Sherpas_real_Everest

Sherpa Tenzing Norgay [1914-1986], together with Edmund Hillary, was the first to step on the Everest. He was the first Sherpa who climbed to fame. He came from the seven or ten thousand [1970] Sherpa tribesmen who had migrated originally from Eastern Tibet into a few valleys in Nepal which were sacred to the Buddhists of Tibet. The word Sherpa in Tibetan means “easterner”. Tenzing moved to Darjeeling in India in his early teens, as word of these Sherpa climbers spread among Nepalese Sherpas who sought work on the Everest expeditions. In the Everest expeditions of 1922 and 1924, General Bruce selected his porter team from among the small Sherpa community in Darjeeling. In a 1954 autobiography of Ang Thrace, Mémoires d'un Sherpa , it says that Ang Tharkay was Tenzing’s landlord in Darjeeling and also his mentor. Ang Tharkay accompanied Shipton on eight expeditions and was also a sirdar [leader] on the 1950 French expedition to Annapurna, led by Herzog.

Tenzing Norgay died suddenly on May 9, 1986 whilst his son Jamling [born in Darjeeling on April 23, 1965, the fourth of six Norgay children] was in a US “Northland College”, Wisconsin which had also honored Tenzing with an honorary degree. Jamling had two brothers and attended St. Paul's, an elite boarding school in India. Tenzing forbade Jamling to climb the Everest much against the son’s desire to do so. Tenzing explained “I climbed Everest so that you wouldn't have to." Jamling, upon graduating from St. Paul's, traveled to the United States to attend College in Wisconsin. He spent about 10 years in USA but dreamed of climbing Everest, finally making the famous 1996 IMAX movie on Everest. During the making of this film, there was an avalanche and Jamling’s skepticism about his Buddhist faith also got buried in the avalanche somewhere. In that spring, nine people on Everest died in a sudden storm. Selflessly Jamling Norgay and his climbers risked their own lives to save their fellow climbers. For this bravery, Jamling Norgay received His Holiness the Dalai Lama's Award, and the National Citizen's award from the President of India. Jamling followed the actions and dignified the summit in honour of his father by depositing a small valuable item of his daughter. He now lives in Darjeeling, India with his family. Jamling’s brothers and sister work in USA.

"My father knew before he ever set foot on the mountain that it had to be approached with respect and with love, the way a child climbs into the lap of its mother. Anyone who attacks the peak with aggression, like a soldier doing battle, will lose."

Jamling’s son Tashi is married to an Australian. Tashi’s book Tenzing Norgay and the Sherpas of Everest by Tashi Tenzing, Judy Tenzing, Edmund Hillary is a first hand account of his grandfather’s first Everest ascent. In addition there is a 1954 autobiography of Ang Tharkay, Mémoires d'un Sherpa. Ang Tharkay was Tenzing’s landlord in Darjeeling and also his mentor. He accompanied Shipton on eight expeditions and was also a sirdar [leader] on the 1950 French expedition to Annapurna, led by Herzog.

“He had been to Everest 6 times before: to the North Side in 1935 with Shipton, 1936 with Ruttledge and 1938 with Tilman; and to the South Side in the spring of 1952 with Swiss team led by Wyss-Dunant, and back again in the autumn on their second attempt led by Chevalle… As Ortner points out, virtually all of our history of Himalayan mountaineering comes from the westerners, since they were the ones with the skills and means to write the books. From the earlier period, there are only three accounts "from the other side," this one by Tenzing, that by Ang Tharkay, and finally the remarkable Servant of Sahibs, written in 1923 by Ghulam Rassul Galwan, who had worked for Younghusband, among others. Due to their scarcity, insights, and perspective, these books make fascinating reading.

“Tenzing simply says that others have written extensively about it, so there is no need to cover the details of the expedition, other than to shed light on things that have been neglected. What he does do, which Hunt (perhaps understandably) does not, is discuss not only the issues of conflict between the Sherpa and "Sahibs", but also the repercussions (since many of these caused much controversy under the spotlight that fell on the expedition after its success.) He also talks a lot about the impact of the whole thing on his life, which was significant, given the attention given to the expedition... Finally, one cannot read this book without being touched by the love that he had for the mountains, and the bond that he shared with those of similar spirit (not the least of whom was Lambert, of the 1952 Swiss team, with whom - despite a language barrier - he clearly had an outstanding bond.) In this there are strong echoes of Rébuffat's fellowship of the rope. For me, this spirit extended beyond the printed page, bonding author to reader.”

Incidentally the youngest Everest climber is also a Sherpa, fifteen-year old Temba Tsheri Sherpa, a schoolboy from the Rolwaling valley.

The great successes of Sherpas in 2000 mountaineering were: Lhakpa Sherpa and Pemba Doma as second and third Sherpa woman reach the top of Chomolungma; Appa Sherpa conquers the mountain for the 11^th time.

On the Golden Jubilee of Mt. Everest the great Sherpas established more speed records. In May 2003, the Golden anniversary of the day, when Tenzing and Hillary first climbed Chomolungma, was crowned by several heroic successes of Sherpa mountaineers.

Lhakpa Sherpa became the first woman to reach the summit for a third time (May 22). She was accompanied by her brother and her 15-year-old sister Mingma Kipa Sherpa, who thus becomes the youngest ever person on Chomolungma. Appa Sherpa reached the summit for an unbelievable 13^th time (May 26).

Late Babu Chhiri's speed record was broken twice within only three days: First, Pemba Dorji Sherpa reaches the summit after 12 hours and 45 minutes (May 23); then, Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa improves this record to 10 hours and 56 minutes (May 26).

Sherpa Appa – completed 12 ascents to Mt Everest in May 2002 – the first ascent being in 1989. He climbed the highest peak on earth 12 times in 13 years! It is not surprising he holds the record for the most Everest ascents. However, after his successful 12^th attempt, Sherpa Appa, under pressure from his family, decided to resign from further attempts to climb the mountain. On his 12^th ascent in May 2002, Appa was the first to reach the summit – on a day when 54 other climbers also scaled the peak – setting yet another Everest record. Appa earns his living by guiding expeditions to Mt. Everest.t

Sherpa Babu Chhiri - the Nepalese mountaineer and 10 times Everest summiteer set two Everest records - one for scaling Mount Everest in the fastest recorded time (17 hours), and the other for spending 21 hours at the summit – the longest stay atop the peak without oxygen. Babu died in April 2001 when he fell into a snow crevasse. His last desire was to build a school in his native village in Nepal.

Sherpa Ang Rita retired in 1999, after more than 20 years as a mountain guide in Nepal. Known as "King of Sherpas" Ang Rita climbed Mount Everest 10 times without oxygen - once during winter - the only person in the world to have done so. He has also climbed other 8,000 metre peaks.