Percy Fernandez for The New York Times Norbu Sherpa on the Khumbu Glacier, near the Everest base camp in Nepal.NEW DELHIâ€" Norbu Sherpa, 32, has been working as a climbing guide in the high mountains of Nepal for more than a decade. He has been a member of seven expeditions to Everest, the highest peak in the world at 8,848 meters (29,029 feet), and reached the summit five times.
More than 150,000 people belonging to the Sherpa ethnic group live in Nepal. They are known around the world as excellent mountain climbers, especially in the Himalayan terrain. The first team to conquer Everest in 1953 consisted of Sir Edmund Hillary, from New Zealand, and a Nepalese Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay. Since then, Sherpas have been part of most foreign expeditions to the Himalayas’ towering peaks, working as porters, guides and support staff.
A brawl in late April between three Europeans and a group of Sherpas on Everest has focused attention on the relationship between climbers and their guides, and on the changing nature of the mountaineering experience as Himalayan tourism booms. Norbu spoke recently by telephone from the Everest base camp; the interview has been condensed and lightly edited.
How long have you been working as a mountain guide?
I have been working for 10 years in the high mountains. I started working when I was about 22 years. I will work for eight years more and then it is finished!
Why is that?
Because the life of a climbing Sherpa is only that much, I think. Twenty years is the maximum time you can work in the high mountains, the ones more than 8,000 meters high. At 40 you will be finished. The work is very tough; it is only meant for the young.
Most of the Sherpas work as freelancers, they go to different companies. Expeditions do not happen all the time, if you stay with only one company you won’t get enough work.
How did you become a Sherpa guide?
In the Sherpa community, we have the older, senior Sherpas who are like Superman and Spider-Man in our village, they are like heroes. They come from expeditions with lots of money, chocolates, imported biscuits, and they tell their stories in the village. For us it was really fascinating. We say, we want to be like him â€" become like a Superman or Spider-Man.
It was like this for me. But for others in the Sherpa community it is also about money. People are very poor; they are living in very remote places, where there is no agriculture, where the only source of income is to become a high-altitude climber. Now, the Sherpa people are not just porters, they are going for training, advanced training in mountaineering, medicine. People are becoming more involved because of the money.
What is the role of the Sherpa guide on an expedition?
I work as a Sirdar, or leader, now. In expeditions, there are traditionally two kinds of Sirdars. One handles the base camp and then you have the climbing Sirdar.
Nowadays the roles have merged. You have just one Sirdar who is responsible for the base camp and climbing as well, but the responsibilities are varied.
As base camp manager, Sherpas have to sort everything at the camp, ensure everything is in the right place, ensure it is not in the way of avalanche debris and check the water source. As a climbing Sirdar I have to verify the climbing credentials of other Sherpas, their reliability and fitness. I have to ensure all Sherpas have the appropriate climbing gear.
Then we check the communication equipment at all camps. And then, we set up the higher camps.
What do Sherpa guides earn?
The average load for each Sherpa is 8 to 10 kilograms legally. But some of them are strong and carry double the load and earn double. Each Sherpa earns $125 per load, per climb. I will carry four oxygen cylinders and the client will carry one oxygen cylinder.
Narendra Shrestha/European Pressphoto Agency The Mt. Everest peak visible from Syangboche in Solukhumbu district of Nepal.Has the number of tourists coming to the region increased in the past decade?
Yes. We have lots of climbers from all over the world; people are increasingly coming to big mountains. I think one reason is that the government has reduced the royalty. And the second is that people are thinking that the mountain is secured by the Sherpas. People think that even if you are not strong enough, you have supplementary oxygen to get to the summit, there is always help from Sherpas.
It is very interesting. Now people want to talk less about big cities, about the cities like Las Vegas or Hawaii . People want to talk about the big mountains, they want to talk about holidays in the big mountains â€" like, ‘‘Oh! You know, I have been to the Himalayas!’’
How has the increase in climbers affected the mountain?
According to me, it has affected a lot. For us, the mountains are gods and sacred to us. We don’t litter when we are at home. But when on the mountains, we don’t respect that logic. The greater the number of climbers, the quantum of disposal is huge. In particular, there is no specific plan to dispose of human waste and excreta. We also have a problem of drinking water.
Which is why we always want wise and educated clients, so that they know what is happening on the mountain. There’s not much fresh snow for drinking water. The glaciers have receded anyway and in the future you may have only a piece of rock for future generations.
How have the foreigners coming to Everest to climb changed in recent years?
In the ‘70s and ‘80s, renowned climbers used to frequent Everest. It has become a commercial mountain these days and only those who have the money come to Everest.
People who come now to Everest have very little or no experience. Everest, whatever is said and done, draws a lot of attention across the world and because it is the tallest, everyone wants to take a shot it and become famous. That is the biggest lure.
Do Sherpas feel they are getting the same respect that they used to from foreign climbers?
I know lots of people when they are in base camp, Europeans and Americans, who come there and see the work of the Sherpas, they realize how we put our lives in danger. They see the hard work, carrying the load on the ice, they feel sad. They think they have to help the Sherpa people. They feel pity and make lots of promises when they are in the mountains, but when they go back to their country they forget everything. This happens a lot.
But there are lots of clients who help the Sherpas, those who have sponsored their children, those who have helped them to build their houses.
I don’t blame foreign climbers or foreigners. If there is anyone to be blamed, it is the companies and organizations who sell Everest. They are responsible for rightly educating Westerners about the Sherpas.
There have been lot of changes in the Sherpa community. Many think Sherpas are just porters, which is not true. Sherpas are a community and a cultural entity. Western companies are selling us in the name of porters to Western clients. Sherpas are honest, kind, caring, helping and unassuming people.
What can you tell us about the recent incident in which foreign climbers and Sherpa guides got into a brawl 7,000 meters up the mountain?
This is rare. In history it has never happened that Sherpas and climbers were fighting, especially in the higher camps.
I have to say, some climbers, like some European climbers, are really strong and they just want to show their strength in the mountains without respecting the local communities, without respecting the local people, without respecting anything. They just think, I paid for this and I am the one.
How has this region or the Sherpa community benefited from the money coming in through tourism?
This money is not coming to the Sherpas or the mountain, it goes to the government and they are using it for god knows what.
Is the younger generation taking up the profession?
They are basically coming back to where there parents are. The senior Sherpas really don’t want their sons and children to become climbing Sherpas. They want their children to be doctors or engineers or something good. But there are no good education facilities, so the younger generation are coming back to what their grandparents were doing.
Many are frustrated that they do not have other options to carry on their lives, except climbing the mountains.
Now in Nepal lots of people are going abroad, to the Gulf countries, Malaysia, to work. But the thing is that if you go to foreign countries you need to be educated.
Did you ever want to do something else?
I am very happy with my work â€" I can get into trekking now and earn the same money. It is not compulsory for me to climb these big mountains, but I love to do this.
Lots of people ask me if I am planning to get married. I tell them I am engaged to the mountains! Every year since 2008 I have made four or five expeditions to the high mountains. I have spent seven months in tents a year. That is why I say, I am engaged to the mountains.
What happens after retirement?
If you see the community of Sherpa people, the Sherpa climbers after 40, they are almost finished with the high mountains, then they are going to the small peaks like the 6,000-meter ones.
Those who cannot do 6,000 meters are becoming trekking guides because we have lots of tourists in the Himalayas. After their climbing career in big mountains is over, they are working as trekking guides or helpers or cooks. Or, they go back to their village and look after their agriculture practice, cattle or yaks.
(Percy Fernandez contributed reporting from Khumbu, Nepal)
No comments:
Post a Comment