The Nepal Himalayas

They are considered altars of the gods, and as such, they are sacred. In lofty Nepal they are a world unto themselves and here, in the ‘Abod...

They are considered altars of the gods, and as such, they are sacred. In lofty Nepal they are a world unto themselves and here, in the ‘Abode of the Snow’, time and space have meanings unlike anything that humans have ever encountered. They are difficult to describe; reality and fantasy overlap, and each conceal the identity of the other. And, perhaps, one has to be born amidst them to grasp the subtle and unfathomable shades that fill the essence. Phrases and adjectives inevitably prove inadequate to define the vast subject at hand because here in the Nepal Himalayas all is splendor, measureless, majestic and mysterious. They are at once terrifying and alluring, inspiring still deadly, and what seem unreal may prove far more solid than expected. They are the Great Himalayas.

The Nepal Himalayas are more than a crystallized mass of rocks and minerals. They have a spirit, and the mere presence of humans cannot taint their existence. They are considered unchallengeable, yet the human spirit seeks to conquer them rather than admire, observe and revere. People of our mountains still believe that dizziness is not caused by lack of oxygen, but that it strikes because the spirit of the wayfarer is not powerful enough.

The beauty of the landscape might not interest one because he seeks within himself and meditates. What counts is chiefly the soul, just as a monastery is not considered to be more a less interesting because of its architecture or the art contained within, but because of the sacredness of the place on which it is built. Some choose to carve prayers into rocks and hoist prayer flags aplenty—everywhere, and some kneel where others have knelt to pray. For them, Mount Everest is still Chomolungma, ‘Land of the Goddess, Mother of the Earth’; Manaslu still is ‘Mountain of the Spirit’; Sishapangma still is ‘Place of the Holy’; Kantgengri still is the ‘Lord of Spirits’; and Annapurna is still the ‘Goddess of Bountiful Harvests’. They conquer the mountains with their soul. Such mountains are ‘conquered’ with the soul.

Guests of the Himalayas perhaps do visit them for adventure, but only a few wonder how they came to be there in the first place. The Himalayas were created by the collision, eons ago, of an Asian landmass called Gondwanaland (what is now India) with the central Asian plate, forcing it upward to create what we now know as Tibet. The space between was known as the Tethys Sea. The continuing northwards and upwards movement closed the sea off and cemented the two land masses together, and the buckling effect resulted in the Himalayas. The plates are still moving and the mountains are still rising, though not as fast as they once did. The structure of the Himalayas support the theories of their origin and, not surprisingly, the geology is immensely varied with many metamorphosed rocks created by the huge pressures applied during the uplift, as well as sandstone and limestone, some of which bear marine fossils of creatures that once lived in the Tethys Sea. It is by no means uncommon to find fossils at 5,000m (16,400ft) and higher. Locals collect them from the river beds and embankments, and sell them to trekkers. Pilgrims consider them sacred.

The Nepal Himalayas extend approximately 800 kilometers between the Kangchenjunga massif at the east, to the Mahakali River at the west, accounting for a third of the entire Himalayan mountain system. They were not accessible to the outside world until the modern frontiers of Nepal were drawn at the conclusion of the British-Nepalese War of 1814-16, which was brought about by the frequent Gurkha raids on territories in India controlled by the East India Company. A few years prior to the war, a rough map of the country was drawn by Charles Crawford who surveyed a small part of eastern Nepal in the region of the Koshi River, from which he noted the great heights of the snow peaks. In 1809-10, W.S. Webb observed the position and height of Dhaulagiri from survey stations in the plains and calculated its height quite close to today’s official figure. At one point it was considered the highest mountain in the world.

During the campaign of 1814-16 other great peaks were noted and then the frontiers were closed. Only after British surveyors successfully calculated the positions and height of the most prominent peaks in Nepal, in 1852, was the Government of British India granted permission to send a party to survey the country by the King of Nepal. One notable journey was made in 1873 by Pandit Hari Ram, who crossed the western border and traversed northern Nepal as far as the Kali Gandaki River, between the Dhaulagiri and Annapurna Himals. Captain Henry Wood came next, in 1903, to authenticate the names of peaks. In 1907, Natha Singh, a lone surveyor, made a hurried visit to the upper Dudh Koshi and sketched the southern slopes of Mt Everest, including the end of the Khumbu glacier. About the same time, the Nepalese Government was prepared to allow a mountaineering expedition to visit Mount Everest, but at the last hour the British Government deemed it inadvisable. George Herbert Leigh Mallory, an English mountaineer took part in the first three British Expeditions to Everest in the early 1920s. On the third expedition, in June 1924, Mallory and his climbing partner Andrew Irvine disappeared on the northeast ridge during the final stages of their attempt to make the first
ascent of the world’s highest mountain. Their ultimate fate was unknown for 75 years, until Mallory’s body was finally discovered in 1999. Whether he and Irvine reached the summit or not still remains the subject of speculation and continuing research. It was during the British attempt on Everest in 1922 that seven Sherpa climbers died in an avalanche, the first reported deaths on the mountain. Otherwise, apart from one or two incursions across the border by various travelers and mountaineers, Nepal and its mountains remained relatively unknown until 1949.

When the door to Nepal was re-opened in the mid 20th century, two factors made it attractive for climbers and explorers. First, it was new territory teaming with high peaks, many of them giants that had been observed only from afar; and second, of the 31 Himalayan peaks that exceeded 7,600 meters, 22 studded the Nepalese landscape, including eight of the worlds 14 highest. Detailed maps of the Himalaya along the Nepal-China border became available only as late as 1997 and a closer examination of them revealed that there are more than 208 summits exceeding 6,500 meters within five kilometers of the boundary on the Nepal side alone.

World Records on Mount Everest
1. First summited on 29 May, 1953, by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary via the southeast ridge route.
2. Nawang Gombu Sherpa became the first to summit Everest twice, once in 1953 and again in 1965.
3. The first woman to reach the summit was Junko Tabei of Japan in May 1965.
4. Peter Habeler of Austria and Reinhold Messner of Italy were the first to climb Mount Everest without oxygen, in May 1978.
5. Pasang Lhamu Sherpa was the first Nepalese woman to summit Everest in September 1992. (She died while descending.)
6. Thomas Whittaker of the USA was the first handicapped climber to summit Everest, in 1998, with an artificial leg.
7. Babu Chhiri was the first and only climber to sleep on the summit. He spent 21 hours on the summit without oxygen. He also established the speed record of 16 hours and 56 minutes to reach the top on 21 May, 2000. His record was later broken by Lakpa Gelu Sherpa (10 hours 56 minutes, May 26 2003) and again by Pemba Dorje Sherpa (in 8 hours 10 minutes)
8. Davo Karnicar was the first to decent from Mount Everest on skis, in 2000.
9. Temba Chiring Sherpa was the youngest mountaineer to successfully climb Everest, in May 2001, at age 16.
10. The first Nepalese journalist to climb the summit is Ang Chhiring Sherpa, in May 2003.
11. Three brothers, Lakpa Gelu Sherpa, Da Nuru Sherpa and Jangbu Sherpa scaled Everest on the same day, May 26, 2003.
12. Moni Mulepati and Pem Dorjee of Nepal were married on the top of the world in 2005.
13. Nepal’s Appa Sherpa has successfully climbed the summit 16 times.


The Golden Decade of mountaineering ran from 1950 to 1960. After Nepal was opened to outside visitors in 1949, there was an influx of mountaineering activities in the country that created a boom in the economy. The pioneering exploration and mountaineering teams of the first year were the British to the Langtang-Ganesh Himal area and the Swiss to the Kangchenjunga area. By the end of that decade, over 100 large and small expeditions from 17 different nations were accomplished in the Nepal Himalaya.

The British led the field with 27 expeditions by 1953, and in that year alone, the year that Everest was finally summited, there were altogether seven British expeditions in Nepal. The Japanese, who sent their first team to Nepal in 1952, came in second with 17 expeditions, five of them in 1959 alone. The Swiss accounted for ten expeditions during the decade. The French sent only six, but their dramatic triumph on Annapurna in 1950—the first successful climbing of a peak over 8,000 meters—was a big impetus to others. Austria and New Zealand fielded three and two expeditions, respectively; and the same number came from neighboring India and distant USA. Argentina, Australia, Canada, Denmark and West Germany sent one expedition each and the Italians teamed up with the British on Ama Dablam. There were three joint expeditions, and the first women’s expedition came in 1955.

Those ten years of pioneer achievement, combining reconnaissance and climbing, were impressive. All the peaks above 8,000 meters within the Nepal Himalaya were climbed: Annapurna in 1950, Everest in 1953, Cho Oyu in 1954, Kangchenjunga and Makalu in 1955, Lhotse and Manaslu in 1956 and Dhaulagiri in 1960. Everest was climbed thrice while Cho Oyu and Annapurna twice each. Other prominent first ascents were Pyramid Peak, Chulu West, Chamar, Baruntse, Pethangtse, Ganesh, Putha Hiunchuli, Kan Garu, Annapurna-II, Api and Himalchuli. Apart from these achievements, there were extensive explorations that paved the way for other expeditions.

The next decade saw normal climbing activities until 1965, with a total of 68 expeditions. The peak year was 1964 with 20 expeditions. In late 1965, however, mountaineering expeditions were banned in reaction to one ‘expedition’ that engaged in clandestine political activities across the border in Tibet. There were no mountaineering expeditions between 1966 and 1968, although two trekking groups and various scientific expeditions were allowed to operate. Alpinism, however, triumphed when Nepal Himalaya was opened once again for mountaineering with new set of regulations. Thirty-seven expeditions responded to this opportunity during the two-year period of 1969-70.

During this decade, 105 parties from 17 countries visited Nepal; Japan topped all other with 48 expeditions. They sent eight parties each in 1963 and 1969, and 14 in 1970. Britain, which had led the field in the previous decade, sent only 15 expeditions. Other expeditions represented West Germany, India, The Netherlands and Austria, the USA, New Zealand, France, Switzerland, Italy and Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia, Denmark and Spain.

There were numerous successes despite the disruption of the 1966-1968 climbing ban. Notable first ascents were accomplished on Ama Dablam, Annapurna-III, Nuptse, Chamlang, Jannu, Nilgiri North, Pumo Ri, Kangtega, Numbur, Saipal, Glacier Dome, Gangapurna, Rock Noir, Gyanchung Kang, Annapurna South, Baudha, Churen Himal, Peak 29 and Lhotse Shar. Everest was climbed thrice and Glacier Dome was also ascended thrice in successive years. In addition, Cho Oyu, Annapurna-I, II, III, IV, Annapurna South and Makalu were also re-ascended.

About Mount Everest
By Don Messerschmidt

Both the history of naming the great snow-blown pyramid known as ‘Everest’ and early attempts at climbing are compelling stories.
The Himalayas consist of a bloody great profusion of snowcapped peaks, over a thousand above 6000 meters (19,685ft) and 14 over 8000 meters (26,246ft). Nine of the eight-thousanders are within Nepal or straddle the Nepal/Tibet border. The highest of them is a great snow-blown pyramid of metamorphosed black gneiss and marine limestone piercing the sky along the northeastern Nepal/southern Tibet border. Its supreme height was first ascertained in 1852, though it was not announced to the world until 1856.

To Tibetans this peak is Chomolungma, ‘Goddess Mother of the World’. (The Chinese call it Qomolangma feng.)

To the Nepalese it is Sagarmatha, ‘Head of the Sky’, a name of recent derivation, given by the Nepalese historian Babu Ram Acharya only in 1956.

To the rest of the world it is known as ‘Mount Everest’. Why?

What’s in a name?
During the 1850s, British map makers from The Great Trigonometric Survey of India had become convinced, from afar, after several false assumptions, that the peak known as ‘b’ and later as ‘XV’ was, in fact, the highest in the world. At the time, Andrew Waugh was Surveyor-General of India. After years of painstaking triangulation and steadily refined calculations by the Survey’s field staff, Waugh confirmed the peak’s great height as 29,002ft, or 8840m. In 1856, he announced this finding and named it after his predecessor, the distinguished George Everest.

The name was immediately protested, including by Everest himself. Even the noted naturalist and diplomat, Brian H. Hodgson, former British Resident in Kathmandu, weighed in on the debate. He pointed out that the mountain already had possibly two Nepalese names (Sagarmatha was not one of them). When he was subsequently shown to be wrong, “The name ‘Everest’ therefore was given to this king of mountains, and it has appeared in the English maps ever since”, wrote A.L. Waddell, summing it all up in 1906. One problem behind the controversy was that the surveyors could hardly get close, as both Nepal and Tibet were closed to outsiders, though that rule was broken many times.

Attaching the moniker ‘Everest’ to the mountain was not altogether popular at the time. Hodgson forwarded the name ‘Devadhanga’, and the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin suggested ‘Cha-mo-lung-ma’. Someone else came up with ‘Mi-thik Dgu-thik Bya-phur Long-nga’, Tibetan for: ‘You cannot see the summit from near it, but you can see the summit from nine directions, and a bird which flies as high as the summit goes blind’! Such names “scarcely trip off the tongue,” wrote John Keay, author of The Great Arc (about the Survey of India), “nor do they endear themselves to cartographers working within the cramped confines of a small-scale map.”

After it was settled as Mount ‘Everest’ in the English-speaking world, George Everest himself became upset by the mistakes and nicknames that it attracted. It is not ‘EVER-est’ (rhymes with ‘cleverest’) but ‘EAVE-rest’ (rhymes with ‘cleave-rest’), he insisted. Nobody paid much attention. George Everest was also mightily upset when Indians couldn’t pronounce his official title, ‘Superintendent of the Great Trigonometrical Survey and Surveyor General of India’, but simply called him ‘Kompass-wala’ (meaning Surveyor), instead.

Mt Everest was certainly not the most beautiful nor most difficult to climb, but it was the highest and, therefore, the most sought after. Since the 1850s, it has been recalibrated several times up to 29,028ft and, in 1999, during the Everest Millennium Expedition, to 29,035ft (8850m), by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration together with the National Geographic Society.
Today, ‘Everest’ is the mountain’s (nearly) universally recognized name, and 29,035ft its official current elevation. For those who have seen it or climbed it, the world’s highest peak is a monarch among mountains. As John Keay has noted, the name Mount Everest, though “universally mispronounced and long since disassociated from its contentious namesake, has a ring of permanence, an aura of assurance.”

First attempts to climb it
After the naming of Mount Everest was settled and when Tibet and Nepal were relatively more open to outsiders, the passion to climb the great peak began to be actively expressed. It was a passion that has inspired countless mountaineers ever since.

Meanwhile, in 1921, Colonel Francis Younghusband described Mount Everest with life-like characteristics, based on his knowledge and observation of it (from a distance) during his sojourn to Tibet earlier in the century: “Mount Everest for its size is a singularly shy and retiring mountain”, he wrote. “It hides itself away behind other mountains. On the north side, in Tibet, it does indeed stand up proudly and alone, a true monarch among mountains. But it stands in a very sparsely inhabited part of Tibet, and very few people ever go to Tibet. From the Indian side only its tip appears amongst a mighty array of peaks which being nearer look higher.”

In 1905, following the infamous military expedition to Tibet that Younghusband led (1903-04), he sent two of officers, Colonels C.G. Rawling and C.H.D. Ryder, on a westward reconnaissance across Tibet to Gartok. On the way, they approached within 60 miles of Mt Everest, but had no time to get closer. Rawling was especially intrigued and thought it might be feasible to climb by the North Ridge. Although other English climbers had already contemplated assaulting Everest, Rawling was the first to get close enough to consider a likely route. He was not the first to directly discuss climbing it, however. That distinction goes to Charles Bruce, a British soldier in the Gurkha regiments who proposed climbing it to Younghusband in 1893 when the latter was still a fresh young officer. Although theirs was the first serious consideration, the notion was not taken forward until after Rawling’s closer observations.

When he returned to England from Tibet, Rawling pondered doing Everest with a number of British climbers, no doubt over cigars one evening at the Royal Geographical Society in London. Their enthusiasm was boundless. Three of them, A.L. Mumm, Tom Longstaff and Charlie Bruce, all Alpine Club members, raised the notion with the British authorities and began a determined but gentlemanly campaign to secure official government permission for an expedition via the north side through Tibet. (Nepal was still out of bounds.) Their plan was championed by the Viceroy of India, but neither his considerable influence nor his superlative credentials as ‘The Most Honourable George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston’ was enough to pull it off. Instead, the request was turned down flat by John Morley, Britain’s Secretary of State for India.

Good Books on Himalayan Mountains & Montaineering
There are hundreds of books. Here are a few of the best.
Everest (Sagarmatha, Chomolungma)
The Ascent of Everest by John Hunt (1953)
Schoolhouse in the Clouds by Edmund Hillary (1964)
Everest: The West Ridge by Tom Hornbein (1965)
Everest: The Mountaineering History by Walt Unsworth (1981)
Tenzing Norgay and the Sherpas of Everest by Tashi Tenzing (1988)
In the Throne Room of the Gods by Galen Rowell (1989)
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer (1997)
Ghosts of Everest: The Authorized Story of the Search for Mallory and Irving by Jochen Hemmleb, Larry A. Johnson & Eric R. Simonson (1999)
Last Climb: The Legendary Expeditions of George Mallory by David Breashears & Audrey Salkeld (1999)
First on Everest: The Mystery of Mallory and Irving by Tom Holzel & Audrey Salkeld (1896) Tenzing: Hero of Everest by Ed Douglas (2003)

Annapurnas
Annapurna by Maurice Herzog (1952)
Climbing the Fish’s Tail by Wilfred Noyce (1958)
Annapurna: The South Face by Chris Bonnington (1971)
Annapurna: A Woman’s Place by Arlene Blum (1980)

Kanchenjunga
Kanchenjunga: The Untrodden Peak by Charles Evans (1956)
Khangchendzonga by Pema Wangchuk & Mita Zulca (2007)

Indian Peaks
Nanda Devi by Eric Shipton (1939)
Nanga Parbat by Karl M. Herrligkoffer (1954)
K2, The 1939 Tragedy: The Full Story of Ill Fated Wiessner Expedition by Andrew J. Kauffman & William L. Putnam (1993)
K2: The Savage Mountain by Charles Houston (1954)

Mountaineering Satire
The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W.E. Bowman (1956)


Morley was an ambitious bureaucrat, determined to flaunt his authority. He was known (behind his back) by his cabinet colleagues as “Aunt Priscilla”, and others called him a “an elderly, austere, dry-as-dust little man” or, more derogatorily, a “petulant spinster”. In rejecting the request for permission to allow a British expedition to Everest, Morley characterized the plan as “furtive” and as a potential “embarrassment” to Britain in the political climate of the time.

It was not until after World War I (and Morley was out of the way) that the first official British climb of Mt Everest was sanctioned (though, sadly, the enthusiastic Colonel Rawling had died in the war). After a reconnaissance in 1921, the first assault on the peak was attempted, unsuccessfully, in 1922. Several more attempts were made by the ambitious Brits during the ’20s and ’30s, but none was successful, ostensibly “on account of bad weather, ill health or poor organization”, according to one account.

The British assault on Everest in 1924, however, is especially well known in the history of mountaineering. On June 8 of that year, shortly after noon, George Mallory and Andrew ‘Sandy’ Irvine were last seen high up on the slopes of Everest, heading towards the summit. It is unknown if they actually made it. Not until 1953 was Mt Everest officially ‘conquered’, from the Nepalese side, by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary. (Their accomplishment was summed up immediately afterward in these immortal words by Hillary: “Well, we knocked the bastard off.”) In 1999, Mallory’s frozen body was found high on Everest, though with no clues to whether they reached the summit or not. If Irvine’s body is ever found, with their camera, the question might be settled.

Meanwhile, though George Everest may have felt honored when his name was given to the peak, today he is all but forgotten.

For further reading see John Keay The Great Arc: The Dramatic Tale of How India was Mapped and Everest was Named (2000), Walt Unsworth Everest: The Mountaineering History (1981), Hemmlab et al Ghosts of Everest, and other titles in the box.


Mountaineering in the Nepal Himalaya showed an unprecedented increase between 1971 and 1981, with 404 expeditions as compared with 105 in the preceding decade. There was an immediate response when the government rationalized mountaineering management with the recognition of multiple routes to individual peaks and extension of climbing seasons. The number of expeditions more than doubled compared to the previous year and by 1981 the annual figure reached 74. Japan alone accounted for 141 national and eight joint expeditions. There were 17 Japanese parties in 1981, 16 in 1973 and 22 in 1981. The British came with 30 parties followed by expeditions from other European countries, as well as from South Korea, Iran and Mexico. Himalayan mountaineering, once the almost exclusive domain of Europe and America, was beginning to attract climbers from elsewhere in Asia and from Latin America. The first Nepalese national expedition was launched in 1975 and Nepal subsequently participated in numerous joint expeditions on the border peaks. Of course, Sherpas and other Nepalese had always been hired individually as porters and high altitude climbing guides.

By 1980, all 8,000 meter peaks with the exception of Cho Oyu had been climbed numerous times, including the loftiest, Everest, which was ascended 16 times–twice in 1973, 1974, 1978, 1979 and 1980, and thrice in 1976. Manaslu was climbed 10 times, including four times by the Japanese. Makalu, Dhaulagiri and Annapurna-I were all climbed eight times and even the renowned giants such as Kangchenjunga and Lhotse yielded six times each. The beautiful peaks of Ama Dablam and Pumori in the Kumbu were not spared, each with seven ascents. Jannu, immortalized by photographer Vittorio Sella in 1899, was climbed five times while Yalungkang was ascended four times.

Khumbu Climbing School
By Amendra Pokharel, Photographs by C J Carter

Most climbers, including veterans from the West and other parts of the world, openly express their amazement at the naturally acquired skills of the Sherpas in climbing the mountains. Among the Sherpa climbers who die in the upper reaches of Himalayas, quite shockingly, 80 percent owe it to their scant knowledge and resources in climbing. Physical traits and physiological adaptability make the best climbers out of Sherpas, but the technical skills that elude them often result in fatal injuries. There is a school, fortunately, that takes this problem seriously and helps better equip the Sherpas in particular, and others interested in mountaineering, to the techniques of climbing. The school does its best to accommodate everyone registered for its two weeks training program, though its primary objective is to prepare Sherpas to become better climbers and therefore better guides, thereby reducing accidents and helping them earn a better living.

The Khumbu Climbing School (KCS) was set up in the memory of the great American alpinist Alex Lowe by his wife Jennifer Lowe and best friend Conrad Anker in 2003. Alex Lowe died in an avalanche while climbing Shishapangma. He was caught in the avalanche along with Anker and a third member of the expedition, but Conrad somehow dug himself out and survived, and later joined hands with Lowe’s wife to establish the Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation that runs the school.

The annual training program takes place in the winter, starting from mid-January, at a climbing site located at 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) in the Khumbu village of Phortse. Depending upon the number, trainees are divided into groups of eight to ten. Three instructors (two foreign and one Nepali) are assigned to look after each group. For the initial five days the trainees are taught English language and a day or two of lessons on Extreme Altitude Medical Training. These trainings prepare the local Sherpas, who may have little or no knowledge of English, to communicate with the foreign instructors and rescuers when they face problems during the climbs. The medical training chiefly deals with bones, muscles and sicknesses resulting from altitude.

The Khumbu Climbing School is run with the support of mountaineering experts from the USA, Canada and other countries willing to volunteer. Donations from Outdoor Retailing Conventions in USA, which auctions mountaineering antiques twice a year, and from other interested organizations or individuals help fund the program. Two hotels close to the site of school’s makeshift camp have donated their land for a school office, which is to be built soon.
On average the cost per candidate for the two weeks program is around NRs 18,000, which includes airfare, subsidized lodging, food and other expenses. The trainees are required to arrange for their own set of climbing equipment or rent it from the school’s store at Phortse for a small fee.
The enrollment form for the climbing program is available for NRs 2,000 at Summit Trek Pvt. Ltd., Thamel, Kathmandu, each November/December. Contact Summit Trek by phone: 426.6217 or 426.0970.

The inputs of C.J. Carter and Sonam Tshering are appreciated. Both were involved in the 2008 Khumbu Climbing School program.

On the first day, the Lamas at a local monastery perform traditional prayers seeking the success of the program and safety of the participants. The instructors, the trainees and local people take part in the prayer. Even the equipment and accessories to be used during the climbs are brought together and consecrated beforehand. The prayers are also held at the climbing sites. After the prayers are over the trainees, finally, get to put on climbing gear—boots, crampons, ropes, etc., and are let loose to rock, and sometimes roll! Instructors are always at hand, though, leading, supporting and protecting the pack of rookies.

The two weeks of strenuous training ends with a grand celebration in the tradition of the Sherpas of Phortse. The foreigners get to live through an all new experience as they taste Sherpa food, dress up Sherpa style and dance to Sherpa music. Phortse community members are highly supportive of the KCS’ activities and join in the celebration. After the training program is over each of the trainees receives a certificate of participation. Among those who have participated in the KCS program three times, the two best ones are awarded a scholarship to join National Outdoor Leadership program held in the United States.

The Nepal Himalayas have witnessed many triumphs and tragedies, making up some memorable chapters in human endeavor and extreme adventure.

Every mountain is like a diamond, each facet revealing a new dimension. And there are many more challenges remaining, with more than 120 unclimbed mountains above 6,000 meters in Nepal alone. Currently, there are 326 peaks open for mountaineering in Nepal, out of which 33 are managed by the Nepal Mountaineering Association. Twenty-one peaks are open for Nepalese expeditions or joint Nepalese and foreign expeditions consisting of at least three Nepalese members. Another four peaks are set aside for foreign expeditions, to be climbed by Nepalese and foreign joint expedition under the government’s Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation.

The mountains of Nepal have always held a mysterious charm. Their allure has captivated many and has made heroes of some who have suffered or disappeared in their quest and moment of glory. Victories and deaths are the yin and the yang of the Nepal Himalayas. They exist in deadly proportions, yet people aspire and continue to climb. It makes one wonder why they do the unimaginable. Perhaps, they do climb them “because it is there”, as Mallory famously put it. Recently, however, some questions have been raised regarding the authenticity of that quote, and whether Mallory actually said it, with a possibility that it was invented by a newspaper reporter. Nevertheless, the fact remains that the Nepal Himalayas are there to be climbed and, by some, simply beheld or revered. As it is said that each has a mountain to climb and conquer; if yours is the snowy kind with an objective in mind to be recognized, so be it, because the world will certainly rejoice over your courage and achievements.

For many in the Nepal Himalayas, however, mountaineering is more than climbing the irresistible and more than experiencing the joy of the pursuit. For them, mountaineering is the art of suffering stoically as it takes place in an environment indifferent to human needs. Despite the rich physical and spiritual rewards, not everyone is willing to pay the price in hardship. The mountains do not exist for their amusement, but they take them as a privileged communion with the high places, then (hopefully) leave them as they found them.

What more is there to say than this, by an anonymous American climber: “Once in their lifetime, every person should journey to a place where legends live, where everything is bigger than life. For me, Everest has always represented nature at its most powerful, most
awe-inspiring, most unconquerable.”