Jase Wilson | Tourism in the Death Zone: An ethnographic exploration of emotions in high-altitude tourism

Supervisors: Dr Kate Dashper and Dr Elisa Burrai

Jase is a bursary PhD student and Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Management.

My research focuses on high-altitude mountaineering tourism which occurs on mountains like Mount Everest or K2 –the world’s highest peaks. There are 14 mountains of 8,000m+ above sea level which are found exclusively in south Asia – Pakistan, India, Nepal and Tibet. During the season of 2019, between March and August, I conducted ethnographic fieldwork in this region. I spent two months at Mount Everest basecamp and a similar time at K2. I trekked as high as Camp 2 on Mount Everest and I also trekked out to K2 basecamp on the Boltoro Glacier, which is an extremely remote area. I conducted over 75 interviews with climbers and workers. As with any ethnographic project, one the of the simplest questions I asked was what is going on here, in this social world? What are the consequences for tourists who partake in this practice and what are the consequences for local workers?