Sherpa

A Sherpa was originally one of the mountain people of Nepal. Most Sherpas live in the eastern regions of the country known as Solu, Khumbu and Pharak. However, some live farther west in the Rolwaling valley and in the Helambu region north of Kathmandu. Pangboche is the Sherpa's oldest village in Nepal, and is estimated to have been built over 300 years ago. Sherpas speak a Tibetan dialect and traditionally are traders and farmers, cultivating their high altitude fields of potatoes, barley, wheat and buckwheat. If they live within a day's walk of Namche Bazaar, some will raise water buffalo and slaughter them for the Saturday market in Namche. The Jirels are ethnically related to the Sherpas.

Traditionally (although not strictly followed), the names of Sherpa men often reflect the day of the week on which they were born:

Sunday     Nima
Monday     Dawa
Tuesday    Mingma
Wednesday  Lhakpa
Thursday   Phurbu
Friday     Pasang
Saturday   Pemba

Sherpas were of immeasurable value to early explorers of the Himalayan region, serving as guides and porters at the extreme altitudes of the peaks and passes in the region. Today, the term has been extended to apply to almost any guide or porter hired for mountaineering expeditions in the Himalayas. However, in Nepal, Sherpas often insist on making a distinction between themselves and general porters, as they often serve in a more guide-like role and command higher pay and respect from the community. Sherpas are renowned in the global climbing and mountaineering community for their hardiness, expertise, and experience at high altitudes. Sherpas have earned this reputation mostly because despite the value of their services, the pay is insubstantial to the point where many cannot afford the modern climbing gear that western climbers use. Many have speculated that a portion of Sherpas' climbing ability may be due to a genetically greater lung capacity, allowing much better performance at high altitudes.

Historically, the most famous Sherpa is Tenzing Norgay, who accompanied Sir Edmund Hillary on the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. Norgay had attempted Everest before with other climbing parties, and has since climbed Everest many more times in his career as a Sherpa.

Two sherpas, Pemba Dorjie and Lhakpa Gelu, have recently competed as to who can climb Everest quicker. On May 23rd 2003 Dorji took 12 hours and 46 minutes to climb to the top. Three days later Gelu beat his record by two hours, climbing to the top in 10 hours 46 minutes. On May 21st 2004 Dorji again improved the record by more than two hours with a total time of 8 hours and 10 minutes. These feats are completely without parallel in the history of climbing, and among the greatest of any sport.

See also: Demographics of Nepal, Tenzing Norgay, Tengboche, Sirdar, Yeti

By extension, sherpa is the name given to the personal representatives of heads of state and government within the G8 process: the metaphor is that the "sherpa" prepares the way toward the "summit". One or more "sherpa meetings" are generally held in preparation for summits.

A further extension is that, in UK caving, a Sherpa is one of the team who assists a cave diver to move his equipment to the start of the dive. See Cave diving article.

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