By IPS Correspondents
KATHMANDU, Jun 8 2004 (IPS)

For centuries, the Sherpas of Nepal revered the great mountains of the Himalayan region as dwelling places of gods and goddesses. The very thought of climbing them was considered blasphemous.

But all that changed on the afternoon of May 29, 1953 when New Zealand’s Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepal’s Tenzing Norgay Sherpa stood on top of Mount Everest, capping centuries of efforts to put the first human foot on the world’s highest mountain.

From that point on, the Sherpas have become an important part of international mountaineering teams as guides and partners.

Fifty-one years later, nearly 1,300 climbers have triumphed on the 8,850 metre-high Mount Everest and well over 800 lives lost, Sherpas included, on its unpredictable slopes and crevasses.

Because of this influx of foreign climbers, Sherpas embraced mountain climbing as part of their own culture, which was a radical change from their traditional roles as traders and farmers.

Today, Sherpa-led Himalayan climbs and treks along the mountain ranges, have become a mainstay of Nepal’s economy.

This May alone, the kingdom of Nepal, which prides itself as having 14 mountain peaks that are over 8,000 metres high in the Himalayan range, earned an impressive 150,000 U.S. dollars in hard foreign currency from 166 Everest-bound mountaineers from 13 expedition teams around the world.

These international teams, celebrating the 51st anniversary of the ascent of Everest, also provided employment to thousands of Sherpas, hoteliers and restaurateurs in the mountains.

In a tourist economy almost wrecked by an ongoing Maoist insurgency, these 150,000 dollars in a month seems heaven- sent.

”Mountaineering and mountain tourism is the last hope in these difficult times,” Ang Tshering Sherpa, president of Nepal Mountaineering Association, a Kathmandu organisation of Nepalese Sherpas and expedition operators, tells IPS.

The Maoist insurgency has claimed more than 9,500 lives since 1996 and tourist arrivals to the country have fallen significantly.

But not everyone is happy about the sudden surge of interest in climbing Everest.

Veteran Everest climbers like Hillary, Junko Tabei and Reinhold Messner all expressed their concerns at the Everest Golden Jubilee Celebrations last year in, the capital, Kathmandu.

Tabei is the first woman climber from Japan and Italian-born Messner has scaled all the over 8,000 metre-high peaks in the world.

”There are more than 1,000 people setting up 500 tents at the (Everest) Base Camp and knocking down beer before making their assault on the mountain. That simply belittles the charm of mountaineering,” said Hillary, voicing his disapproval.

Messner echoed similar concern, when he said, ”Everest is full of climbers, and hundreds are lining up. It’s not a healthy sign.”

He wants less permits given out to Everest climbers and suggested the peak be made accessible only to experienced climbers and not amateurs out to set ”some kind of bizarre record.”

Japan’s Tabei and several Sherpas expressed their dismay over the environmental degradation of the Everest region, caused by climbers, and proliferation of many fly-by-night mountaineering agencies.

But a year later, these serious concerns seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

While the mountaineering community is more worried about the thinning crowd on the world’s highest peak, the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, on the other hand, is more concerned about falling revenue.

In the meantime young Sherpa climbers are worried that they might lose the media attention they cherish so much if the international expeditions dwindle. The older Sherpas at Everest’s gateway in Khumbu region are also anxious about their livelihood.

And there’s a very good reason for that.

This year, the number of expedition teams to Everest dropped to 13, from 24 last year on the Nepalese side of the mountain, due to the insurgency by Maoists who seek to turn this constitutional monarchy into a republic.

Also, Nepal’s neighbour China seems to attracting a fair number of expeditions, with mountaineers keen to scale Everest from its Chinese side, which is accessible from Tibet.

In May alone, 23 teams with hundreds of climbers and their retinue of porters gathered on the Chinese side to scale Everest from its northern face.

China, realising the tourism potential of mountaineering, has slashed its climbing fees and is gradually opening up Tibet to the outside world.

India, Nepal’s other neighbour, is also keen to poach climbers, who traditionally scaled Nepali peaks, by offering attractive them attractive mountain tour packages.

Pakistan, having seen the success of Nepal’s Everest Jubilee Celebrations, is also keen to have a similar bash of its own. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of Pakistan’s Mount K-2, the world’s second highest mountain.

”The government is not aware of the fact that our neighbours are cleverer than us, ” Nepal Mountaineering Association’s Tshering Sherpa says in an interview.

”Pakistan has mountaineering rates cheaper than what we have been charging. This year, it slashed the prices more in order to attract more mountaineers,” he adds.

Climbing fees in Nepal can range from 1,000 dollars to several thousand dollars depending on the peaks and size of the expeditions.

But it’s not too late for Nepal, yet.

Next year is the golden jubilee anniversary of the first ascent of 8,598 metre-high Mount Kanchanjangha, and 8,475 metre Mount Makalu, the world’s third and fourth highest mountains respectively.

”The government has not yet done much to let this fact known to the climbing community around the world,” says Teshering Sherpa. ”If it wants to earn more revenues and more world media attention for its tourism promotion, it’s high time the government did something.”

Excerpt: