LIFE OF SHERPA PORTERS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27094, 18 July 1953, Page 2

LIFE OF SHERPA PORTERS

CLIMBING AS MEANS . OF LIVELIHOOD

ABILITY TO CARRY BIG LOADS (From a Reuter Correspondent) NAMCHE BAZAR. Backbone of almost every assault on the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest, have been the Sherpas, the tough mountain people to whom Everest is merely one of the host of giant peaks among which they live. As porters, they have carried heavy loads to the highest camps during the various assaults on the 29,002-foot summit.

The Sherpas do not climb mountains for pleasure. For them, it is just a job for which they are superbly fitted because they live among high mountains in their province of Sulu Khumbu, on Nepal’s Tibetan border. Their homes are almost all above 10,000 feet, and often are far higher. They are used to the attenuated air which causes difficulties for peoples from the plains and low-lying countries. With steep mountain slopes to contend with as part of their daily life, they soon become accustomed to carrying big loads on their backs. This method of carrying on the back with a strap passed round the forehead and over the head, means that the weight is distributed directly down the spine, enabling the porter to stand more upright, and climb and descend the steepest slopes. Sulu Khumbu. is stark, rugged country, and its crops are limited to barley, buckwheat, and potatoes. But the Sherpas also keep cattle, sheep, and goats, from which they get milk and butter, and wool for clothing. Although rice is a staple food, they cannot grow it in their own territory, and make a trek of several days to the lower valleys of Nepal where rice is grown. On the journey, they need never worry about shelter for the night, because the mountain people keep an ever-open door for travellers and willingly share their hearths. The Sherpa is a sturdy individual, averaging about sft 6in in height. He has flat Mongolian features, which are continually laughing or wreathed in friendly smiles. Their women have a very graceful carriage engendered by the loads they carry, just like the men. They wear their hair long and in a pigtail which is often wound around the head, sometimes holding some sort of covering, but short hair is seen more frequently nowadays, probably because of the contact with the outside world which the Everest expeditions have brought. The Sherpas’ clothes of coarse wool, dyed with a mauve dye from a local plant, consist of a wrap-over robe with woollen trousers and knee-length, close-fitting cloth boots with hide leet as protection against the cold. Both men and women wear earrings and bead amulets. The family wealth is frequently displayed on the person of the wife in the form of jewellery and necklaces of coral and another semiprecious stone called zee. Sherpa Houses

Though basically the same, their homes differ in construction according to their situation. In less exposed places, they are frequently made of woven bamboo matting on a wooden scaffolding; but higher up, as in Namche Bazar, the main town of the province, they are built of stone with mud-plastered walls. The lower storey is usually reserved for animals and fodder. The living quarters upstairs have an open fire on the floor, often with a mat over it on which maize is dried. Round the walls are shelves with chests, beaten copper and brass pots and pans, wooden tubs and casks full, of grain, beer, water, and other supplies, and kitchen and farming implements.

The heavy wooden-framed windows are usually well barred against the cold. The atmosphere inside Is thickened by the fact that open hearths are used without chimneys, the smoke being left to escape through a hole in the roof.

The Sherpas are well used to the rigours of high-altitude travel over glacier and high passes, for many of them are engaged in trading with Tibet over the 19,000 ft pass of Nangpa La. This is a two-way trade with salt, woollen cloth, and oils coming from Tibet, and rice, handmade paper, dyes, hides, and dried potatoes going from Nepal in return.

As Buddhists, the Sherpas take their religion seriously. They have great respect for their lamas, and frequently visit important shrines in Tibet, such as the Rnngbuk Monastery just north of Everest. Many homes have a small room set aside with the serene figure of Buddha gazing from an alcove in a wall brilliantly painted with grotesque figures—a testimony to the Sherpas’ belief in demons and spirits of evil disposition.

The Sherpas take their ability as men of the mountains as a matter of course, though among those who have become professionals it is a matter of considerable pride. They are willing to help others to conquer the world’s highest peaks, but most of them would never think of climbing the mountains themselves just for the sake of climbing. To them, it is a part of their way of life.