Miracle on Everest

[da man]

There are all types of roles sherpas perform for Everest expeditions. Some are just porters who carry ... well, everything ... to Base Camp and never go higher. Some work as cooks and camp managers at Base Camp. Others are high-altitude porters who go up the mountain setting up advance camps and then some work as legit guides and sirdars (basically, the boss of the other sherpas on that team).

Pay ranges from around $500 per two-month season for entry-level gigs to more than $12,000 for the folks leading clients to the summit. Plus, clients should be tipping too. The average yearly income for non-Everest sherpas is around $600 per year.

Conrad Anker and his wife Jenny Lowe-Anker established the Khumbu Climbing Center a couple of decades ago. They teach Nepali students technical climbing and first aid skills they weren't receiving during the "Into Thin Air" era. This has allowed them to move up from simple porters to being top-notch mountaineers.

Melissa Arnot and David Moreton started The Juniper Fund more than 10 years ago to provide financial support to local families who lose members on mountaineering expeditions. It's the only insurance they've got.

(Yes, I'm an Everest junkie. I have a whole shelf of Everest books and my streaming services have all the mountaineering documentaries saved. I have no desire to climb the thing, but I do want to see it in person before I leave this world.)

I presume one of those Sherpa guides holds the record for most times reaching the Everest summit. Do you know what that record is?

 

[Inky_Wretch]

I presume one of those Sherpa guides holds the record for most times reaching the Everest summit. Do you know what that record is?

Kami Rita Sherpa has summited 32 times since 1994 including this year. Lhakpa Sherpa owns the female record with 11 summits. Kenton Cool of England has the non-Nepali record with 20.

 

[da man]

Kami Rita Sherpa has summited 32 times since 1994 including this year. Lhakpa Sherpa owns the female record with 11 summits. Kenton Cool of England has the non-Nepali record with 20.

I actually thought it would be a much higher number.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

I actually thought it would be a much higher number.

****ing slackers. I could do Everest 32 times. I just don't want to. :D

 

[da man]

****ing slackers. I could do Everest 32 times. I just don't want to. :D

I mean, it’s their job.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

I actually thought it would be a much higher number.

It's not easy to get up there. You need the perfect weather window. You need to avoid avalanches and falling ice and rocks and you need them to not destroy the fixed ropes needed to ascend and descend the vertical sections or crevasse-crossing ladders. And, as a guide, you need a client capable of getting up there. If they turn around, you turn around. And, finally, you need everything to go correctly for other expeditions who are on the mountain at the same time - so you're not abandoning your summit attempt to save somebody else's life.

 

[SixToe]

I'm fascinated by the high-altitude climbing but have zero interest in doing it. That's one of those "I could, but I don't wanna" things.

The amount of crap left at base camp and elsewhere is revolting. IMO it would be like visiting Yellowstone or the Lincoln Memorial or Muir Woods and just leaving your **** there. For all of the "Pack it out, save Mother Earth" claptrap the hike-camp industry cries about, the projects -- I'm sure there are some -- to remove the tanks, trash and whatever else is there still isn't enough.

Gates, Bezos, Musk and these other 1% of the .0001%ers could maybe earn a little good will if they'd contribute significant money and resources to get it cleaned up. Sell a f'king yacht or two and do something productive.

Trash and Overcrowding at the Top of the World

 

[da man]

It's not easy to get up there. You need the perfect weather window. You need to avoid avalanches and falling ice and rocks and you need them to not destroy the fixed ropes needed to ascend and descend the vertical sections or crevasse-crossing ladders. And, as a guide, you need a client capable of getting up there. If they turn around, you turn around. And, finally, you need everything to go correctly for other expeditions who are on the mountain at the same time - so you're not abandoning your summit attempt to save somebody else's life.

I didn’t think it was easy. I just figured with so many summits being done, a great guide who’s been around for many years could get into triple digits.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

I mean, it’s their job.

I've written 32 stories in a month many times. Piece of cake.

 

[BTExpress]

Seeing the names of those multiple summiteers made me wonder.

The adoption of "Sherpa" as a surname happened for a few distinct reasons:

• Census Taking: During early Nepalese censuses, enumerators did not realize the culture used singular names. They frequently recorded the person's ethnicity (Sherpa) as their surname on official documents. [1, 2, 3]
• Official Identification: As Sherpas engaged more with the government and entered the modern workforce, Hindus in Nepal required a surname for administrative and work purposes. People adapted by using their ethnicity as their last name. [1]

 

[Inky_Wretch]

I didn’t think it was easy. I just figured with so many summits being done, a great guide who’s been around for many years could get into triple digits.

Sorry, I wasn't directing that at you.

An Everest expedition is at least a month long. There's the hike to Base Camp that takes several days, then it's a matter of acclimatizing to the altitude. They spend time at BC then start a series of trips up and down the mountain to higher camps to get their bodies accustomed to less oxygen.

When a guide is hired, he or she is usually with just one group for the entire season (spring being the main season, though there is a post-monsoon fall season too). Sometimes the stronger guides will join the rope-setting teams and tag a summit without a client that way. But, otherwise, they are pretty well joined at the hip with the paying clients.

 

[Gym Beam]

Summiting Everest, like breaking 4:00 in the mile, is passé.

Newest prime alpha male achievement? Diving the Mariana Trench!

 

[Inky_Wretch]

NYT story up …

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/05/....n1A.Kwok.ej5yCKBgpGw6&smid=nytcore-ios-share

 

[Dog8Cats]

No rescue was launched for six days. Expedition members removed all seven icefall ladders on May 31 and returned to base camp while Dawa remained stranded at extreme altitude without food or bottled oxygen. He was found alive on June 4, crawling toward base camp at Crampon Point, rescued by a Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee garbage management team. His family had already begun funeral rituals before news of his survival reached them.

NMA demands accountability over Dawa Sherpa's abandonment on Everest, urges operators to uphold duty of care