Sherpa are known for their innocence, courage, dignity, honesty and most of all excellent mountain climbing skills. Being born in the high altitudes, mountain is like home for them. And they use their skills and strength to help adventurers all around the world to fulfill their dream of reaching the highest summit of the world-Mount Everest.

Brian Handwerk from National Geographic once wrote-The cheerful smiles and legendary strength of the Sherpas have been an integral part of Everest climbing expeditions from the very beginning. Indeed, very few significant successes have been achieved without them.

Behind virtually every endeavor lies the support and expertise of the Sherpa. They guide, carry the equipment, prepare the routes , rescue climbers who get into difficulty, everyday risking their own lives so that others can claim the glory.

The glory of getting to the top of the world is obviously adventurous and undeniably dangerous. It is not easy to get through the devil rocks and precarious mountain. So climbers have to get a very sharp mind and strong heart. Past many years, Sherpa has been continuously working for ensuring the safety and at the same time giving people all around the world the glory of reaching the summit.

The danger of precarious mountain cannot be deceived sometimes and it is deadly when it comes to Mount Everest. Though Mount Annapurna takes the first place in being the riskiest of mountains with 50% fatalities out of the total climbers Mount Everest is not out of risk. The first threatening danger of climbing the highest mountain of the world was faced in 1996 when 15 people died.

One of the climbers from the group who had to face the saddening death of 15 during that year Jon Krakauer had also written the climbing story at the Everest named “Into thin Air”. The book was bestseller for the year in adventure category. Simply implying the adventure book that had been the best seller, we can infer that the climb is full of thrilling and adventurous experiences.

The locals call the Mount Everest Chomolungma or “Goddess Mother of the Land”. And the goddess mother got angry on 2006 once again when 12 climbers were killed.

“In climbing, having confidence in your partner is no small concern. One climber’s action can affect the welfare of the entire team. The consequences of a poorly tied knot, a stumble, a dislodged rock, or some other careless deeds are as likely to be felt by the perpetrator’s colleagues as the perpetrator. “-

A short part of the adventure bestseller ‘Into thin Air’ clearly explains how tough getting to the top is. And I feel proud to share that since 1953 when the first footstep of human was on the top of the 29000 feet high mountain- Mount Everest; Sherpas have been helping and going together with people to safely take the glory of summit.

And now once again, after 2006 there have been a heartbreaking incident. A high altitude avalanche on 18th April Killed 13 climbers in Mount Everest. Most of the dead people were Sherpa guides who had walked in the Everest to ensure safety of other climbers.

As a regular day, Sherpa climbers were strongly dedicated to fight with the danger and ensure the safety of other climbers. They normally wake up early in the morning at about 2 and check the way on their own before other climbers start to move on. They check the way, clear the way if any problem be there, check the ropes, ladders and other necessary arrangements for climbing.

One of the Sherpa members Pasang Sherpa from the same group on explaining what happened that day said that A large crew had woke up early at 2, had breakfast, and were moving ahead for the Second base camp from the First base camp. Ensuring the ropes are OK and the ladders are safe, they had travelled about one hour. And within the blink of an eye Pasang says was a huge avalanche just 100 meters away from him which took the life of 13 people at one instance.

The beginning of this year (Year 2071 for Nepali Calendar and 2014 for English Calendar) came with one of the saddest moments of mountaineering of this decade.

The incident unfortunately hampered a lot of things and a lot of people returned from Solukhumbu sabotaging their dream to reach the top of Mountain Everest. In such a dangerous climb incident happened and people died. It is unfortunate and still the adventure has been added with the risk of many lives.

But the most unfortunate part in Nepal is those brave son of the mountains are not provided the respect they deserve from the Government. The 13 dead were provided compensation of just $400 from the government which is very less as compared to the courage they have shown to develop the nation by helping flourish mountain tourism in the country.

The irresponsive behavior I believe in long term might negatively affect the dedication of Sherpas for development of the nation.

While travelling different corners of the world being a Sherpa, I have felt Sherpa in many places have been Synonym for mountains and obviously Nepal. I feel glory to be a part but these activities of the Government of nation obviously makes me being a Sherpa and a Nepali and Sherpas around the world feel low.

From the bottom of my heart, I wish all the deceased soul may rest in peace in Heaven.

Peace and Harmony

Furtemba Sherpa