Sherpa

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The Sherpa Tibetan:ཤར་པ། "eastern people", from shar "east" + pa "people") are an ethnic group from the most mountainous region of Nepal, high in the Himalayas. Sherpas migrated from eastern Tibet to Nepal within the last 500 years. A sherpa woman is known as a "sherpani".

The term 'sherpa' is also used to refer to local people, typically men, employed guides for Mountaineering expeditions in the Himalayas. They are highly regarded as elite mountaineers and experts in their local terrain, as well as having good physical endurance and resilience to high altitude conditions. However, a sherpa is not necessarily a member of the Sherpa ethnic group. Sherpa generally act as porters on Mount Everest expeditions.

[edit] Video

Outdoor Retailer Live: Appa Sherpa and Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa
Rocky Mountain editor Steve Howe continues his interview with two Everest climbing legends: Apa Sherpa (16 summits) and Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa (fastest ascent from base camp to the summit) at the Outdoor Retailer 2007 Winter Market. In this segment Steve asks the two men about "SuperSherpas" --their upcoming spring 2007 all-Sherpa expedition to Everest. He also talks to two Salt Lake City men--Jerry Mika and Roger Kehr--who have befriended Apa and Lhakpa Gelu and helped them settle in the United States.

[edit] Native territory

Most Sherpas live in the eastern regions; however, some live farther west in the Rolwaling valley and in the Helambu region north of Kathmandu. Pangboche is the Sherpas' oldest village in Nepal. Sherpas speak their own Sherpa language which in many ways resembles a dialect of Tibetan. The Jirels, native people of Jiri, are ethnically related to the Sherpas. It is said that the Jirels are descendants of a Sherpa mother and Sunuwar (another ethnic group of the eastern part of Nepal) father. In India, Sherpas also inhabit the towns of Darjeeling and Kalimpong and the Indian state of Sikkim. The 2001 Nepal Census recorded 154,622 Sherpas in that country, of which 92.83% were Buddhists, 6.26% were Hindus, 0.63% were Christians and 0.20% were Bön.

Note that the above days of the week is derived from Tibetan language ("Pur-gae"). The Sherpas contribute substantially to the economic growth and stability of Nepal.

[edit] Sherpas and mountaineering

Sherpas were of immeasurable value to early explorers of the Himalayan region, serving as guides and porters at the extreme altitudes of the peaks and passes in the region. Today, the term is used casually to refer to almost any guide or porter hired for mountaineering expeditions in the Himalayas. However, in Nepal Sherpas insist on making the distinction between themselves and general porters, as they often serve in a more guide-like role and command higher pay and respect from the community.

Sherpas are renowned in the international climbing and mountaineering community for their hardiness, expertise, and experience at high altitudes. Many have speculated that a portion of Sherpas' climbing ability may be due to a genetically greater lung capacity, allowing much better performance at high altitudes. It has also been suggested that one reason why they were widely used as porters is that they had fewer dietary prohibitions than most people of the region and were prepared to eat whatever was available to them on expeditions.

[edit] Famous Sherpas

The most famous Sherpa is Tenzing Norgay, who climbed Mount Everest with Edmund Hillary for the first time in 1953. Tenzing's son Jamling Tenzing Norgay, also climbed Everest in honor of his father with the famous Ed Viesturs during the disastrous year of 1996.

Two Sherpas, Pemba Dorjie and Lhakpa Gelu, recently competed to see who could climb Everest from Basecamp the fastest. On May 23, 2003, Dorjie summited in 12 hours and 46 minutes. Three days later, Gelu beat his record by two hours, summiting in 10 hours 46 minutes. On May 21, 2004, Dorjie again improved the record by more than two hours with a total time of 8 hours and 10 minutes.

On May 16, 2007, Appa Sherpa successfully summited Mt. Everest for the 17th time, breaking his own record for most successful ascents.

Perhaps the most famous Nepalese female mountaineer, two-time Everest summiteer Pemba Doma Sherpa, died after falling from Lhotse on 22 May 2007.

[edit] See also

• Mount Everest

[edit] External links

• Website on the Sherpas of Nepal
• Website of United Sherpa Association in New York

[edit] References

Wikipedia article: Sherpa