Mount Everest Sherpas

3 sherpas have died so far in this 2012 Mt Everest expedition. The first had premorbidities such as liver cirrhosis. The cause of death is presumed to be altitude sickness. The 2^nd was from an accident in the Khumbu icefall and the 3^rd, just recently, after being rescued to Kathmandu by a helicopter (we are still unsure about the cause of death)

The 3^rd death is close to home as he is from the village of Phortse. 2 days ago whilst in the clinic, I first received news that a Phortse Sherpa was being rescued from Everest by a helicopter to Kathmandu and was admitted in the ICU. Throughout the day, tension built up in the village. Though I can’t fully understand the Sherpa language, their body language and creases on their faces gave away the anxiety. Just a few hours ago, we had a helter skelter of people, reporting the man had passed away in Kathmandu.  A cloud of gloom hangs over the village. A deep sorrow overwhelms me for this stranger I have never met. All I know is that he is between 30 and 40 and has 2 very young children.

Nearly every house has a son, husband or father on the Mount Everest Expedition. There is a baseline level of anxiety during the expedition period. Though the sherpas are renowned for their strength, agility and adaptability on the mountains, the amount of danger they are exposed to is much more than the foreign climbers. Worse still, for them, these expeditions are a matter of necessity as it is their source of income. For the foreign climbers there is no necessity factor!

Sherpas on expedition

Once on an expedition, the sherpas guide, transport supplies, set up campsites and fix ropes between the camps on the route to the summit of Mt Everest. In these days there are 4 camps between the base camp and the summit. These sherpas will have to make repeated trips up and between the camps, which means they are constantly exposed to the dangerous terrain of the mountain. (also crossing the Khumbu icefalls numerous times, where the highest no. of deaths ensues) The number of times the foreign climbers have to go up are limited to avoid exposure to dangerous situations…such that they go up a sufficient number of times to acclimatize.

While Kumaran is climbing Everest with IMG, the Sherpa family I live with, have a son on the same team too. As one can imagine, there is some level of anxiety in the house. 

2012 Everest Climbing season

From what we have heard so far, it appears that the weather has been rather dry, which results in the rock being loose.  This has been a source of accidents and worry. A new route has been fixed up to camp 3, which appears to be safer. The winds have also been very strong and unfavourable. Hopefully the weather improves this coming week.

The lure of Everest

What makes one want to climb Everest? George Mallory climbed it because, ‘It is there’. (which to me seems like a pompous reason).  During Edmund Hillary’s and Tenzing Norgay summit, the British team tried to coincide the summit day with with the birthday of the Queen. (However, the New Zealander and Nepalese summited on 29^th May 1953) If anything, perhaps people take pride in saying they have summited Mount Everest.

The views along the treks here are magnificent. I’m not sure how much energy one can afford to expend in appreciating the views and taking photos at the summit, amidst the exhaustion & hypoxia.

Well, this sport has in some ways benefitted the population of the Khumbu region. It has brought tourism and income to the people. It has also resulted in their children being educated overseas (as some of the climbers have sponsored the education of the children). However, this has placed some pressure on the people- when 2 sherpas go on similar expeditions and only 1 get extra benefits, unhappiness ensues.

When Tenzing’s son, Jamling wanted to climb Everest at a young age, his father said he climbed Everest so that his children won’t have to. Essentially he did go on to climb Everest in 1996 because he wanted to experience what his father did… and wrote a book, ‘Touching my father’s soul: A sherpa’s journey to the top of Everest’. It is an amazing book  which explains why he climbed and what happened in the 1996 tragic incident. But most importantly, it was written from the sherpa’s point of view and had a good spiritual aspect to it, which is hard to come by in mountaineering books.

Lets just hope this season improves…..