Have you ever heard of the word Sherpa? It might not be a common name in America, but it sure is in Nepal! A Sherpa is a name for a group of Nepalis that live high in the Himalayas. A lot of them have jobs carrying supplies and equipment up treacherous mountains to climbers. The of the most recognized sherpa’s name was Tenzing Norgay. Tenzing had many honorable traits, such as courage, determination, and resourcefulness, that helped him accomplish many admirable tasks. Tenzing Norgay was born with the name Namgyal Wangdi, probably sometime in 1914. Nobody’s sure exactly when he was born because Sherpas don’t record history.
He first lived in the Kharta region of Tibet. His mother’s name was Kinzom and his father’s name was Mingma, who were very poor and depended on yacks for livelihood. They had thirteen children including Namgyal, but eight of them died of sicknesses. The family moved to Nepal when Namgyal was very young. There, Namgyal, like his eight siblings, grew ill. His parents took him to the lama, who claimed Namgyal was a reincarnation of a wealthy man and that he would live long. As a representation of his wealth, the lama gave Namgyal a new name, Tenzing Norgay.
Tenzing learned how to speak Sherpa, Nepali, Hindustani, and Tibetan even though he had no formal education. He was very adventurous, as he dreamed to climb Everest at a very young age. He even ran away when he was about thirteen years old. He came back after two weeks. Finally, Tenzing had a chance to climb Mt. Everest. It was the perfect opportunity for him. Not only was climbing Mt. Everest his dream, but he had also fallen in love with a girl named Dawa Puti. Why this made it perfect for him to leave was because her father didn’t approve of them together. So, they ran away to Darjeeling together.
However, the bliss didn’t last forever because Tenzing was very having a hard time getting a job. He eventually found a job with Eric Shipton. The bliss returned. He married Dawa Puti, who became pregnant with a boy named Nima Dorje. Meanwhile, Tenzing built up his reputation and finally got hired as a sherpa for an expedition to Mt. Everest. Unfortunately, the expeditions had to stop because of World War II. Tenzing became a private mountain guide while his wife had another baby, a girl named Pem Pem, and another baby girl was on the way. Then tragedy struck. Nima Dorje, Tenzing’s son, died of Dysentery. Tenzing’s wife also died.
This left him with two daughters to raise on his own in the hard times of WWII. A year later, he married Ang Lhama, and the expeditions started again. Even though he had seen many deaths and injuries, Tenzing tried again to reach the tip of Mt. Everest. On one attempt, he was two hundred fifty meters from the top, but he and his partner had to turn back; they knew that they would never make it out alive if they reached the top. After the attempt, Tenzing got Malaria and almost didn’t accept the British invitation. But, the invitation offered him a position as Sirdir (the head Sherpa), and a member of the climbing team.
He was partnered with climber Edmund Hillary and saved his life when Hillary fell into a crevasse on their way to set up a camp. Charles Evans and Tom Bourdillon had the first attempt at climbing the mountain, but they had to come back down the mountain when Charles’ oxygen tank went faulty. This left Tenzing and Hillary with the second and final attempt. Their climb went on perfectly until the morning of their assault when they woke up to find that Hillary’s boots were frozen. It took them an hour to thaw them, but once they got going, they didn’t stop until they reached the peak of the mountain.
The summit was celebrated with a simple shake of hands, and the placement of the flags of the U. N. , Britain, Nepal, and India on the peak of Mt. Everest. Once they made it back down, they were instantly heroes. They were both knighted by Great Britain. They were asked to star in their own movie, but they denied the invitation and moved towards bigger and better things. Tenzing became the founder of the Himalayan Mountaineering School, which was a mountaineering school in Darjeeling for the Indian people. He was also the founder and president of the Sherpa Climbers Association.
The Sherpa Climbers Association fought to increase pay for Sherpas world-wide. He became very recognized. He worked with the emperor of Nepal and traveled around the world. He was admired so greatly that when he died of a brain hemorrhage on May 9, 1986, the procession was 1. 6 kilometers long. Tenzing Norgay, the first Sherpa to climb Mt. Everest, did not only accomplish a task extremely physically hard but also endured many mental challenges: his wife and son died, he had trouble getting a job, and he suffered many diseases. Throughout all of this, Tenzing stayed hard working, strong, and humble.