Friday, November 14, 2014

MT. EVEREST - The Risky Business of Being a Sherpa Guide

"Mt. Everest disaster raises questions of compensation for Sherpas" PBS NewsHour 11/13/2014

Excerpt

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  Last month in the Himalayan Mountains, a freak blizzard caught trekkers off guard, killing at least 40 people, half of them Nepalese.  And that disaster came during what was already a terrible year for mountaineering in Nepal.

On April 18, 16 Sherpas, elite climbers, from an ethnic group living high in the Himalayas were killed in an avalanche on Mount Everest.  It was the worst single loss of life in the mountain’s history, and it shocked the climbing community.

Many are asking hard questions now about what Sherpas do and how they’re compensated for their work.  The disaster and its aftermath are recounted in the “National Geographic's” November edition in a story called “Sorrow on the Mountain.”

And here to tell us more is its author, Chip Brown.

So, what happened on April 18?

CHIP BROWN, National Geographic:  On April 18, around 6:45 in the morning, several — as many as 100 Sherpas were on their way up to the Khumbu Icefall and about 1,000 feet above them at a very — where the trail goes near the side of this gorge, upwards of 30 million pounds of ice fell out of a hanging glacier, and 16 of them were killed.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  You said 100 of them.  And it’s hard to imagine a traffic jam, a crowd of people.

CHIP BROWN:  Yes, there was a very big traffic jam where they had to down-climb these ladders, because going through the Khumbu Icefall is a labyrinth of ice formations and crevasses.  And there are ladders that go up these cliffs sometimes that are as big as 10-story buildings.  And they go across crevasses and then they have to down-climb, so it can be a very elaborate trip.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  And most of these Sherpas are actually carrying gear for the climbers.  You said…

CHIP BROWN:  Yes, upwards of 100 pounds.

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