Subscribe to Outside Magazine
advertisement
Survival Guru

Today's Question
How do you make primitive snowshoes? answer

What should you do if you get lost driving in a snow storm? answer

Eco Adventurer

Today's Question
What is the greenest ski and snowboard on the market? answer

Can I really damage a coral reef with sunscreen while snorkeling? answer

Videos Ask Dave
  • What kind of dog will make me look manlier? answer
  • Is there a sport that safely combines my twin passions for guns and kayaks? answer
  • How come most of the world's cultures enjoy eating goat, but Americans don't? answer

Online Favorites

Special Issues

Photo Galleries
save this page print this page email this page
  • share this page

Outside Magazine April 2003

EXPOSURE SPECIAL: 50 YEARS ON EVEREST
Tigers of the Snow
Three Generations of Great Climbing Sherpas

By Jenny Dubin


Pemba Tharké Sherpa holding the coveted Tiger Medal, bestowed on many of the greatest Sherpas, and a token from the 1965 Indian Everest Expedition (Photograph by Martin Schoeller)





























THIS SPRING MARKS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's epochal first ascent of Mount Everest, on May 29, 1953. To celebrate, we're profiling some of the greatest pioneers of the Himalayas: the Sherpas. "In the work of the Sherpas," wrote Sir John Hunt, leader of the British expedition that put Hillary and Tenzing on top of the world, "lies the immediate secret of our success." On that expedition and in every subsequent season of triumph and tragedy on Everest, it has been the Sherpas—an ethnic group, some 110,000 strong, most of whom reside in Nepal's Khumbu region—who have made the accomplishments of Himalayan mountaineering possible. ¦ Today, Sherpas go well beyond their traditional duties of setting fixed lines at altitude and shuttling gear up unimaginable terrain. Sherpa climbers hold the records for the most ascents of 29,035-foot Everest and for the fastest climb; indeed, 579 of the 1,651 climbers to reach the summit of Everest have been Sherpas. But it hasn't all been glory—56 of the 175 people who have lost their lives on the mountain were also Sherpas. ¦ In November 2002, Outside dispatched photographer Martin Schoeller and journalist Jenny Dubin from Kathmandu to the Khumbu Valley and to Darjeeling, India, to seek out the grand old men of Everest's golden age and, in a look toward the future, some of the brightest stars of Himalayan mountaineering's new generation.

View the Gallery
Photographs by Martin Schoeller

Watch the Exclusive Video
Behind the scenes footage of Schoeller on assignment in Nepal