Everest, for once, frustrates Nepal's never-say-die Sherpas

Nuru Zanghu Sherpa steals a glance from the window of a 15-seater aircraft that glides over the Himalayas as it makes an approach from Kathmandu towards Lukla airstrip, the gateway to the Everest region. "That is my village," Nuru points out from the window, "My house is gone. My wife is injured. I've left my son at a hostel in Kathmandu. I need to get to her somehow." Nuru was in Kathmandu buying stores for his hotel in Namche Bazaar, three days' walk down from the Everest base camp, when the earthquake struck. As soon as the plane halts at the tarmac, Nuru puts on his haversack and immediately starts walking uphill towards his village.

Nuru is one of the hundreds of Sherpas who have borne the brunt of the earthquake in the Everest region. A majority of the casualities at the base camp from the quake-induced avalanche are Sherpas, who act as porters and guides to Western climbers. There is no clarity yet on how many more dead are trapped beneath the snow. Rescuers only flew back bodies which were visible in the snow. Generations of Sherpas have followed Tenzing Norgay's footsteps to eke out a modest living for their families during the spring and autumn climbing seasons by ferrying provisions, climbing equipment and liquor for Western, mostly European climbers.

Yet there is a growing distrust between the Sherpas and the Europeans, epitomised by a violent fight in 2013 when some British trekkers were involved in a bloody fist fight with Sherpas who were their porters. "There is fight every year. The Europeans treat Sherpas like donkeys. They don't pay us for our work. There are disagreements over our life insurance, which is supposed to be paid by them. Sherpas feel like slaves in their own land," says Ram Hari Karki, 31, a guide from Dhaulakha district working in the Everest region.

Even during a disaster of this magnitude, the prevailing attitude towards the Sherpas hasn't changed much. Many of the Sherpas were forced to walk down from the base camp, enduring deadly landslides. Some were injured while others decided to carry the loads left behind by European trekkers while fleeing the destruction at the base camp.

The Sherpas are a sturdy people of the Everest region, known for their fierce loyalty and unflinching drive to help climbers reach the Everest summit.

Pooja Doke, an Indian-Australian climber was with her guide Dawa Sherpa when the earthquake struck. Pooja reached Denboche, down the trail from the base camp, and on the way assisted doctors in helping treat the injured. She was finally rescued and brought back to safety in Lukla. But Dawa was not rescued. A worried Pooja immediately started looking for Dawa when she reached Lukla. But he was nowhere to be found. The next day, she spotted Dawa walking up the street in Lukla. He had been walking 26 hours before reaching Lukla. The moment both spotted each other, they broke into a hug, tears welling in the Dawa's exhausted eyes. "I feared the worst for you," said Pooja. "You are alive. I was looking for you in Lukla," said Dawa. He walked straight into Lukla looking for Pooja, despite the fact that his house in his village of Phakdu, two hours walk from Lukla was flattened in the earthquake. He had been told that his wife had suffered a leg injury in the house collapse. After much persuasion, Dawa agreed to walk to his village. "He wanted to stay with me till I was flown to safety to Kathmandu. I had to persuade him hard to go home," said Pooja.

The loyalty of the Sherpas has often been mistaken as subservience by European trekkers. Most of them work for the 1,455 registered trekking and expedition companies in Nepal that hire out their services to Western tourists. Most owners of these companies are non-Sherpas.

Most climbers trek in groups of 10-15 to the base camp and then onto the summit. On an average for every two persons, one Sherpa porter will be hired along with a guide who is also invariably Sherpa. A porter is expected to carry a maximum of 30 kgs of food, beer and trekking equipment in extreme terrain where oxygen is low and the trails treacherous. Most work till the time their bodies allow them to lift loads to higher altitudes. Many start out as porters and graduate to becoming guides after gaining experience and obtaining a licence after a 40-day training period.

For the work of ferrying equipment to the trail, most Sherpa porters are paid on an average of $10 a day (Or 1,200 Nepali rupees). A Sherpa guide earns even less and is paid around $8 a day although senior guides may earn $2 more. From the paltry amount received, the Sherpa is expected to pay for his own food and lodging on the way to the summit. "It leaves the Sherpa with little money to take back home for his family. The expedition season runs a few months and whatever is earned during the season serves the Sherpa for the rest of the year. Many Sherpas start out as porters at the age of 15. There is no retirement age for porters," said Dayula Sherpa, a senior guide who has climbed the Everest thrice and climbed over 8,000 metres five times.

dna saw local Sherpa porters, as young as 12, in Lukla, the town from where most of them are hired for the grueling six-day trek to the Everest base camp. "The Europeans make impossible demands and will even cut it from the money we receive. They refuse to pay for our insurance despite the hazards involved in climbing over 8,000 metres. We are kept on the margins of the base camp while Europeans live in luxurious tents sipping beer till it's time to make the climb. If they fall they blame us. If we accidently drop any of their equipment they shout profanities. We are not animals. There will be violence if they behave this way," said Gyaltshen Sherpa, a porter who has been part of many expeditions to the Everest summit.

A few atleast, meanwhile, struck a different note. "The Sherpas are no saints. They overcharge for services that they offer. Many of them deserted when the avalanche struck at the base camp," said Daniel Todd, a British climber at Lukla. Amir Peerzada, a producer with NDTV, who was rescued from the base camp while filming with the Indian army seconds the view, "We hid behind rocks while the ice blocks were falling around us and barely managed to save our lives. All the Sherpas ran away."