The Sherpa who breaks records climbing Everest.

For many, climbing Everest, the world’s highest mountain, even once would be the achievement of a lifetime. But as Outlook’s Neal Razzell hears, Kami Rita Sherpa has done it not once, not twice or even a dozen times. He’s climbed it 22 times. It’s a world record. And right now, he’s on the mountain again, trying to break that record and make it 23.

Kami Rita is a Sherpa, or a climbing guide, who helps to take mountaineers safely to the top and back, which can be a dangerous and treacherous journey. He comes from a village called Thame in the foothills of Everest, which is famous for producing great climbers, including in his own family.

With thanks to BBC Nepali’s Pradeep Bashyal for the story.

Image: Kami Rita Sherpa is leading an Indian government Everest expedition
Credit: Seven Summit Treks Pvt Ltd

* Source : – The Sherpa who breaks records climbing Everest [www.bbc.co.uk]

** see also: – Trekking – posts on my site :

– Trekking in Nepal Himalaya : GOKYO, KALA PATTAR and EVEREST BASE CAMP TREK (19 days).

– Everest Base Camp – CLASSIC treks. / Version polish and english /

– Trekking in Nepal Himalaya : EVEREST HIGH VALLEY – Travel Guide. /Version english/

How important are Sherpa’s on Mount Everest?

Author : Colin Wallace.

When most people hear the word ‘Sherpa’ they think of somebody who is there to carry their bags up and down mountains like Mount Everest. However, they are so much more than this, and the majority of Sherpa’s in the Everest region actually work as guides for those climbing the mountain, and it is the porters who do the carrying. However, how important are Sherpa’s on Mount Everest? Well, there are several valid points to consider in answer to this question. Basically, in short, they are indeed very important.

Firstly, you need to think about the guiding part of their job. Unless you are in a team, or you are an expert mountaineer, you are going to find it incredibly difficult to climb Mount Everest safely. However, with a Sherpa guide you do not have to worry about this. They are experts in climbing, and their bodies are better equipped to deal with the high altitude conditions and also the harsh winter weather. This is just one of the reasons that prove why Sherpa’s are incredibly important to those who climb Mount Everest.

Sherpa porters are a little different, in that they offer a different service. A Sherpa porter carries some of your equipment, and can also help cook meals for you and other climbers. Commonly, one Sherpa is assigned to one person, although this can be different because sometimes people share the cost of the Sherpa that they hire. A Sherpa porter can be incredibly helpful if you are inexperienced at mountain climbing. The equipment that you will have to carry on your climb is usually very heavy, so having that extra pair of hands can be incredibly important when climbing Mount Everest.

Another good thing about the Sherpa’s is that they can often provide comfort to climbers who are having a hard time. Although very few of them actually speak English, language does not seem to be a barrier when it comes to looking after the climbers. As well as comfort, they can also offer a boost in morale to those who are finding it difficult to want to carry on with the expedition. It can often be hard to get this boost from other climbers, but Sherpa’s are experienced and have made the climb many times before, so they are going to find it a lot easier than the average climber.

All of these things indicate just how important the Sherpa’s actually are when it comes to climbing Mount Everest. Without them, and without a team behind you, the climb would not only be more dangerous, but also, you would probably find it hard to get motivated to want to finish the climb. When this happens, things can get very dangerous. To hire the services of a Sherpa on Mount Everest may be expensive in some cases, but it is definitely worth the extra price that you will have to pay, simply to have the reassurance that there is somebody there who will help you.

* Source : – http://www.everest1953.co.uk/

Mount Everest The British Story For all information concerning the British on Mount Everest, we will provide the answers to many questions. From their first expedition to those of today, you will find a comprehensive history, list of summiteers, amazing facts, a gallery and much more.

* Related Links :

– Tenzing Norgay – The most famous Sherpa. /Version polish and english/

– Everest Climbing Legend Missing On Baruntse.

– Everest 2010: Jordan and Apa Summit!

– Apa Sherpa’s new Everest record: summit number 18.

– Everest 2011 season – Expeditions with any British Teams or Britons.

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– Polish winter expedition to Broad Peak 2010/11 – Sponsorship offer.

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– Merry Christmas Wishes 2010.

– AAC Book Club: Winter Book Club Dates in Golden.

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– First Pakistani Women on Winter Expedition In the Karakorum Pakistan.

– Polish winter expedition to Broad Peak 2010/11. Zimowa wyprawa PZA na Broad Peak 2010/11.

– Himalaya Fall 2010: Season Finally Ends On Lhotse.

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– Himalaya Fall 2010: More From Lhotse.

– Himalaya Fall 2010: Lhotse Update!

– Everest 2011 season – Expeditions with any British Teams or Britons.

– Himalaya 2010 wrap-up: Shisha Pangma and Manaslu summit reports.

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– Himalaya 2010 wrap-up: Everest fall season summits and Cho Oyu too.

– Himalaya Fall 2010: Eric Summits Everest, Completes Save The Poles Expedition!

– Himalaya Fall 2010: Eric Larsen In Camp 3, High Winds Predicted For Summit Day.

– Himalaya Fall 2010: Eric Larsen Begins Summit Push On Everest.

– Himalaya 2010 wrap-up: Cho Oyu update, Pauner about Manaslu summit, Everest C4, Lama Geshe recovering.

– Himalaya Fall 2010: Summits On Manaslu and Cho Oyu.

– Himalaya Fall 2010: Avalanche on Dhaulagiri – three Japanese climbers and one Sherpa missing.

– Himalaya Fall 2010: Avalanche May End Season On Cho Oyu.

– Himalaya 2010 wrap-up: Cho Oyu summit push take 2, Manaslu teams ready.

– Himalaya 2010 wrap-up: Summit plans buried in the snow.

– Himalaya Fall 2010: Climbers Injured In Avalanche on Cho Oyu.

– Himalaya 2010 wrap-up: Everest summit push plans, TMA team deserts Cho Oyu.

– Himalaya 2010 wrap-up: Everest sieged from both flanks, Cho Oyu C2, Manaslu C1.

– Himalayan 2010 wrap-up: the season’s soaked kick-off.

– ExWeb special on Everest 2010: The autumn of the solo climbers.

* Polish Himalayas – Become a Fan

Exweb Week-In-Review is sponsored by HumanEdgeTech the world’s premier supplier of expedition technology. Our team helps you find ultra light expedition tech that works globally.

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* Read these stories – and more! – at ExplorersWeb.com

Himalaya Fall 2010: Avalanche on Dhaulagiri – three Japanese climbers and one Sherpa missing.

Posted: Sep 30, 2010 10:28 am EDT
Story update 1:10PM: An avalanche hit Japan’s Association of Professional Guides team on Dhaulagiri on Tuesday, Jusuke Hirai reports. Osamu Tanabe, 49, Toshio Yamamoto, 36, and Daisuke Honda, 32, plus Pasang Gyelu Sherpa are missing since then.

Dhaulagiri, 8,167m. (courtesy Edurne Pasaban, http://www.edurnepasaban.com)

Two other members have been rescued alive, according to Yusuke, and have just caught a flight back to Japan. A chopper was assigned to search the area today and some Japanese guides might travel to Nepal this weekend, hoping to help in searching labors.

Osamu Tanabe, 49, is one of the leading high altitude climbers in Japan. He has summited nine 8000ers, among them a “winterly” climb on Everest in 1993 (Osamu summited on December 20, one day before the beginning of calendar winter). After attempts in 2001 and 2003, he led the team whose members climbed Lhotse’s south face in winter 2007 (the team didn’t reach the summit, but climbed the entire face).

He also climbed Nemjung Peak West Face last
year with Shinshu University Alpine Club.

Note: Contrary to previous reports, the missing climbers are not from Tokyo. Tanabe comes from the city of Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture; Honda lives in the village of Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture, and Yamamoto is from Asahi, Toyama Prefecture.

* Previous story :

– Himalaya Fall 2010: Avalanche May End Season On Cho Oyu.

– Himalaya 2010 wrap-up: Cho Oyu summit push take 2, Manaslu teams ready.

– Himalaya 2010 wrap-up: Summit plans buried in the snow.

– Himalaya Fall 2010: Climbers Injured In Avalanche on Cho Oyu.

– Himalaya 2010 wrap-up: Everest summit push plans, TMA team deserts Cho Oyu.

– Himalaya 2010 wrap-up: Everest sieged from both flanks, Cho Oyu C2, Manaslu C1.

– Himalayan 2010 wrap-up: the season’s soaked kick-off.

– ExWeb special on Everest 2010: The autumn of the solo climbers.

– Youngest On Everest Update: China Sets Age Limit On Everest.

– Youngest On Everest Update: Nepal Grants Sherpa Permission.

– Youngest On Everest: Worst Fears Realized?

– Everest 2010: Busy Weekend At The Summit.

– Everest 2010: Jordan and Apa Summit!

– Everest 2010: Teams Moving Up, Summit Bids Tonight!

– Everest 2010: North Side Summit!

– Himalaya 2010 climbing season: Edurne Claims Number 14, Summits on Everest!

– Everest 2010: Weather Window For Sunday?

– Everest 2010: More Teams Prepare For Summit Push.

– Everest 2010: Teams Hit BC!

– Everest 2010 wrap-up: hello Base Camp.

– Everest 2010: Jordan Romero Leaves For Kathmandu, Tibet Is Open!

– Everest 2010: Tibet Still Closed? Ice Doctors Going To Work!

– Himalaya 2010 climbing season: Kathmandu Busy, Base Camps Showing Signs of Life.

* Related Links :

– Himalaya Autumn 2010 expeditions.

– Previous on fall 2010 Everest teams

– Everest & Himalaya 2010 Season’s End Chronicle, take 5: Special report – The Spring of Annapurna.

* Polish Himalayas – Become a Fan

Exweb Week-In-Review is sponsored by HumanEdgeTech the world’s premier supplier of expedition technology. Our team helps you find ultra light expedition tech that works globally.

e-mail or call +1 212 966 1928

* Read these stories – and more! – at ExplorersWeb.com

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Himalaya 2010 climbing season, Karakoram and Himalaya wrap-up /17/ – Week in Review.

Both sides of Everest were summited today, with a large number of climbers topping out the south side. Among them Carina Raiha, calling from the top to the president of Finland. Summit pushes are underway also on other 8000ers. Teen Jessica Watson arrived in Sydney to a hero’s welcome.

Everest summits Both sides of Everest were summited today, with a large number of climbers and sherpa topping out the south side around 8 am local time. Peak Freaks climbers, Summit Climb (Wiktor Mazur), Hanesbrands’ Scottie and Jamie Clarke, Kenton Cool (bagged his 8th summit), Loben Expeditions Basanta Singha Roy and Debasish Biswas from the Mountaineers’ Assocation of Krishnagar (the first private club from India to have their members on top of Everest), team Malta and Carina Raiha were all among the summiteers in the past hours. Carina spoke from the top to the president of Finland as the first female Everest summiteer from the country. More climbers are en route to the top, in a slow climb due to traffic. Adventure Consultants reported about 60 climbers in today’s summit push, with another 60 to follow in a second wave tomorrow.

Sean Disney of Adventure Dynamics reported that the Chinese rope team fixed the route to the summit 1.45 pm on Everest north side today. This is the first Everest north side summit this season.

Weather update Weather forecasts showed high winds with a small drop today, Sunday. Some climbers reported nice weather and little wind but already from early Monday morning wind is forecasted to pick up again. Both Meteo Exploration and Expedition Weather show high to very high winds May 17-21 (range 10-25m/s at 8500 meter level) with lower winds starting May 21/22 (range 2 m/s to 15 m/s).

Shisha Pangma summit push Edurne, Al Filo and Mario Panzeri’s Italian expedition are leading a joint summit push on Shisha Pangma north side, followed by a second Spanish group led by J. Ramón de Madariaga and Mexican Jorge Salazar. Al Filo has no high camps set on the mountain above camp 2; they will pitch tents as they go and plan to continue up the normal route through Sunday. From a last, 3rd camp, they are considering to follow Iñaki Ochoa variation route instead of the summit ridge. “Iñaki’s route is longer and exposed in some sections, but leads right to the Main top,” Edurne explained. “Besides, finishing my 14x8000ers project on his route would be just – beautiful.”

Dhaulagiri Austrians Stephan Keck and Paul Gürtler planned to start their summit push on Dhaula last week. The two climbers use no Sherpa support or O2, and hope to ski down from the summit. “The Chinese team is joining us until C3; the Swiss team will set off in 4-5 days,” Stephan reported Monday.

Cho Oyu High winds were reported also from Cho Oyu. SummitClimb reported that lots of the smaller teams were leaving the mountain due to bad weather and also because the route had not been established above camp 3. “There are 6 or 7 expeditions left on the mountain,” Max explained. “We’re trying to do negotiations to fix the route because it looks like we are going to have to do it ourselves.”

Lhotse update Serguey Duganov perished on May 7 at 7800 meters during descent. The Russian summit push was led by Alexei Bolotov and in addition to Serguey Duganov, it included veteran top climbers Gennady Kirievsky, Nickolay Totmjanin and Vladimir Belous.

Alert: Trekker Aubrey Sacco missing in Nepal American Aubrey Sacco, 23, is missing after a solo, week-long trek in the region of Langtang, Nepal. Aubrey began her trek on April 20 and was scheduled to return on or around April 30, but her family has not heard from her since her check-in at Dhunche on April 20.

Pakistan 2010 season preview, take 2: (a few) more teams apply for climbing permit In addition to added costs and financial security requirements imposed by the government; the global money crunch and political unrest are reducing Pakistan outfitters’ client base. Barely one month before season kick-off, only 29 teams have applied for climbing permits.

New fees and regulations strain battered tour operators in Pakistan A new set of guarantee & renewal fees now make survival even tougher for local expedition outfitters.

Teen wars: Everest record climber caught car-surfing Big Bear Lake resident Jordan Romero is weathering the winds in BC hoping to summit Everest at the ripe age of 13. The biggest headlines in US media were however stolen Friday by Malibu teenager Johnny Strange, who climbed the Seven Summits at age 17 last year. Johnny was reportedly caught car-surfing on the roof of a white BMW SUV along Pacific Coast Highway.

K2 and Karokoram tech last minute check-list The last-minute Everest tech list published in March proved popular so last week there was an encore, this time with target K2 and Karakoram.

Summit? The proof is in the… SPOT Verifiying summits has been an increasing problem in Himalaya. Lately, the tiny 150 gram SPOT tracker has offered to become a great back-up to traditional summit proof. Together with head mounted cameras, Spot is the “thing of the year” in Himalaya.

UPDATE: Exweb Week in Review May 17, 2010

Lena Laletina at RussianClimb.com reports that Kazakh star mountaineer Denis Urubko climbed a new route on Lhotse today.

On Dhaulagiri, Stephan and Paul reported a horrible climb in strong wind that they finally aborted. Xinhua reported that the Chinese mountaineers encountered bad weather after summitting the peak Wednesday, but one climber died and four others were severely injured. Rescue efforts are underway.

* Polish Himalayas – Become a Fan

Exweb Week-In-Review is sponsored by HumanEdgeTech the world’s premier supplier of expedition technology. Our team helps you find ultra light expedition tech that works globally.

e-mail or call +1 212 966 1928

* Read these stories – and more! – at ExplorersWeb.com

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