monster

When Spotify launched its first Wrapped, it didn’t know what it was creating: a real monster

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If companies have learned anything since the Internet has evolved into this strange algorithmic mass that sometimes escapes our control, it is that, if something creates a trend, it must be there. For a few days we can enjoy the latest Spotify Wrappedthe now classic annual review where we find data playfully designed to share on networks such as which artists we listen to the most on the platform or which songs have defined our year. And as it could not be otherwise, the networks are flooded with captures. So far everything is correct. But as happens with any content that becomes popular and people like it, alternatives arise. And that’s not bad. In fact, Spotify didn’t invent personalized annual reviews, but when we already see a pseudo-wrapped on platforms like WeTransfer (hey, good for them), the alarm bells are already ringing that perhaps we are slipping a little. And throughout these days I have found examples that are each more absurd. Spotify. Wrapped has become one of those excellent viral marketing strategies. Since its launch in 2016, Spotify has gotten millions of users to voluntarily share their listening data every December. The flood of screenshots that each user shares on social networks becomes a tool for creating FOMO that encourages another potential user to use Spotify, or even gives them reasons to stay on this platform. It has become more or less a cultural phenomenon, a tradition like Christmas itself. And of course, this has attracted other companies enough to want to replicate this effect at all costs. YouTube Recap Irresistible. As I said before, Spotify was not the first to make annual summaries, but it was the first to turn them into irresistibly shareable content. The key is in its design: very striking graphics, personalized statistics and a perfect format to share on your Instagram story. The hashtag #SpotifyWrapped becomes a global trending topic every year, generating organic advertising comparable to very few advertising campaigns. And the formula is repeated every year without few changes beyond the visual: take the data you already have about your users, wrap it in an attractive way and return it to share with other potential clients. PlayStation Wrap-Up A Wrapped for everything. Having an annual review of your platform or service has become mandatory for many companies, extending to all types of industries. In the field of entertainment and gaming, platforms such as YouTube, Apple Music, Amazon Music, PlayStation, Xbox, nintendo, Steam either Twitchamong many others, offer their own summaries. Curious not to see anything official that resembles it on Netflix and other streaming platforms, beyond some third-party tools, such as kapwingwhich allow you to import your own viewing data to see a similar overview. Twitch Recap cforced asses. Where the trend becomes truly interesting is in sectors where, a priori, an annual summary does not make much sense (or seen another way, cases ahead of their time). To Lidl (yes, the supermarket) has its annual review, where it tells you what you have bought the most through its app or how many times you have gone shopping. Lidl’s move is even nice, but there are cases that play a fine line. WeTransfer could perfectly fit in here. As a file transfer service I have no complaints (maybe one or two), but I would never have expected that a platform of this kind would also think of joining this type of marketing initiatives. And if we talk about forced cases, Securitas Direct. As is. The platform tells you through its My Verisure app data such as the number of times you have accessed and things like that. I can’t help but imagine someone anxiously awaiting their annual review of their alarm service to find out how many times they have been broken into this year. Jokes aside, here is already an area in which having a wrapped looks out of place. But if anyone finds these statistics useful, nothing to say about it. Courtesy of Jose Jacas More examples that embrace fashion. Duolingo even overtook Spotify this year by launching your Year in Reviewrevealing learning statistics, streaks and the dreaded error counter. Trakt, a website where users register series and movies what do you see, too has its own summaryalthough to see it you have to upgrade to their payment plan, so I’ve never seen it. WeTransfer Recap Platforms like Uber either LinkedIn They have also joined the bandwagon with their own versions. Even the New York Times has launched its “Year in Games” for Wordle, Connections and other games, showing statistics such as the average attempts in Wordle or the most correct categories in Connections. Viral logics. If something starts to gain traction on the internet, all brands want to be there, even if the connection with their business is forced. It is the fear of being left out of the conversation. The same FOMO effect that these tools achieve, in some way, also generates FOMO around companies that seek to enter this trend in any way. These annual reviews are no longer just a data analysis tool, but a format that brands try to appropriate to gain visibility and engagement. It works because we are very heavy on sharing content and we generate the occasional unpopular opinion in the process, even if it is your supermarket purchases. This is how we operate on the Internet. I can’t wait to see the Wrapped from my electric company to learn more about my consumption peaks or my bank account to see what nonsense I waste my money on. In Xataka | How to share Spotify Wrapped 2025 on Instagram, WhatsApp or other apps

In 1973 a German dreamed of exploiting Lanzarote. 50 years later no one has been able to move the ruins of his monster

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Of all the ghost architectures and abandoned to their fate in Spain, few like the shadow that rises in a unique place in the Canary Islands. Its history begins in the early seventies, at a time when Lanzarote was opening up to international tourism in the heat of expansive urban planning, laws favorable to foreign investment and a climate of economic optimism that seemed to have no limits. And then a “visionary” arrived. A hyperbolic dream. In that context, the German businessman Erick Becker imagined a gigantic tourist complexmade up of five hotels, an aparthotel, more than twelve hundred bungalows and a capacity for four thousand people. The emblematic piece, the Náutico hotel (renamed over the years as Atlante del Sol), was to be the gateway to an urbanization in German capital that saw Lanzarote as an ideal territory to attract European visitors. The legislation of the time, headed by the Strauss Law of 1968encouraged German investment in developing countries and helped direct a flood of capital towards the Canary Islands that found an apparently perfect opportunity on the island. However, the choice of location would prove to be a major mistake. Tourism against the landscape. The Rubicon coast It had virulent waves, constant winds and rugged geography without a beach or adequate access. In those decades, Lanzarote’s infrastructure was fragile, and the area even lacked a road that connected the place with the inhabited centers. Despite this, the project moved forward in fits and startsraising the main structure of the hotel before the oil crisis of 1973 paralyzed the European economy and brought with it a promotion that would never open its doors. Since then, the unfinished mass was abandonedconverted into an unused concrete skeleton that began to hint at the ghostly silhouette that would mark its future. Abandonment, illegality and law. After the abandonment of the project, the Atlante del Sol was suspended in a legal limbo that the subsequent evolution of Canarian urban planning ended up resolving against it. The Island Management Plan of Lanzarote from 1991a pioneer in the protection of the island territory, reclassified the area as rustic land for natural ecological protection, nullifying the urban character it may have had under the regulations of the 1950s and 1960s. With the passage of time, the area was also incorporated into the Natura 2000 Network as a Special Bird Protection Area, reinforcing its ecological value and further shielding its non-urbanizable nature. In parallel, Spanish and regional legislation chained new land laws in 1976, 1990, 1998 and 2007, which consolidated environmental regulations. much more demanding than existed when the original license was granted in 1972. Final blow. The Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands made it clear in 2016 that this old license was invalid operational, because an unfinished work loses any right protected by obsolete regulations when subsequent laws come into force. In essence, what may have been legal in the 1970s ceased to be legal decades ago. Added to this was a determining fact: the property it was never finished nor to be used, and its current state (absolute ruin, no services, no access and no technical possibility of becoming operational equipment) prevented it from being considered a heritage work. The court concluded that reviving a license from 1972 was as inappropriate as pretending that the island had not changed in fifty years. That ruling legally sealed the fate of the hotel: either remain abandoned or be demolished. The ghost and watchman hotel. With the passage of time, the Atlantean of the Sun It went from being a frustrated project to becoming a strange element embedded in one of the natural spaces most beautiful and unique of Lanzarote: the natural pools from Los Charcones. There, between the wind, the volcanic rock and the crystalline puddles, the abandoned hotel took on a disturbing, almost sculptural presence. For tourists who discover the area, the semi-ruined structure has become part of the landscapean example of beauty in decay that contrasts with the serenity of natural pools. For others, it is an open wound, a reminder of the speculation of the seventies and the urbanism that was promoted without paying attention to the physical reality of the territory. Chaos tourism. His inaccessibility (the absence of roads continues to be one of the main limitations today) has kept it outside the conventional tourist circuit and has contributed to its degradation. The wind, saltpeter and abandonment have turned the building into a dangerous shell, used occasionally as an improvised shelter by campers since the seventies, especially at Easter, when entire families came to occupy the windowless rooms applying minimum standards of coexistence. The picture is as unusual as it is revealing: a hotel that never opened turned into a sporadic camp for those seeking a unique experience in an isolated place. Between memory, business and protection. Over the decades, different owners tried to recover the building’s destiny, either by giving it tourist use or transforming it into healthcare facilities. Among them, the company Hipercan Don Jersey SL tried to reclassify the land to convert the hotel into a social and health center, claiming that the 1972 license was still valid and that the reform would allow the municipality to be provided with a new public service. But the administrations maintained a firm position: Yaiza already had sufficient equipment, the property was in ruins and the land belonged to a protected natural space whose ecological value should prevail about any intervention. The courts confirmed this position repeatedly. Neither the heritage argument, nor the intention to reconvert the building, nor the appeal to old investments managed to reverse a situation that had been legally closed for decades. Even if there was a will to rebuild, the cost of rehabilitation would be exorbitant. And if demolition were chosen, the operation (valued at more than one million euros) would require facing considerable technical and environmental obstacles. Uncertain future. In recent years, the discussion about the future of the Atlantean Sun has regained … Read more

In Spain, more and more parents go with their children to complain to the university. In Tokyo they have “monster parents”

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The image was so utterly disconcerting which didn’t take long to go viral. A few weeks ago the University of Granada it was news because a vice dean of the Faculty of Educational Sciences hung a poster reminding that teachers “do not serve parents”, and insisted: “All enrolled students are of legal age.” something similar made by the University of Oviedo, which also hung a similar poster pointing that their students are now adults and the regulations limit the information that the center can give to their parents. The phenomenon is not, however, exclusive to Spain. In Japan, overprotective parents have become such a serious problem that it has forced the authorities to move tab in schools. The goal: protect teachers. New guidelines. That a body like the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education publishes guidelines on how schools should act in certain circumstances is nothing new. It is true that these guidelines do not focus on the teaching load, schedules, extracurricular activities or anything that has to do with the education of young people or the organization of the faculty. The objective of the new recommendations of the Council are focused on something else. Basically how teachers should act when they encounter what in Japan they have already started to call (and not without reason) ‘monster parents’overprotective fathers and mothers who do not hesitate to get into fights with teachers, demand accountability and have long discussions about all kinds of issues. But is the problem so serious? It seems so. And there are a couple of studies that help understand it. a survey published in April with some 12,000 public school teachers in Tokyo revealed that 22% claimed to have received “socially questionable” treatment from people outside the school, especially parents. A previous reportfrom just a year ago, prepared by the Japanese Association of Mutual Aid of Public School Teachers, also identified that dealing with students’ parents was a source of stress for teachers. Connected with the karoshi. It’s not just that parents increase teachers’ anxiety. As remember This Week in Asiaeach teacher usually has several classes with dozens of students (about 30), so in the end the meetings and telephone conversations with parents end up becoming an extra workload that lengthens the faculty’s day. Sometimes several hours every week. A recent report on karoshiknown as “death from overwork”, reflects that during the last three years the education sector has been one of those with the highest percentage of personnel who work more than 60 hours per week. They are only surpassed by transportation, logistics and hospitality. “Irrational requests”. Why do they complain? ‘monster parents’? What makes them show up every now and then at their children’s teachers’ offices, send them messages or keep them on the phone for hours? The Japan Times speaks of “irrational requests” related to students who refuse to go to class or have been reprimanded, but other media cite stranger cases. This Week in Asia refers complaints from parents upset because the cherry trees had not bloomed in time for their children’s entrance ceremonies, about the taste of school menus or about insect bites. “There are two types of parents, those who are demanding but kind, who sometimes offer us gifts, and those who seem to always be dissatisfied, no matter what,” says one teacher. Of insects and girlfriends. Tsuji, professor of sociology of culture at Chuo University in Tokyo, recognize their fear that the phenomenon is going beyond schools and reaching faculties. “These young people are in college and yet their parents insist on telling their teachers what they should do,” he says. “The university has received complaints from parents about the quality of the food and one mother called demanding to know why her son had not made new friends.” Not long ago, she herself had to assist a mother who was worried because her university son couldn’t find a girlfriend. “I didn’t know what to answer,” he confesses. Other teacher relates the ordeal that school trips entail. “Parents call or message teachers at midnight or even later to ask what their child needs to bring, where to meet, what time they need to arrive, what they’re going to see, and so on.” The most curious thing, he regrets, is that all this information is given to all students well in advance. putting order. Against this backdrop, the Tokyo Board of Education has issued a series of guidelines for metropolitan centers. The goal? That their teachers know how to act in each case. Your guidelines are clear and simple: meetings with parents will no longer last 30 minutes a week, a maximum of one hour in special cases to prevent them from interrupting the rest of their work. In these meetings there will also be at least two teachers and if the parents insist on meeting with the center, the case will pass from the teachers to the management. From the fourth meeting onwards, other professionals will come into play to address the matter, such as psychologists or even lawyers. Of course, the talks will be recorded and if necessary (if a parent loses his manners) a security company or even the intervention of the police. Because? The big question. What explains the phenomenon of ‘monster parents’? Although in Tokyo the focus has been on schools, not so much on faculties, the backdrop is not different from that of the controversies that have arisen here in Oviedo or Granada: protective parents and the diminished authority of teachers. “This problem has been increasing in recent years,” Tsuji confesses.who remembers that in the middle birth crisis In Japan, parents are invested in the well-being and academic success of their children. Added to this are cultural and social changes, which include the fact that new parents come from educated generations who feel more authorized to deal with teachers. Images | Egor Myznik (Unsplash) and Stephanie Hau (Unsplash) In Xataka | There is a national symbol that Japan has kept unchanged for generations: a very expensive … Read more

The most complex nuclear reactor in the world is underway in the United Kingdom. His critics directly call him “a monster”

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Two figures are enough to understand the scope of the British challenge: 38,000 million investment pounds and six million homes fed with nuclear electricity for sixty years. This presents Sizewell C, the center that Downing Street describes as a clean energy and employment engine. His detractors, on the other hand, see it as a financial well and the last attempt to give life to a nuclear design so complex that in France it already call it “the monster.” The crown jewel. The objective of the British government is to double the nuclear capacity of the country by 2050 and guarantee a stable supply of low carbon energy. Sizewell C, With two EPR type reactors (European pressurized reactor), is the key piece of that strategy. According to the BBCthe project is the successor of Hinkley Point C, in Somerset, which accumulates a decade of delays and a runaway cost: more than 18,000 million pounds planned in 2010 to about 46,000 million today. Minister Rachel Reeves declared The Guardian that investment is “a powerful support to the United Kingdom as the best place to do business and as a global center of nuclear energy.” Instead, Henri Proglio, former director of the French electric EDF – developmentator of the project -, assured the Financial Times that the reactor design is “scary” and “almost impossible to build.” Faced opinions. The detractors have it clear. Proglio describes it as “a machine with more reinforcement rods than concrete.” Another engineer, Also cited in the FThe spoke of a “colossal error.” And Greenpeace warned the BBC That this time will be taxpayers, not EDF, who pay the inevitable cost overruns. But there are also moderate voices. Tony Roulstone, Professor of Cambridge and exejecutive of Rolls-Royce, declared to FT That Sizewell could be ready “one or two years before Hinkley” and cost 20 % less. Thanks to the fact that much of the design is already tested since the supply chain was consolidated in Somerset. There are already works in Suffolk. The project is not just paper. In Suffolk, 1,700 operators are already working in preliminary works, According to the Financial Times. The first one: a perimeter wall 55 meters deep and 3 kilometers long to drain the marsh before placing the foundations. In addition, Hinkley errors will be avoided. This time the concrete structures will be pregnant in workshops and not in the work, which should accelerate the deadlines. Even so, the official calendar – entered into operation in the middle or end of the 2030s – raises doubts. Flamanville, in France, and Hinkley have shown that deadlines in projects of this type are usually wet paper, As Critica Nils Pratley in his column for The Guardian. It is very complex. It is more complex than it seems to the naked eye. EPR are nuclear reactors of generation III+, the result of Franco-German collaboration between EDF and Siemens. According to World Nuclear Associationare designed to offer a net electrical power of between 1,600 and 1,650 MW, although they can reach 1,770 MW. In addition, they incorporate advanced security measures: double containment, four independent cooling systems, a Core Catcher to catch the nucleus in case of merger, and structural capacity to resist impacts and earthquakes, in addition to diesel generators and backup batteries that guarantee operability to multiple failures. They also stand out for greater energy efficiencyconsuming up to 17% less fuel than old reactors and producing up to 14% more energy. All this with a projected life of 60 years. This technical complexity is, at the same time, a strength in terms of safety and efficiency, and a challenge for the delays and costs that it has shown in its construction. The invoice reaches the British pocket. The cost of the central already exceeds twice the first estimates, According to BBC. The majority (36.6 billion) will be covered with public debt through the National Fund of Wealth. While the financing is distributed among the State (the largest shareholder with 44.9%), followed by the Canadian Caisse (20%), Centrica (15%), EDF (12.5%) and Amber Infrastructure (7.6%). The great novelty is the “Regulated Assets Base” model (Rab) in which households will begin to pay £ 1 per month in their electrical invoices for at least a decade, Julia Pyke explained to the BBC. This scheme mainly protects investors, As Nils Pratley recalled in The GuardianCentrica ensures returns of more than 10% even if the costs reach 47.7 billion pounds; Any excess will be assumed by taxpayers. France already tried. Although with problems. The first French EPR reactor, Flamanville 3, in Normandy, connected to the network In December 2024 after 12 years of delays and with a final cost of € 13.2 billion, four times budgeted. As explained in Financial Timesthe French experience forced to redesign the concept, so EDF no longer prioritizes the EPR, but the EPR2, a simplified and cheaper version that hopes to build in six units here to 2038. Meanwhile, in China they have shown that its Taishan center that has operated for years with an EPR of 1.75 GW, is one of the most powerful reactors in the world. A continent that turns nuclear. The British bet arrives in a contradictory European context. Germany He closed his last central in 2023 and Spain plans to close them in 2027. France, on the contrary, Maintain nuclear as a pillar (70 % of its electricity) and accelerates new EPR2 projects. The board moves: under Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Germany has stopped blocking France and accepts that the nuclear receives the same treatment as renewables in EU legislation. The agreement includes giving “green” status to pink hydrogen and opens the door to European financing, although Austria continues against and countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands reevaluate their policies. In the midst of this continental debate, the United Kingdom, outside the EU, advances alone with Sizewell C: an EPR that even EDF has relegated in favor of the EPR2, while in Europe the SMR and nuclear fusion gain space. … Read more

Ukraine is seeing objects at 500 km/h. Russia has turned its most lethal weapon into a monster at cruise speed

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At this point in the contest it has been clearly clear that, it is not that the war is asymmetric, it is that Russia is attacking Shaheds of thermobárica load and Ukraine with pellets. That reality, in addition, is practically modified every week At a rhythm of updates difficult to continue. The latest: Ukraine radars have begun to see swarins at cruise speed, but they are not missiles. Again the shaheds. Yes, Russia has introduced into its attacks against Ukraine Reaction version of the Kamikaze Shahed drones, model Shahed-238whose benefits (speeds of up to 600 km/haltitudes of almost 10 km and a radar signal similar to that of a cruise missile) make them much more difficult to intercept than the Helix Shahed-136. These drones, with an explosive load of about 50 kg and an estimated range 1,000 to 2,000 km According to the variant, they are practically untouchable for mobile groups with light weapons, cannons or electrical interceptors drones. His deployment in the last mass attack, which left At least 13 dead And more than 130 injured, is a qualitative leap in the Russian capacity to saturate Ukrainian defenses and force the use of expensive Earth-Aire missiles, such as The Nasams either Patriotwhose price can reach Millions of dollars per unit. Tactical impact and adaptation. The introduction of the Shahed-238 seems to be part of A Russian strategy To prove the effectiveness of Ukrainian interceptor drones, developed from high performance FPVs used against recognition aircraft. The Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, recognized that Russia is integrating countermeasures to make fun of these interceptors, which forces Ukraine to adjust tactics daily. Despite the goal of producing A thousand daily interceptorsscalability is limited by Russian attacks on factories, supply problems and the need to constantly relocate production. Ukrainian experts They point That this deployment could seek not so much the direct destruction of strategic objectives such as the wear of the inventory of long -range anti -aircraft missiles, leaving the space open to more destructive weapons. Production limitations. They counted the Twz analysts that, although Russia currently produces some 2,000 Shahed-136 per month And it aspires to reach 5,000, the manufacture of the Shahed-238 is more COmpleja and expensive. Their speeds demand more resistant fuselages, more precise guidance systems and high -cost turbojet engines, which restricts its scalability and diverts resources from the production of simpler models. The dependence of foreign componentsespecially from Chinait could be decisive to sustain or expand production. These limitations suggest that, at least in the short term, Russia will use the Shahed-238 in a combined way with large waves of Shahed-136, creating staggered attacks that saturate defensive systems. Perspectives and threats. The arrival of the Shahed-238 raises a Operational and economic dilemma To Ukraine: neutralize them with Sam missiles long -range is an unsustainable expense, while the most affordable solutions, such as unmanned interceptors, have not yet demonstrated full efficacy against this threat. In the short term, Russia’s most likely tactics aims to combine them with Great Shahed-136 waves To overload the defensive system, forcing to disperse resources and increasing the probability that other more powerful weapons reach their objectives. If Moscow manages to maintain a constant flow, even if it is limited, of these reaction drones, they could become a key element to weaken the Ukrainian defenses and open space to more devastating aerial offensives, thus consolidating a new technological front in the war. Image | PicrylMasoud Shahrestani / Wikimedia In Xataka | Russia’s most advanced nuclear submarine was a secret. Until Ukraine has revealed everything, even his failures In Xataka | It is not that Russia does not find the F-16 of Ukraine, is that kyiv has discovered the perfect hiding place for the future of wars

The “highway to heaven” is a monster of 270 viaducts and 25 tunnels

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In the 80s, the Chinese road network had a long way forward. They had no highways, above all, because the bulk of merchandise transport was made by their Rich Railway Network. However, something began to change in the mid-decade with the Shanghai-Jiading highway, and in 2005, the Minister of Transportation was He committed to build 85,000 kilometers in the next 30 years. Of All that networka small segment is starring one of the most imposing highways in the world. The “staircase to heaven” from China. Yaxi Expressway. That of “All roads lead to Rome“In China, it is applied to Beijing. Yaxi Expresswaya section known as “staircase to heaven.” It is a 240 -kilometer segment that joins the cities of Xichang and Ya’an and that built Between 2007 and 2012 for about 3.3 billion dollars. To put it in context, the average cost Construction of a kilometer of new highway in Spain is 8.8 million euros. It depends on many things, but we are talking about an important extra cost in the case of this highway, and seeing how it is, it seems totally justified. SOBRADA. Within those 240 kilometers, the Yaxi Expressway account With 270 viaducts to save considerable slopes, but also has 25 tunnels. In total, the latter add up to 41 kilometers underground. One of those tunnels is that of Nibashan, who has the honor of being the deepest of China by descending about 1,650 meters in just 10 kilometers. Necessary? Yes, since a journey that previously took hours around a mountain is now completed in just ten minutes. But everything that goes down, must have previously upload, and it is precisely why this highway is known as the “staircase to heaven.” The reason is to rise to more than 2,430 meters, with one of the sections raising 7.5 meters per kilometer traveled. There are 51 kilometers of continuous ascent with an average slope of 3%. That ascension, as well as the complete route if you prefer, can be seen perfectly in this video: Surrounding mountains. In that video there is something very interesting that we can see: the spiral -shaped tunnels, but it is something that is also better appreciated in this image of the Maps tour: The reason is that there are two mountains that do not go through as such, but are “surrounding.” With the idea of minimizing the impact on the environment, this way of drawing tunnels was considered the ideal in a complicated area. In the images in which the relief is shown you can see sections of that ‘snail’ appearing from time to time in the mountain: Beyond muscle. This highway is interesting beyond its technical achievements. Because left the virguerías aside, the Yaxi Expressway allows to connect a mountainous and traditionally isolated area that allows the local economy to develop and that ethnic minorities such as Han, Hui or Tibetans have integration easier. Difficult. And, from the point of view of a user of the road, driving on this road is complicated. The weather is changing due to the change of height we experience, it has very technical slow curves and a great slope of both ascent and down, and that difficulty can be seen in various moments of the video that we share above. But well, beyond this, the “highway to heaven” has become a tourist attraction in the region and is another sample of the Powerful civil infrastructure in China. In addition, what most attracts the attention of all this is how the country has undertaken a lot of Extremely complex works In just two or three decades. AND If we talk about bridgesthe thing shoots. Image | Xinhuavideo/New China TV, Chinese curious In Xataka | Three highways, 20 access ramps: China has the most diabolical exchanger in the world in Huangjuewan

Everest has become a tourist monster. Someone believes that drones are the solution

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Yeah Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay The cold slopes of Everest are assumed today in the most likely to stay ice cream. And not for temperatures. Since Hillary and Norgay crowned the top in their historic ascent of 1953, Everest has ceased to be an inhospitable place to become a kind of monster touristified. Every year they visit it hundreds and hundreds of mountaineers who leave in their path a millionaire business and a long wasting waftment. That does not mean that crowning Everest is today a simple task. Neither safe. It was not in times of Sir Hillary and Norgay and it is not now, although technical advances make the experience more bearable. Good proof is that in 2023 they disappeared Three Sherpas professionals in the Khumbu ice waterfall. The repeated attempts to recover their bodies served little. Their names have passed to Get the list of dead and missing On the mountain. Now both the work of the sherpas and the experience of the mountaineers and the conservation of the mountain have found a valuable ally: the drones. An ally on heights The disappearance Of the three 2023 Sherpas left its mark on the company that led the expedition, Imagine Nepal, so after the tragedy its responsible began to look for new ways to improve security in Everest. That effort led her to look at what her Chinese colleagues were already doing in Muztagh ata peak of 7,500 near the border between China and Pakistan where companies turn to drones for transport hot food Between camps. “I told myself: why not use drones on the southern face of Everest, especially in the Khumbu ice waterfall section,” remember The director of Imagine Nepal in a recent interview with The New York Times. He was not the only one to think about the possibilities of drones on the roof of the world. A similar idea was responsible for those responsible for Airliftcompany interested in mapping Everest with drones. The theory did not take long to practice and in 2024 there was already a team of the Chinese manufacturer in Nepal DJI testing its cast drones in the area. The devices ended in Airlift olees, which hasn’t taken them to use them. Since then they have demonstrated their Mountain potential. Despite the initial misgivings on how drones would respond in Everest, under conditions of high altitude, cold temperatures, low visibility and wind gusts, the company has already achieved some interesting results. For example, during a cleaning campaign on the mountain they managed to move about 500 kilos of waste from camp one to the base camp. The task required 40 flights from a drone, The CNN requiresbut it could have been finished in much less time. Although the apparatus that the company used is capable of transporting 66 pounds of weight (about 30 kilos), preferred to stay in a little less than 20 kg for security reasons. It is not a bad balance if one takes into account that the accumulation of garbage and feces begins to be A serious problem In Everest, which has even led to local authorities to demand from the mountaineers that They collect their excrements in biodegradable bags. Graph prepared by statista. Drones serve however, for much more than clean the slopes and camps of Everest. In addition to loading trash can transport stairs, ropes, oxygen bottles and other tools that serve the sherpas and the so -called ‘Icefall Doctors’veterans who are in charge of opening (and maintaining) a route in the Khumbu glacier so that mountaineers can cross it. For decades the most experienced sherpas have been in charge of that work, but … what if their knowledge could be combined with the technical advantages of drones? After all, a guide has experience and skill, but it takes between six or seven hours in covering the distance between the base camp, located at 5,464 m of altitude, and camp one, 6,065 m. A drone travels 2.9 km away from aerial distance between them in muco less time: Six and seven minutes. Recent Milan Pandey, from Airlift, assured the CNN that your goal is that the company Help sherpas Already in the 2025 season. Its mission will consist of transporting equipment to the coordinates indicated by the guides and collecting garbage. Without counting that, in addition to stairs or strings, drones can also load with sanitary material (from oxygen bottles to medicines) or even help during geolocation work and rescue missions. The arrival of drones generates expectation for several reasons. The first, because (except during the stop of the pandemic or specific restrictions like the one that followed the Nepal earthquake of 2015) the influx of climbers at Everest has not stopped growing Since the 90s. Now hundreds and hundreds are the successful promotions that are computed every year. The second is that drones can make Sherpa’s job more attractive and recover professionals who have been abandoned to emigrate. Of course not everything is advantages and facilities in the future of Everest drones. The service has a key challenge: money. A single drone can cost More than $ 70,000to which the fuel bill is added to load the batteries, labor, accommodation and logistics challenges. Images | IEWEK GNOS (UNSPLASH), Guillaume Baviere (Flickr), Mário Simoes (Flickr) and Statista In Xataka | Everest grows faster than we thought because a river stole water to another 90,000 years ago

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