NEPAL: On 50th Year of Conquest of Everest, Villagers Look Back

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Ramyata Limbu

NAMCHE BAZAAR, Nepal, May 27 2003 (IPS) - In the heart of Namche Bazaar, the village that is the unofficial capital of the Everest region, yet another lodge is being built.

   The sound of machine-driven saws, construction workers breaking stones and hammering away at wood resounds around this prosperous hamlet of more than 100 sturdy stone and wood buildings with brightly painted and corrugated tin roofs.

In the heart of Namche Bazaar, the village that is the unofficial capital of the Everest region, yet another lodge is being built.

The sound of machine-driven saws, construction workers breaking stones and hammering away at wood resounds around this prosperous hamlet of more than 100 sturdy stone and wood buildings with brightly painted and corrugated tin roofs.

Ever since Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Edmund Hillary first conquered the world’s highest peak in 1953 and tourism took off, peaking in the 70s and 80s, Namche Bazaar has turned into a trekkers’ paradise that boasts of modern amenities like laundry services, bakeries with mouth-watering goodies, and half a dozen cybercafes.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I envision such change and development in Namche,” 84-year-old Gyalzen Sherpa says, as Nepal prepares to mark the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of Mt Everest on May 29.

In the past 50 years, Namche’s oldest man and his 88-year-old wife Pemba Lhaki have witnessed an economic revolution that has transformed this impoverished potato-growing and portering community – located at an altitude of 3,440 metres – into one of the world’s most famous tourist destinations.

A veteran of seven mountaineering expeditions, including the 1953 Everest Expedition, Gyalzen recalls a past that was extremely frugal and hard. “People were very poor. There were few houses. Most Sherpas from Kunde, Khumjung, Pangboche, Thame, everyone, worked as coolies transporting loads for the few rich traders that lived here. The expeditions changed that.”

The oldest of four surviving climbing Sherpas of the historic 1953 Everest Expedition, Gyalzen got his big break from Tenzing, who hired him as a climbing Sherpa in 1953.

With money saved from expeditions, Gyalzen turned to trading Nepali paper, butter and silver in Tibet across the Nangpa Pass, about three days’ walk from Namche. Today, he is regarded as one of the wealthiest men in Namche.

Kancha Sherpa, another surviving member of the 1953 expedition, also marvels at the changes in his village since then. “Tourism has made a large difference between my time and my father’s time. There were 40 houses in my time, about six in my father’s time. Now there must be 150 houses, most of them lodges. People were simple back then, they only knew how to carry loads. Today, Sherpas fly planes, they are doctors and engineers.”

Up in Tengboche, about three hours’ walk uphill from Namche, tourism has allowed successful lodge owners like Mingma Yangzi Sherpa to lead a varied lifestyle. In summer, the 37-year-old visits the United States. Winter is spent with her two children in the capital Kathmandu. During the spring and autumn tourist seasons, she is up at Tengboche, running the lodge.

Mingma was a member of a 2000 Nepali Women’s Everest Expedition – and this has been good for business. “People seek me out. They take pictures. They ask me questions about Everest. My English is not that great, but I try to explain the best I can.”

Along with the flood of tourists that began visiting the Everest area following the first successful ascent of the mountain 50 years ago, subsequent foreign assistance also contributed to development of the region – largely through Sir Edmund Hillary’s charitable Himalayan Trust.

“Sir Edmund Hillary loves the Sherpas and has done a lot for us. There are many others who love the Sherpas and think of our welfare, but he’s the biggest supporter, ” says Sonam Gyalzen Sherpa, former village development committee chairman and alumni of Khumjung School, the first school built by Hillary in 1960. Today, more than two dozen schools are supported by the Trust.

On May 29, a metal statue of Hillary will be installed on the school premises amidst Buddhist prayers and celebrations.

But tourism has also resulted in conservation headaches.

Ang Danu Sherpa, a resident of Khumjung, is concerned about the pressure on the environment. “The original inhabitants of the Khumbu must be around 5,000. About 25,000 tourists visit annually. Then there are jobseekers – hundreds of porters, labourers, construction workers and government servants who add immense pressure on natural resources. Tourist demands are also increasing.”

Increasing pollution problems led to the formation of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee in 1991. “Initially, locals felt it was the committee’s responsibility to clean up. Now there’s more awareness and local participation in conservation activities. We have eco clubs and volunteer youth groups in various villages,” says SPCC official Dorji Lama Sherpa.

The SPCC also monitors the numerous expeditions up at various base camps in the region. “After expeditions, we hold clean-up camps with the help of national park officials and locals,” Dorji Lama adds.

The growing realisation that there can be no tourism without conservation is accompanied by the realisation that this tourism must also be more equitable. ”There are villages lower down that do not enjoy the benefits of tourism. We have to try to understand their needs. Otherwise, there will always be space for conflict,” says Sonam Gyalzen Sherpa, chairman of the buffer zone committee.

The aim of the recently set up buffer zone committee – introduced by the Sagarmatha National Park in which the Everest region falls – is to ensure that resources are decentralised and that the benefits of tourism trickle down to the grassroots communities, many of which remain poor.

“What is most important is to plan now in order to prevent problems in future. We haven’t reached a destruction phase, yet. But everyone has to work to prevent this, ” adds Sonam Gyalzen.