Page 16 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
April 21, 2014
Sherpas consider boycott after Everest disaster
TERRIBLE TRAGEDY. A The body of Nepalese
mountaineer Ang Kaji Sherpa, killed in an avalanche
on Mount Everest, is carried to the Sherpa Monastery
in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Saturday, April 19, 2014.
Search teams recovered a 13th body Saturday from
the snow and ice covering a dangerous climbing pass
on Mount Everest, where an avalanche a day earlier
swept over a group of Sherpa guides in the deadliest
disaster on the world’s highest peak. The Sherpa peo-
ple are one of the main ethnic groups in Nepal’s al-
pine region, and many make their living as climbing
guides on Everest and other Himalayan peaks. (AP
Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
climbing routes above the base camp when
the avalanche hit.
Survivors recalled scenes of panic and
chaos, describing how they dug through
snow with their hands and ice axes in
hopes of finding their friends alive.
Nepal’s tight-knit climbing community
has been left reeling and struggling to
make sense of the disaster — an accident
the climbers say could have happened to
any one of them.
Hospitals in Kathmandu were treating
four survivors of the avalanche for broken
bones, punctured lungs, and other
injuries.
Hundreds of people, both foreigners and
Sherpas, have died trying to reach the
world’s highest peak. About a quarter of
them were killed in avalanches, climbing
officials say.
The worst recorded disaster on Everest
had been a fierce blizzard on May 11, 1996,
that caused the deaths of eight climbers,
including famed mountaineer Rob Hall,
and was later memorialized in a book, Into
Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer.
More than 4,000 climbers have reached
the top of Everest since 1953, when the
mountain was first conquered by New
Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa
Tenzing Norgay.
By Binaj Gurubacharya
The Associated Press
ATHMANDU, Nepal — Sherpa
guides on Mount Everest are
considering a climbing boycott
after the deadliest avalanche in the
mountain’s history, a move that could
seriously disrupt the rest of the climbing
season, according to a mountaineering
official.
Several Sherpas already have quit while
others are still deciding whether to boycott
climbing following last week’s avalanche,
said Ang Tshering of the Nepal
Mountaineering Association.
The disaster killed at least 13 Sherpas
when a block of ice tore loose from the
mountain and triggered an avalanche that
ripped through teams of guides hauling
gear. Three other Sherpas remain missing
and are presumed dead.
“After losing so many of our brothers and
friends it is just not possible for many of
them to continue,” said Pasang Sherpa,
who was not among those caught in the
avalanche. “So many of us are scared, our
family members are scared and asking us
to return.”
All of the victims were from Nepal’s
ethnic Sherpa community, which relies
heavily on the country’s alpine trekking
and climbing industry, with many making
a living as climbing guides and others
catering to foreign visitors by providing
restaurants, equipment, or transporta-
tion.
In the wake of the avalanche, the
Sherpas have expressed anger that there
has not been a bigger response from
Nepal’s government, which profits from
the permit fees charged to the climbing
expeditions.
K
The government has announced
emergency aid of 40,000 rupees ($415) for
the families of the deceased climbers.
Deputy Prime Minister Prakash Man
Singh said the government is working to
help the Sherpas.
“It is not true the government does not
care,” he said. “We have been working with
rescue from the very beginning. We will do
what we can, keeping with the standard
practice to provide compensation.”
Tshering said there were about 400
foreign climbers from 39 expedition teams
on the mountain and an equal number of
Sherpas guides, along with many more
support staff such as cooks, cleaners, and
porters in the base camp.
The Tourism Ministry, which handles
the mountaineering affairs, said it has not
been told of any cancellations by
expedition teams, said Maddhu Sunan
Burlakoti, head of the Nepalese govern-
ment’s mountaineering department.
Without the guides, it would be near
impossible for the expedition teams to
continue.
Attempts to reach the 29,035-foot peak
of Everest were expected to start next
month, and the Sherpas were preparing
for that by attaching ropes and fixing
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