Is it possible to hike up the Himalayas?

Are Himalayas on a course of demise? What would be the aftermath?

• What are the countries currently affected by rising Himalayas and how exactly? What are current risks Himalayas currently are facing? What might spell doom for Himalayas? How may they crumble? Speculations involving Tibetan Plateau, Gobi desert, Changing river courses, formation of gorges etc... anything under the sun related to this aspect. It seems like, Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau have raised too much too fast. This has a counterproductive effect on themselves, if not now, but in few centuries. The Gobi desert has formed due to rise of Himalayas. Himalayas have changed the global weather, significantly.. Speculations on these topics are welcome.

• Answer:

  I don't think the himalayas are on a course of demise. As far as I know, they're rising significantly every year. But when scientists say, "significantly" i think they mean that it can be measured, and not that the Himalayas will crumble on us. Mt. Everest, for instance, only rises a few mm every year, at most. The phenomenon you describe : Changing rivers, crumbling mountains, gorges being created, are all part how nature changes. No piece of earth remains the same. Humans are a very recent addition to the earth, and just a blip in the earth's timeline. As a mountaineer, what's really worrying is how fast the glaciers in the Himalaya have begun to melt. You can see every year how glaciers become smaller, and every glacial valley shows that the glacier was more than twice, or thrice its size just a few years ago. This, of course, is because of global warming. It's up to you believe or not if humans cause global warming, but it is destroying the ice in the mountains. Long before the mountains destroy us, we will probably have destroyed ourselves.... so the mountain will be ok :)