The fight between Sherpas and three renowned world
climbers, Swiss Ueli Steck, Italian, Simone Moro, British alpine photographer,
Jon Griffith, on April 30, 2013 shows how the new breed of Sherpa climbers are
approaching their profession and grabbed international headlines.
The fight, which
took at around 23,000 feet (between Camp 2 and Camp 3), was the first of its
kind and “strangest incident in mountaineering history”, Rajendra Bajgain,
Managing Director of Gurkha Encounters said. In turn, speculations are rife
about security concerns to foreign climbers.
A DIVIDED VIEW
Pawan Thapa, reservation officer of Cho-Oyu Trekking, the
company responsible for organizing the three climbers feat confided that a
small piece of ice was actually dislodged, to which the trio apologized.
However, Simone Moro, in his first extended interview with
the National Geographic on May 2 dismissed the ‘false story’ of an ice they
accidently dislodged at the rope-fixing team. “There was also this story, a
false story, that when we traversed and went to our tent we caused some piece
of ice to fall down and hit one Sherpa on the face. But that (next) day (May
1), the Sherpa who was bleeding from the nose went officially to his leader and
said, “Listen, nobody hit me. It was my mistake. I was jumaring on and I
slipped on my crampons and hit my nose on the ice. There was no piece of ice
falling from above.”
MOUNTAINEERING SCAR
The incident, which occurred when Nepal and
the world are celebrating the 60th year of the first conquest of
Mount Everest by Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953 AD seems
to have left a small wound in the international mountaineering community.
However, Bacchu Narayan Shrestha, Immediate
First Vice President of Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN) dismissed
media exaggerations. “That was a small incident and let it remain that way,”
Shrestha said, adding, “that life was normal and both the Sherpas and other
foreign climbers were well along to climb the world’s highest peak,” Shrestha
said over a telephone conversation from Namche Bazaar.
INTERNATIONAL REPORTS
AND ITS IMPLICATIONS
International news stories reported that around 100
Sherpas had attacked the climbers after a Sherpa, who was fixing ropes was hit
by an ice dislodged by westerners, an allegation that the three climbers deny.
Stories published in The Guardian and Huffington Post, on
the other hand, suggested that the fight was an outpour of the past years, when
Sherpas were treated as coolies and guides or as both.
However, Shrestha said that it had nothing to do with
honor as exaggerated by both the national and international media. While
Shrestha argued that Sherpas and foreign climbers shared good and harmonious
relation, Kusang Sherpa, the porter and cook of the trio at Base Camp said that
they were still looked down as porters. Kusang denied speaking further despite
several attempts.
Nonetheless, Moro, said that the three “wanted to send a
strong signal and needed time to regain (their) trust in Everest and the
Sherpas”.
When asked if its effects could be weighed or
if the number of foreign climbers would see a steady fall in the foreseeable
future, Rajendra Bajgain, Managing Director of Gurkha Encounters, said that it
would not be the case, primarily because scaling the highest peak was and
always will be full of adventure and danger.
“It is not just about scaling the world’s
highest peak. It is more about a man conquering his never ending
adventure.” However, “we will have to
assure climbers of their security, and as long as one comes with truth, the incident
will always bring in rumors,” Bajgain said, adding, until then, we would have
to bear the damage.
SAVING THE JUBILEE
Shrestha added that the incident would not
hamper the Diamond Jubilee of the first conquest of Mt. Everest, the world’s
highest peak in 1953 AD. Shrestha further said that the Government of Nepal
along with TAAN and Nepal Tourism Board were high on making the celebration a
success.
CHANGING EVEREST
Meanwhile, international media extensively
covered the fight at 23,000 ft. as the fight of Sherpas to gain control of the
mountains and to share an equal part in any ascents foreign climbers complete.
However, Bajgain said that over the years, Sherpas have become arrogant because
they are growing rich and also because foreign climbers, like it or not, have
to rely on their skills to scale the Everest. “Without Sherpas, nobody climbs
Everest. Without foreigners, there are no jobs for Sherpas. This concept is
often forgotten,” Moro said. Since the first conquest, around 4000 climbers
have scaled the world’s highest peak.
In his story for the National Geographic,
Broughton Coburn said that despite their cross cultures and the disparate
worlds that they come from, Sherpas and the sahibs (foreign climbers) share an
extremely close relationship of give and take, each providing the other what
they lack, “manpower for the sahibs, money for the Sherpas.”
In such retrospection, “Sherpas have
compromised in proper equipments, are offering cheaper but riskier ways to
scale the Everest, which, in turn, has affected quality service delivery,”
Bajgain said.
While Sherpas have become skilled,
professional and thoughtful climbers, since the first conquest in 1953 AD, so
have the Western climbers like Simone Moro and Ueli Steck. Consequently, Moro
argued that they were not good for business as they were different from the
commercial part of business.
“Sometimes people like us, who are not
clients are (not) considered good for business (because) we don’t need Sherpas.
We don’t need fixers (and) are out of the groove of the commercial part of
Everest.”
YOUNG BLOODS MORE PRONE TO JEALOUSY
Moro’s interview with National Geographic
further strengthens what Bajgain has to share. “Today everything is business.
Jealousy. Anger. Competition. High tension.” The interview reads, adding,
“…especially this year…when you come here(Base Camp), you will find that,
behind many smiles, there are many economic issues”.
Moro further added that since there are so
many expeditions to the Mt. Everest this year, many commercial expeditions have
hired as many as they could, without knowing them or their experiences with the
mountainous terrains. “This year so many Sherpas (are) young. Not the typical
older, experienced Sherpas. The person leading the rope-fixing team was young
(and) probably not that experienced (and) not open to accept that someone could
climb without their help, as we were doing. I think this is especially a
problem this year.”
Climbers like Moro and Steck are professional
and skilled climbers, and therefore, do not require a Sherpa to guide them. As
a result, Sherpas, like it or not, are losing their clients. With each climb, a
Sherpa earns around Rs. 500,000 to Rs. 600,000, Kushang Sherpa, the cook and
guide of the three climbers up to Base Camp said.
