More Sherpas

I think it's incredibly rude to take someone's picture without their permission. I see so many tourists stick their cameras in the faces of local people just going about their business. I understand the fascination. That's why I wait until they're not looking. Yeah, it's a slippery moral slope.

Here are some pix of sherpas at work. I saw this tiny old man on my last day on the trail.



Like most sherpas, he was wearing rubber shower shoes. I stepped out of the way to let him walk down a long, stone stairway. The pipe was just barely above the level of the steps. Not once did I see them hit the stone.





This guy is the Mozart of sherpas.



Those are 6x6's, muddy and soaked from a day of rain. Guys, I challenge you to carry one of these any way you choose. Now imagine lugging two of them up and down steep mountain trails using a strap around your head, and nothing else. I had seen people carrying lumber vertically, like the plywood above, but not like this.

This guy was walking sideways, gently turning his head to swing the boards through the tight passages. He bonked against the occasional rock or tree, but it was astonishing how accurately he was able to swing the lumber with just the slightest movement of his head. If he had turned his head just a little too much the weight and the momentum would have screwed his head off. Even by Sherpa standards this was pretty amazing.

Bono once said "Every man knows he's a sissy compared to Johnny Cash." We're all sissies compared to sherpas.

Popular wisdom has it that sherpas have such superhuman stamina is that they have larger hearts than those of us who live at sea level. This is not true. Their bodies have adapted, but at the molecular level. Long story short, their blood, heart and lungs process oxygen more efficiently.

While it might not literally be true, metaphorically speaking sherpas are big-hearted people. Whenever you pass them on the trail they're always ready to greet you with a hearty "namaste", almost singing it, rather than saying it. Na-mas-TAY!

I try to learn the basic phrases before I visit a new country, but it's not necessary here. Most people here speak fluent English. Porters are the exception. I only know one word in Nepali, but it's a good word to know. Literally translated, Namaste, a Sanskrit word, means "I bow to the divine in you". So it works well as an all-purpose expression of politeness, for hello, goodbye and even thank you.