Abiding reminder of Sherpa effort

By TIM WATKIN in Kathmandu

While others have been planning dinner parties, parades and street festivals, Tashi Tenzing has been arranging something more permanent to mark the golden anniversary of the first summit of Mt Everest.

High in the Himalayas he has been at work on a memorial to the Sherpas of Everest and, in particular, his grandfather Tenzing Norgay, who with Sir Edmund Hillary first reached the roof of the world 50 years ago tomorrow.

He has built a Buddhist stupa - round and white in a jagged and grey landscape - 10 minutes out of Namche Bazaar, on what is now a well-worn road to the world's highest mountain. It honours a man who walked that road when it still led to the unknown and who achieved what no one else had.

The plaque on the stupa honours Tenzing Norgay and the Sherpas of Everest, all the true tigers of the snow, without whose devotion, skill, courage and sacrifice the great mountain Chomolungma would never have been climbed.

In a hotel courtyard in Kathmandu, Tenzing proudly shows off photos of the stupa, which took him five months to build.

"There's lots of dinner parties and honouring going on. I thought the best way I could honour my people and my grandfather was to build this for them. This is a quite holy place," he says.

Tenzing, 38, has made a point of making sure the Sherpas are not forgotten when the great stories of human endeavour around Mt Everest are told. Since Norgay's death in 1986, Tenzing has often been critical that his grandfather plays second fiddle to Hillary in their story of courage and triumph.

Not that he has anything against Sir Edmund, whom he describes as a great man.

"Hillary has praised Tenzing very highly in India and that stuff's beautiful. That's what climbing's all about. Teamwork.

"Today's climbing is very different. You get people with different angles, trying to set records and it's all a personal thing."

Tenzing has lived in Sydney with his Australian wife for 14 years. But he spends much of his time on the road, guiding people round Antarctica, doing lecture tours in Europe, climbing mountains in Asia.

He is concerned at Nepalese Government policies allowing more and more expeditions onto the mountain. Officially this year, a record 22 parties have tried to summit, but that's only the number of permits issued.

While he appreciates that this year is special, he says six expeditions a year should be enough.

"There will be a time when people will start thinking that Everest is too easy, there's too many people. Everest should be remembered as one of the most beautiful mountains; a journey of a lifetime to be able to stand there."

Tenzing has stood on the summit twice, in 1997 and 2002. Here, in his own words, is his description of his first climb in his grandfather's footsteps:

"I had the most beautiful climb. We had a full moon. The day of Buddha's birthday, a special day my mother had recommended.

"We tried to climb as quietly as possible. You could just hear the boots scrunching on the ice and the sound of the oxygen flow. We reached the south summit about 5 in the morning and I could see the sun rising from the east and the shadows of Everest hitting the entire country of Nepal.

"Then we had a drink and we headed across to the Hillary Step, which I had heard so much about. It was fantastic to climb it. Then we headed across to the summit where there was just two of us [he climbed with a friend]. The weather was beautiful.

'We spent one hour and felt we could see the entire world ... I was very blessed by Chomolungma."

When he first got there, he admits later, he smoked a cigarette ... Sherpa oxygen, the Sherpas call high-altitude smoking.

This week, his thoughts keep returning to his grandfather. "I think my grandfather should be remembered as a simple man who came from a very simple life in Tibet and had great humbleness.

"I think today people should remember him as Tenzing, who came from the mountains with a wonderful smile on his face, made great friends and inspired many people."