At the suggestion of tourists, the word "sherpa" has become synonymous with the words mountain guide or porter. In fact, this is not any position or profession, but the people inhabiting Eastern Nepal. Mountain dwellers are incredibly hardy, know better than anyone else, the highlands, have hereditary altitude adaptations, and it is the professional Sherpa climbers who hold most of the records for climbing Mount Everest. Who are they, mountain-born inhabitants who always remain in the shadow of the conquerors of Everest?
Literally "sherpa" means "a man from the east." All that is known about this people is that their ancestors once migrated from Tibet, and that the Sherpas are of Mongolian origin. The incomplete pages of history are a consequence of the fact that the people have no written language and use the Tibetan calendar to keep track of time. Their names can also change throughout life. As a rule, they do not use surnames. Since no official records are kept, they themselves are now and then confused in dates and cannot say exactly what their names are if asked to spell the name.
From their Tibetan ancestors, the Sherpas adopted clothing, customs, cuisine and language that is similar to Tibetan. Like the Tibetans, the Sherpas are followers of Buddhism. It is not ceremonies and rituals that are more important for them, but faith in the soul. Many have a prayer corner at home. On the street, some set up poles with prayer flags. Sherpas believe in gods, and not only Buddhist, but also those who live in a mountain or in a forest. Each clan personifies mountain peaks with a specific deity and reveres the mountain, believing in its support and protection. It is customary for the Sherpas to burn the dead. The only exceptions are small children and those who die high in the mountains, who are interred.
Sherpas have no writing, no surnames, and they keep track of time according to the Tibetan calendar
When it comes to food, Sherpas prefer not to adhere to a specific menu - after all, the area is deaf and it is much easier to get an "omnivorous diet". Sherpas will willingly eat meat, dried food or canned food brought by tourists. However, they still have culinary traditions. Traditional dishes, for example, include mo-mo - something like a soup with dumplings. In addition, Sherpas are very fond of drinking tea. They drink it several times a day. From rice and barley they brew a Sherpa beer called chang. It is a ready-made sourdough, which is poured into a cup, poured with boiling water and drunk through a bamboo tube.
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Sherpas have remarkable strength and endurance. This also applies to men, women and children. In comparison with men, the weaker sex can in no way be called the weaker: women, on an equal basis with men, can do hard work and carry weights that reach two-thirds of their own weight. In general, carrying anything is quite natural for Sherpas. Picking up the luggage, they put it not on their shoulders, but on their foreheads. In their opinion, this is the most efficient way of carrying, allowing you to carry tens of kilograms of cargo.
Carrying anything is quite natural for Sherpas
Sherpas have "high-mountainous" genes, thanks to which they easily conquer any peaks. For the first time, New Zealand explorer Edmund Percival Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay managed to climb Everest. Having reached the top, Hillary began to hoist the flag, and Norgay began to lay out chocolates in the snow as an offering to the gods. Another Sherpa, Appa Tenzing, began climbing Mount Everest on a regular basis since 1990. He made ascents once, and sometimes twice a year. The last time he climbed Everest on May 11, 2011, he became the absolute record holder for the number of mountain climbs, the number of which reached 21 times.
It took the Sherpa Pemba Dorje only 8 hours and 10 minutes to climb to the highest point of the planet - no other climber had ever climbed the mountain with such speed. Sherpa Babu Chiri, having climbed the mountain, spent 21 hours there. All these achievements are far beyond the capabilities of ordinary athletes, but they can easily submit to one of those who are considered just a porter or guide who accompanies another group of climbers who decided to climb Everest.