Asia Times: Risking young lives for Everest records


	April 20, 2000	atimes.com

India/Pakistan

Risking young lives for Everest records
By Suman Pradhan

KATHMANDU - When 14-year-old Temba Tshiri Sherpa set out last week to scale Everest and claim the record for the youngest person to do so, it raised cheers as well as concerns.

After all, a similar attempt last year by another youngster, a 15-year-old, ended in failure just 100 meters below the summit of the 8,848 meter peak. Arvind Timilsina said later he ran out of oxygen and was too blinded by snow glare to go any further.

Is Nepal becoming a nation that, for the sake of patriotism, eggs on youngsters who don't even qualify for a driving license to attempt the seemingly impossible? Aren't parents putting young lives at risk on a mountain that has claimed the lives of hundreds of experienced climbers in the five decades since it was first conquered by Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Sir Edmund Hillary?

At this moment, Nepal, a small impoverished nation in the high Himalayas is in no mood for such difficult questions. Most of the nation's 23 million people, if anything, would like to see Temba Tshiri Sherpa succeed so that ''a Nepali can put his name in the record books as the youngest climber of Everest''.

But the few voices that have been raised against such dare-devilry speak for themselves. A leading newspaper in Nepal, The Kathmandu Post, while wishing Sherpa success in his attempt, nevertheless called for a minimum age for climbers. ''Although records are there to be broken,'' editorialized the Post this week, ''. . . everything should have its limits. If not as a rule, at least common sense should dictate that there ought to be a minimum permissible age for climbing Everest or for that matter any other big mountain.''

Nepalis have a penchant for creating mountaineering records. It is the land of the Sherpas, a mountain community known for its mountaineering prowess, and which holds most of the major mountaineering records.

Currently, the record for the youngest climber of Everest is held by a Nepali, 17-year old Shambhu Tamang, who accomplished the feat way back in 1973. ''It is our wish that this record should be broken by another Nepali,'' said Bhakta Bahadur Thakuri, team leader of the seven-member team that is supporting Temba Tshiri's attempt on Everest. ''It is a record that is close to the Nepali heart.''

But Temba, unlike other mountaineers, lacks the experience. He himself admitted just before setting out that he had not climbed a single high mountain. Most of his climbing practice has been on smaller mountains. That is in contrast to Arvin Timilsina, the 15-year old who failed in his attempt last year. Timilsina had practiced thoroughly on high mountains before attempting Everest.

In an effort to dispel criticism, Temba said his attempt on Everest was not only for the record books, but also to promote global peace. ''I will plant a statue of the Buddha on the peak as a symbol of world peace,''he said. To accomplish that, Temba said his final and record-breaking climb would be timed for May 18, the Buddha's birth anniversary.

Despite the misgivings, the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) is wholeheartedly supporting Temba. ''We feel he is trained enough to make the attempt,'' says NMA First Vice President Ang Tshiring Sherpa. ''What counts is whether or not the climber is physically and mentally fit - and we feel Temba is.''

But there are those who remain unconvinced. ''It is more important to save young lives than encourage them to take extreme adventures, especially when they are too young,'' says Sonam Lama, a tour guide knowledgeable about mountaineering. ''It is a tragedy that Nepal has to look up to such attempts to shore up its own self-image.''

And it's not just Temba's heroics that Nepal is cheering at the moment. Three other record-breaking expeditions are already underway in an attempt to shore up the nation's image. Just before Temba set out to conquer Everest, Babu Tshiri Sherpa marched off to do Everest in a record-breaking 16 hours. He is at present acclimatizing in the Everest region before making the final assault in May.

Right now five women Sherpas are climbing Everest. And, Appa Sherpa, another climber, has already set out to scale the mountain for a record-breaking eleventh time.

''It's a season for record-breaking events as far as Everest is concerned,'' says Thakuri who is leading Temba's attempt on Everest. ''All this is good for the country's image''

But raging discussion among Nepal's intelligentsia and Nepal-based Internet chat sites show that there are many who don't subscribe to those views.

(Inter Press Service)

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�1999 Asia Times Online Co., Ltd.

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