Everybody has heard of the Sherpa; those magnificent people of the mountains without whom most western adventurers and mountaineers would stay firmly in the valleys. But who are they? Where are they from? And what is the secret of their astounding strength at altitude?
First and foremost the Sherpa are a people. Their home is predominantly in the Himalayas, a high mountainous region of Nepal, specifically in the Solu-Khumbu district (comprising the Khumbu region typically at a height of around 4,000m (c. 13,000ft) and the Solu region (slightly lower at just under 3,000m (c. 9,000ft)), although you will also find Sherpa peoples in parts of North America, Europe and Australia. While westerners pronounce their name ‘sherpa’ they call themselves ‘sharwa’, derived from ‘shar’ (meaning ‘east’) and ‘wa’ (meaning ‘people’). They are indeed ‘people from the east’ or ‘easterners’ having migrated into Nepal from eastern Tibet from the 15th century. While they are now thought of as Nepalese the Sherpas remain Tibetan by culture speaking their own language, called Sherpa, in addition to Nepali. The Sherpa language has no written form, being passed down through the generations by word alone. Typically living in close-knit mountain communities most Nepalese Sherpas are Buddhists and all belong to 1 of 18 patriarchal clans, each with their own clan name. While ‘Sherpa’ is one of the 18 clan names many Sherpas from other clans use “Sherpa” as an internationally recognised and respected surname, especially when dealing with non-Sherpas. I also understand that until the 1960’s Sherpas didn’t really have surnames, and didn’t use their clan names as surnames as everyone knew which clan other Sherpas were from. However in 1960 the Nepalese government did a census and in true bureaucratic fashion recognisable the world over, as there was a place in the census form to enter a surname yet none was entered, anyone who looked, talked or behaved like a Sherpa was given the surname ‘Sherpa’. I can’t vouch for this being true – but it sounds feasible. However what certainly is the case is that the first word in many (although not all) Sherpas names (what I might refer to for many western people as their ‘Christian’ or ‘given’ name) is one of the following: Nyima, Dawa, Mingma, Lhakpa, Phurba, Pasang, or Pemba, these being the day of the week on which the person was born. Nyima means ‘Sunday’ and the other names listed in day order through to Pemba meaning ‘Saturday’.
Traditionally the Sherpa people have been traders in such commodities as wool, rice and salt, herders of cows and yaks, and farmers. Only relatively recently, since the advent of mountain exploration and mountaineering in the Himalayas in the last 100 years or so, has the word ‘sherpa’ come to be commonly associated with native people with outstanding mountaineering and high altitude trekking capabilities.
Not all Sherpa people are employed as sherpas, and not all those employed as sherpas are Sherpa. Indeed the sherpa that I and Paul Greenan were to have gone to the summit of Cho Oyu with last year was not a Sherpa at all but from the Karakoram, a mountain range spanning the borders of India, Pakistan and China to the west of the Himalayas.
What is the secret of their prowess in the mountains? Leaving aside fitness and astounding determination the Sherpas have lived for generations in some of the highest human dwellings on earth and over time their physiology has developed to cope with living, indeed thriving, at high altitude. Thus their ‘acclimatisation’ is in-built and does not need to be acquired with each journey to high altitude as is the case for those whose ancestry is closer to sea-level.
First and foremost the Sherpa are a people. Their home is predominantly in the Himalayas, a high mountainous region of Nepal, specifically in the Solu-Khumbu district (comprising the Khumbu region typically at a height of around 4,000m (c. 13,000ft) and the Solu region (slightly lower at just under 3,000m (c. 9,000ft)), although you will also find Sherpa peoples in parts of North America, Europe and Australia. While westerners pronounce their name ‘sherpa’ they call themselves ‘sharwa’, derived from ‘shar’ (meaning ‘east’) and ‘wa’ (meaning ‘people’). They are indeed ‘people from the east’ or ‘easterners’ having migrated into Nepal from eastern Tibet from the 15th century. While they are now thought of as Nepalese the Sherpas remain Tibetan by culture speaking their own language, called Sherpa, in addition to Nepali. The Sherpa language has no written form, being passed down through the generations by word alone. Typically living in close-knit mountain communities most Nepalese Sherpas are Buddhists and all belong to 1 of 18 patriarchal clans, each with their own clan name. While ‘Sherpa’ is one of the 18 clan names many Sherpas from other clans use “Sherpa” as an internationally recognised and respected surname, especially when dealing with non-Sherpas. I also understand that until the 1960’s Sherpas didn’t really have surnames, and didn’t use their clan names as surnames as everyone knew which clan other Sherpas were from. However in 1960 the Nepalese government did a census and in true bureaucratic fashion recognisable the world over, as there was a place in the census form to enter a surname yet none was entered, anyone who looked, talked or behaved like a Sherpa was given the surname ‘Sherpa’. I can’t vouch for this being true – but it sounds feasible. However what certainly is the case is that the first word in many (although not all) Sherpas names (what I might refer to for many western people as their ‘Christian’ or ‘given’ name) is one of the following: Nyima, Dawa, Mingma, Lhakpa, Phurba, Pasang, or Pemba, these being the day of the week on which the person was born. Nyima means ‘Sunday’ and the other names listed in day order through to Pemba meaning ‘Saturday’.
Traditionally the Sherpa people have been traders in such commodities as wool, rice and salt, herders of cows and yaks, and farmers. Only relatively recently, since the advent of mountain exploration and mountaineering in the Himalayas in the last 100 years or so, has the word ‘sherpa’ come to be commonly associated with native people with outstanding mountaineering and high altitude trekking capabilities.
Not all Sherpa people are employed as sherpas, and not all those employed as sherpas are Sherpa. Indeed the sherpa that I and Paul Greenan were to have gone to the summit of Cho Oyu with last year was not a Sherpa at all but from the Karakoram, a mountain range spanning the borders of India, Pakistan and China to the west of the Himalayas.
What is the secret of their prowess in the mountains? Leaving aside fitness and astounding determination the Sherpas have lived for generations in some of the highest human dwellings on earth and over time their physiology has developed to cope with living, indeed thriving, at high altitude. Thus their ‘acclimatisation’ is in-built and does not need to be acquired with each journey to high altitude as is the case for those whose ancestry is closer to sea-level.