The
Sherpa are an ethnic group from the most mountainous region of
NepalNepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, high in the
HimalayasThe Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
. Sherpas migrated from the
KhamKham , is a historical region covering a land area largely divided between present-day Tibetan Autonomous Region and Sichuan province, with smaller portions located within Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan provinces of China. During the Republic of China's rule over mainland China , most of the region was...
region in eastern Tibet to Nepal within the last 300–400 years.
The initial mountainous migration from Tibet was a search for
beyulShangri-La is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. Hilton describes Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains...
(Shangri-La). They primarily settled in the Solukhumbu district and then gradually moved further westward.
The term
Sherpa is also used to refer to local people, typically men, who are employed as guides for
mountaineeringMountaineering or mountain climbing is the sport, hobby or profession of hiking, skiing, and climbing mountains. While mountaineering began as attempts to reach the highest point of unclimbed mountains it has branched into specialisations that address different aspects of the mountain and consists...
expeditions in the Himalayas, particularly Mt. Everest. They are highly regarded as elite mountaineers and experts in their local terrain. Most Sherpa people live in the west regions; however, some live farther west in the Rolwaling valley and in the
HelambuHelambu is a region of highland villages in Nepal, close to Kathmandu. It is the home of the Hyolmo. The word Helambu derives from the word Yolmo or Hyolmo. The Helambu region begins at the Lauribina La pass and descends to the Melamchi valley...
region north of
Kathmandu. Pangboche is the Sherpas' oldest village in Nepal.
The
Sherpa languageSherpa is a language spoken in parts of Nepal and Sikkim mainly by the Sherpa community. About 130,000 speakers live in Nepal , some 20,000 in India , and some 800 in Tibet ....
belongs to the south branch of the Tibetan language family. This language is however not intelligible for Lhasa Tibetan speakers.
The number of Sherpas immigrating to the West has also significantly increased in recent years, especially to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. With a population of about 5000 Sherpas, New York City is the largest Nepali Community in the U.S.A. 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.
Mountaineering
Sherpas were immeasurably valuable to early
explorers of the Himalayan region, serving as guides 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
mountaineeringMountaineering or mountain climbing is the sport, hobby or profession of hiking, skiing, and climbing mountains. While mountaineering began as attempts to reach the highest point of unclimbed mountains it has branched into specialisations that address different aspects of the mountain and consists...
expeditions in the Himalayas. Sherpas are renowned in the international
climbingClimbing is the activity of using one's hands and feet to ascend a steep object. It is done both for recreation and professionally, as part of activities such as maintenance of a structure, or military operations.Climbing activities include:* Bouldering: Ascending boulders or small...
and mountaineering community for their hardiness, expertise, and experience at high altitudes. It has been speculated that a portion of the Sherpas' climbing ability is the result of a genetic adaptation to living in high altitudes. Some of these adaptations include unique hemoglobin-binding enzymes, doubled nitric oxide production, hearts that can utilize glucose, and lungs with an increased efficiency in low oxygen conditions.
Religion
The Sherpas belong to the Nyingmapa sect of
Tibetan BuddhismTibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...
. Allegedly the oldest Buddhist sect in Tibet, it emphasizes mysticism and incorporates shamanistic practices and local deities shared by the pre-Buddhist
Bon religion. Thus, in addition to Buddha and the great Buddhist divinities, the Sherpa also believe in numerous gods and demons who are believed to inhabit every mountain, cave, and forest. These have to be worshiped or appeased through ancient practices that have been woven into the fabric of Buddhist ritual life.
Many of the great Himalayan mountains are worshiped as gods. The Sherpas call Mount Everest Chomolungma and worship it as the "Mother of the World." Mount Makalu is worshiped as the deity Shankar (Shiva). Each clan recognizes mountain gods identified with certain peaks that are their protective deities.
The day-to-day religious affairs of the Sherpas are dealt with by lamas (Buddhist spiritual leaders) and other religious practitioners living in the villages. It is the village lama who can be married, is often a householder and who presides over ceremonies and rituals. In addition, shamans (
lhawa) and soothsayers (
mindung) deal with the supernatural and the spirit world. They identify witches (
pem), act as the mouthpiece of gods and spirits, and diagnose illnesses.
An important aspect of Sherpa religion is the monastery or
gompa. There are some two dozen of these institutions scattered through the Solu-Khumbu region. They are communities of lamas or monks (sometimes of nuns) who take a vow of celibacy and lead a life in isolation searching for truth and religious enlightenment. They are respected by and supported by the community at large. Their contact with the outside world is limited to the annual festivals to which the public is invited, and the reading of sacred texts at funerals.
Minority religions for Sherpas include
HinduismHinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
and Roman Catholicism.
Traditional costume
Sherpa dress is similar to that worn by Tibetans. Many younger men who have worked for mountaineering expeditions wear Western-style high-altitude clothing.
Notable Sherpas
One of the most well known Sherpas is
Tenzing NorgayPadma Bhushan, Supradipta-Manyabara-Nepal-Tara Tenzing Norgay, GM born Namgyal Wangdi and often referred to as Sherpa Tenzing, was a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer...
. In 1953, he and Sir Edmund Hillary became the first people known to have reached the summit of
Mount EverestMount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international boundary runs across the precise summit point...
. Norgay's son
Jamling Tenzing NorgayJamling Tenzing Norgay is an Indian-Nepalese Sherpa mountain climber.He is the son of Tenzing Norgay and Daku, his third wife...
also climbed Everest in honor of his father with the famous
Ed ViestursEdmund Viesturs, known as Ed Viesturs is one of the world's premier high-altitude mountaineers. He is one of only 26 people and the only one from the United States to have climbed all eight-thousander peaks...
and Araceli Segarra during the
disastrous year of 1996The 1996 Mount Everest disaster refers to the events of 10-11 May 1996, when eight people died on Mount Everest during summit attempts. In the entire season, fifteen people died trying to reach the summit, making it the deadliest single year in Mount Everest's history...
.
Two Sherpas,
Pemba DorjiePemba Dorjie is a Sherpa who currently holds the world record for the quickest climb of Mount Everest. On May 23, 2003, he reached the peak in 12 hours and 46 minutes. Lhakpa Gelu beat his record three days later, reaching the peak in 10 hours and 46 minutes. On May 21, 2004, Dorjie beat that...
and Lhakpa Gelu, recently competed to see who could climb Everest from
base campThere are two base camps on opposite sides of Mount Everest. South Base Camp is in Nepal at an altitude of , and North Base Camp is in Tibet at ). These camps are rudimentary campsites on Mount Everest that are used by mountain climbers during their ascent and descent...
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 11 May 2011, Apa Sherpa successfully reached the summit of Everest for the twenty-first time, breaking his own record for the most successful ascents. He first climbed Mount Everest in 1989 at the age of 29. Perhaps the most famous Nepalese female mountaineer is
Pasang Lhamu SherpaPasang Lhamu Sherpa was the first Nepali woman to climb the summit of Mount Everest.She was born into a mountaineering family and was involved in climbing from her teens....
, the first Nepalese female climber to reach the summit of Everest, but who died during the descent. Another woman Sherpa who is well known is the two-time Everest summiteer
Pemba Doma SherpaPemba Doma Sherpa was the first Nepali female mountaineer to climb Mount Everest via its north face, was the second Nepali woman to summit from both the north and south faces, and is one of six women to have summited Everest twice...
, who died after falling from
LhotseLhotse is the fourth highest mountain on Earth and is connected to Everest via the South Col. In addition to the main summit at 8,516 metres above sea level, Lhotse Middle is and Lhotse Shar is...
on May 22, 2007.
External links
www.tsheringdorje.com
www.tgan.org.np