellite data and AI to create the most fuel-efficient routes; and UK-based CleanerSeas, which filters up to 99 per cent of microfibres from onboard washing machines. "It's absolutely fundamental to me and to Aurora Expeditions that we are mindful and improving our environmental footprint," Mortimer said. "I think we're at a stage if the tourist industry does not do that, they'll go broke." The former geologist, who spent five years living in Antarctica's Ross Sea region, said experiencing the extreme region changed visitors' lives. "The otherworldliness of it is intoxicating," he said of Antarctica. "You don't want to leave." Aurora's citizen science program allows passengers to contribute to real research, photographing whale flukes for migration studies and collecting data on phytoplankton and cloud formations for NASA. The company's mission extends beyond reducing environmental impact to creating "environmental ambassadors" who return home with renewed commitment to sustainability. "I think of Aurora now as dropping thousands and thousands of pebbles in ponds with each passenger," Mortimer said. "If an individual passenger comes to Antarctica and feels their small place in the world and realises what their environmental impact is and takes that home and reduces their environmental impact by 50 per cent, that's a big deal." Sea kayak guide Eamond Larkin, who has completed seven Antarctic seasons with the company, said the experience of "getting close to nature" and experiencing "absolute silence" created profound connections with passengers. The push for sustainable polar tourism comes as microfibres and microplastics have been discovered in snow and ice from the Arctic to Antarctica, highlighting the urgent need for responsible travel to these remote destinations.
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