Who is Sagarmatha? What is Everest?
I think it is time to introduce to Everest, or Sagarmatha, as the Nepali call it.
Sagarmatha means Goddess of the sky in sanskrit and personally, I think it suits better this mountain so alive, who deserve the outmost respect (and still doesn't receive it with some alpinists who don't care about leaving their waste and even worse there).
So I'll start talking about the Roof of the World: Mount Everest, one of the oldest mountains and the highest in the world.
Everest is part of the Himalayan mountain chain (which also includes Annapurna, K2, Masalu, etc..), on the border between Nepal and Tibet.
It height is 8 846 m above sea level, which means that at its top, there is very few oxygen and is located in what we call the "Death Zone" (starting at 8000 m). While is Nepalese name is Sagarmatha, its Tibetan name is Chomolungma. Three names for one majestic mountain.
People living in the Himalayas had known about the mountain for centuries, adjusting to its weather, its unexpected events and its cold in weather.
In the 19th century, British surveyors measured the Himalayan peaks. Everest was originally called Peak XV (probably because it was the 15th peak they measured).
In 1865, it was finally named Mount Everest after George Everest, a former Surveyor General of India (remember that India was a British colony at the time).
The first successful ascent to Everest's summit took place on May 29, 1953, but the news only arrived the same day Queen Elizabeth II was crowned, in June, 2. The climbers were Sir Edmund Hillary, an alpinist from New Zealand and a Sherpa, the local community who are the guardians of Sagarmatha while taking care of the alpinists, named Tensing Norgay. Since then, May 29 is a Nepalese celebration called Everest Day. I had the honor to be invited at this year's Everest Day by His Excellency the Ambassador of Nepal in France and for UNESCO, Mr Sudhir Battarai, a warm and very welcoming Nepali.
There are two routes to access the Roof of the world: South Col route from Nepal and North Ridge route from China.
Climbers usually spend weeks acclimatizing to the altitude before making their final ascent, which is the best way to prevent casualties due to severe altitude sickness, for instance, one of the most common and unfortunate incidents.
From the valley, Everest seems a quiet mountain but don't believe such a thing. It has many dangers such as extreme cold (you may even lose your fingers while climbing), powerful winds, especially in high altitudes, very low oxygen levels (especially in the Death Zone), avalanches (but it happens in all the Himalayan mountain chain, like the tragedy of July 30 in Broad Peak, Pakistan, that cost the lives of 10 people, including one Pakistani guide, Sherpas, foreign climbers and a famous British-Nepali guide, Nurmal Purja, reknown as Nims Dai) difficult terrain or rapidly changing weather (to which you have to be prepared to). But if you are an experimented alpinist, respectful of your environment, trying to ascent Everest is an experience you definitely should try...if you can afford it, of course. That is why for so many people, this is the dream of their lives.
Sherpas are an ethnic group from this Himalayan region, particularly associated with Nepal and Everest.
Many Sherpa climbers work as guides and support members of expeditions. Their knowledge of the mountains and experience at high altitude are invaluable and their respect and humility are a true example for us. I find them very inspiring and I can't wait to meet them.
As I said earlier Everest has also become an environmental symbol.
The growing number of expeditions has created problems including: waste left by climbers, abandoned equipment, human waste (disgusting, if you ask me...), damage to fragile ecosystem and shrinking glaciers linked to climate change
Nepal and other organizations have introduced measures to reduce pollution and remove waste from the mountain and my project to trek to Everest base camp is to try to help cleaning up the best I can in collaboration with those organizations. My city, Argentan, supports my project and gave me 200 waste bags. I also want to raise awareness among the alpinists to keep Everest as clean as possible, especially with the efforts Nepal makes to have make sure alpinists can safely drop their waste and have commodities so they don't urinate in the snow.
Unfortunately, through the years, Everest had its set of casualties. Some victims who still remain in the mountain are a recall to the climbers that Sagarmatha is alive and has the power to decide who will descend or not. Among the victims, there is the American alpinist Francys Arsentiev, known as Sleeping Beauty or the famous Indian soldier Dorje Morup, sadly known under the nickname of "Green Boots" because of the color of his boots. He died during an avalanche in 1996 and was finally identified this year. India and Nepal are trying to set up an exceptional operation to bringing down so he can finally return home where his family waits for him to honor him one last time. This mission is very complicated, due to the location of Dorje Morup's body but I try to be optimistic and think that they'll find a way to succeed. Nepalis are very resilient, know and respect the mountain like no one else, Indians have very good equiments and a strong experience with the mountain. I do believe they'll succeed.
So...Everest is dangerous but it's also beautiful, forces you into respect and also shows you who you really are when you go there. As for me, I'm not an alpinist so I'll just stay at Everest base camp. I'll clean the camp but I'll also bring moral support to the Sherpas in the base camp, because they deserve our respect and care.
I'm also raising funds for some Sherpa families in need, identified by Alpine Ramble Treks , the wonderful trekking and climbing agency I'll be travelling with. With the tragedy of August 26, no doubt more families will be identified and I'm working with them as partners, me in Europe, them in Nepal to support those who need it. I aslo bring moral support in these difficult times because since Day 1, I felt a connexion with the agency and I care about all of its staff.
If you wish to participate, just click here .
I hope you learned a few things about Everest, Sagarmatha or Chomolungma. You choose the name that inspires you the most. For me, is Sagarmatha. And you? Feel free to leave a comment to let me know!:)
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