Without Sherpas, there is no mountaineering
- 2023-05-22
- 0
Kami Rita Sherpa broke his own record last week when he climbed the world’s highest mountain for the 27th time, keeping ahead of compatriot Pasang Dawa Sherpa who had tied his 26th climb earlier this season.
Kami Rita has been climbing Mt Everest every year since the first time he helped an international expedition get to the summit in 1994, sometimes reaching the top twice in the same season. The only years he could not climb were in 2014 and 2015 because of deadly avalanches, and in 2020 due to the pandemic.
But Kami Rita says with characteristic understatement that it has never been about the record for him. It is just another job that requires him to guide expeditions to the top, and it is a job he does well.
“Had I been chasing records, I could have summited many more times,” says Kami Rita, who has turned back several times from near the summit because he had to rescue foreign climbers or blizzards. “I have seen firsthand how unpredictable and unforgiving the mountain can be.’
He was at Base Camp in 2014 preparing for a live telecast with his brother for a National Geographic expedition when an avalanche slammed into the Khumbu Icefall, killing 16 Sherpas, many of whom he knew.
A year later, 19 climbers and Sherpas lost their lives when an avalanche triggered by the 2015 earthquake destroyed Base Camp. Then the Covid-19 pandemic halted all expeditions, depriving many guides and porters of income.
Throughout all this, Kami Rita has remained in Nepal, declining job offers from overseas. “For me, there is nothing more meaningful than serving my community and people,” he says matter-of-factly. "The younger generation is aware of the dangers and some have given up working on the mountains. But if we Sherpas were not here, there would be no mountaineering.”
Many, including previous summit record-holders like Apa Sherpa, have migrated abroad. A new generation of Sherpas are now scientists, climatologists, businessmen, or airline pilots, and their success has been made possible because of the sacrifices of their parents.
For Kami Rita, it looks like his family’s involvement in mountaineering may end with him. His son Lhakpa Tenzing is studying tourism as an undergrad and has no desire to follow in his father’s footsteps. His daughter Pasang Dolma is pursuing a computer science degree.
“I worked hard all my life so they got a good education, even though mountaineering is an unpredictable business with seasonal income,” he says. “I have made sure that they have opportunities I never got.”
Expedition guides are increasingly being replaced by ethnic groups from lower valleys, as younger Sherpas move on to other jobs. Kami Rita says younger Nepalis from different ethnicities should have access to rock and ice climbing training so that they can take over.
Born and raised in Khumbu, Kami Rita attended school in Thame, one of many established by New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary, who along with Tenzing Norgay became the first to climb Mt Everest 70 years ago.
Kami Rita’s own father went to Darjeeling with Tenzing Norgay, and one of his two brothers Lhakpa Rita Sherpa was a climbing guide himself before he went on to become the first Nepali to climb the Seven Summits.
Mountains were all that his family knew, so it was no surprise that Kami Rita followed in their footsteps. “I wasn’t able to get much of an education, and working for expeditions would earn me much more money,” says Kami Rita, who became a porter at just 12.
His only regret is that the Nepal government has never really helped the Sherpas of Khumbu. He cites the example of Ang Rita Sherpa who climbed Everest 10 times without oxygen but never got the support due to him.
“If someone like Ang Rita does not get respect, what hope is there for the rest of us?” says Kami Rita. “The sad truth is that we have always thought of the nation first, but the nation has not shown us the same consideration.”
Read more about Kami Rita Sherpa
Today morning (17-05-2023 at about 0830 hrs), Kami Rita Sherpa has successfully reached the summit of Big E for 27th time, thus, now he also holds the record of scaling 8000ers for 40th time . They are the true Heroes of Himalaya - Kami Rita Sherpa, a Legendary Sherpa, was born on 17th January, 1970 in Thame Village, Solu Khumbu Region of Nepal. Thame is also the village of Legendary Tenzing Norgay. Kami Rita has been a guide for more than two decades now who had first summited Everest in 1994 during a commercial expedition. During these 25 years, he has scaled five 8,000-metre peaks, summiting them 38 times which is a world record.. He has also scaled the world’s second-highest mountain, K-2, in Pakistan.
Kami Rita Sherpa is a Nepali Sherpa guide who, since May 2019, has held the record for most ascents to the summit of Mount Everest. He scaled the mountain for a 25th time on 21 May 2021, eclipsing his record set 19th May 2019.
His father was among the first professional Sherpa guides after Everest was opened to foreign mountaineers in 1950. His brother, Lakpa Rita Sherpa, also a guide, scaled Everest 17 times.
“I can climb for a few more years,” said Kami Rita Sherpa some time ago in a BBC interview. “I am healthy. I can go until I am 60 years old. With oxygen it’s no big deal, we were born in the Himalayas.” Once Kami Rita told the BBC. “I never thought about making records. I actually didn’t know that you could make a record. Had I known, I would have done a lot more summits earlier.”
Kami Rita has retained his humility towards Mount Everest. For the Sherpas, Chomolungma, as they call it, is a sacred mountain on which a goddess lives. “Months before I begin an ascent, I start worshiping and asking for her forgiveness because I have to put my feet on her body. Right before the final steps to the summit, others run to take photos but I bow my head again and ask for her forgiveness,” says Kami Rita Sherpa. “No matter how strong you are, how good you prepare, you have to be blessed by God to reach the top.”
Kami Rita currently holds the record for most 8,000 meter summits, with 40 in totality. In addition to his Everest completions, his totals include Cho-Oyu eight times, three times on Manaslu, and both Lhotse and K2 once each.
Watch out for his ascents on Everest :
1994 - Successfully reached the summit of Mt.Everest on 13th May, via SE Ridge
1995 - Had to abandon summit push at 8500 M
1997 - Successfully reached the summit of Mt.Everest on 25th May,
1997 through SE Ridge
1998 - Successfully reached the summit of Mt.Everest on 25th May, 1998 through SE Ridge
1999 - Successfully reached the summit of Mt.Everest on 13th May, 1999 through SE Ridge
2000 - Successfully reached the summit of Mt.Everest on 23rd May, 2000 through SE Ridge
2002 - Successfully reached the summit of Mt.Everest via S Col - SE Ridge
2003 - Successfully reached the summit of Mt.Everest on 30th May, 2003 through SE Ridge
2004 - Successfully reached the summit of Mt.Everest on 24th May, 2004 through SE Ridge
2005 - Successfully reached the summit of Mt.Everest on 30th May, 2005 through SE Ridge
2006 - Successfully reached the summit of Mt.Everest on 20th May, 2006 through SE Ridge
2007 - Successfully reached the summit of Mt.Everest on 22nd May, 2007 through SE Ridge
2008 - Successfully reached the summit of Mt.Everest on 24th May, 2008 through SE Ridge
2009 - Successfully reached the summit of Mt.Everest on 23rd May, 2009 through SE Ridge
2010 - Successfully reached the summit of Mt.Everest on 5th May, 2010 through SE Ridge
2012 - Successfully reached the summit of Mt.Everest on 18th May, 2012 through SE Ridge
2013 - Successfully reached the summit of Mt.Everest on 22nd May, 2013 through SE Ridge
2015 - All expeditions were called-off due to Earthquake
2016 - Successfully reached the summit of Mt.Everest on 20th May, 2016 through NE Ridge
2017 - Successfully reached the summit of Mt.Everest on 27th May, 2017 through SE Ridge
2018 - Successfully reached the summit of Mt.Everest on 16th May, 2018 through SE Ridge
2019 - Successfully reached the summit of Mt.Everest on 15th May, 2019 through SE Ridge
2019 : Successfully reached the summit of Everest for second time
2021 : Successfully reached the summit of Everest through SE Ridge
(25 times in totality) within a week of Mt.Everest on 21st May, 2019
2022 : 26th Summit of Everest through SE Ridge
2023 : 17th May, 2023 - 27th Summit of Everest through SE Ridge
Pic Credit - FB Page of Kami Rita Sherpa
#KamiRitaSherpa #Everest#sherpa #guinessworldrecord#mountaineering#sagarmatha#sherpas#climbing#Nepal#worldrecord
Source: https://www.facebook.com/rameshkrsharma