Entries By dave hahn
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Guide News
The most famous RMI guide that ever lived was also a profoundly humble man in an arena not known for fostering humility. Nawang Gombu Sherpa was a man of many such contrasts.
My memories of working with Gombu aren’t unique or privileged. I wasn’t seeing some side of him that others weren’t privy to. But because of his unassuming nature, casual acquaintances might have mistaken his stature in the world. Certainly not, if they’d studied mountaineering and 20th century world history. Gombu was the first man to summit Mount Everest twice. He was the longtime director of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and he was nephew to Tenzing Norgay. He was the youngest Sherpa on the successful 1953 British Mount Everest Expedition and was one of the last surviving climbing Sherpas of that heroic era.
Nawang Gombu had met the queen of England on several occasions. You can find a picture of him in a 1963 National Geographic magazine placing a silk scarf of friendship around John F. Kennedy’s neck in the Rose Garden. But if you worked and lived with Gombu around Mount Rainier in the 70’s, 80’s or 90’s… you probably don’t remember him doing a whole lot of explaining as to why he was so special. More likely you remember him working very hard. And as he got a bit older and less capable on the mountain, some may remember that he also worked hard down around the guide shop, pushing a broom or helping with rental gear.
Despite his unfailingly open and friendly personality, it wasn’t the easiest thing for a young guide to get to know Gombu. He was from a different generation and a vastly different culture and so he talked and acted a little differently… and often times he was a bit needy since he was somewhat isolated in Ashford without a car. So, while everybody called him a friend… that was pretty easy with Gombu, it took a little extra effort for someone to actually be his friend and include him in activities and routines. But for that Gombu was always profoundly grateful. I’m embarrassed now to remember how many times he cooked me dinner and then didn’t allow me to wash dishes afterward. There wasn’t even any question on that… he’d just push you out of the way (and he never lost that particular strength). We did have some fun together… but not enough to justify all of that dishwashing on his part. I’d take him into the suburbs for haircuts and shopping trips to the malls. We’d go into downtown Seattle so I could obsess over shiny climbing gear in the stores. We went rock climbing out at Leavenworth (Gombu was better than I was, not surprisingly) and we even went to the soldout Kingdome to watch Ken Griffey Jr. hit a homerun (his ninth in nine games… it was a big deal). I recall how amused the people in the stands around us were to hear me trying to explain baseball to a Cricket fan… if only they’d known who he was. But I thought that a lot back then, since, as I say, Gombu didn’t go out of his way to let people know he was famous.
Which brings me back to the guide shop and a typical start to a day on Mount Rainier in which I’d meet a bunch of new climbing enthusiasts. They’d introduce themselves and detail their previous successes and immediately I’d find out about the banks and corporations they headed, and I’d hear about their ambitions for high places and their admiration for those that had already been to those places. And amidst all the introductory chest thumping (not just theirs… my chest got worked as well) I’d look over to see Gombu sweeping dust off the rental counter and I’d pause to consider that those captains of industry - and I - might not ever meet a greater mountain climber than the small, friendly, quiet legend who’d just fitted them for boots.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn, June 17, 2011
These are busy days at basecamp. The trail into camp is still quite full with trekkers, porters and yak trains. Most, although not all, climbers have now reached base, and the Puja poles with their colorful webs of prayer flags now form an intersecting canopy over the entire area. Each morning, teams of Sherpas are heading up into the Icefall carrying loads and a few teams have their members sleeping up at Camps 1 and 2 already.
I'm not in a big hurry to get through the Icefall with Erica just yet. The route, although complete when I checked it out the other day, could still stand to be tracked in and improved somewhat. And I'd just as soon have my seventeen-year-old client as ready as possible when we go through to Camp 1 for the first time. So our plan has been to keep training and acclimating ... which, it turns out, is not a bad way to pass the time in this place. Yesterday, while half-a-dozen of the team made the early start and tagged C1, Erica and I got a full night's sleep, ate a fine breakfast, and then set out for a good day of walking. We made our way down to Gorak Shep, banged a right turn up into the hills, and began to climb Kalapathar. The weather was perfect throughout most of the day and our views were unlimited and improving as we climbed. We could look back to the peaks that had lined our path on the trek in, with Thamserku, Kangtega, and Ama Dablam in the distance. Tawoche, Cholatse, Nuptse and Pumori were big and beautiful a little closer in. To the east, Lingtren, Changtse and a big, dark, high pyramid by the name of Everest were stunning. From the top, Erica and I could see the South Col and part of the Lhotse Face. I was surprised when a Slovenian climber near Kalapathar's summit recognized me from the time in 1997 when we were alongside one another on Vinson in Antarctica. But such meetings are not uncommon here.
We cruised on down to Gorak Shep for a drink and a rest at the outdoor tables, chatting with trekkers while watching a few soaring birds. We rallied for the hike back up to basecamp and compared notes there with Ed Viesturs, who'd gone for the same circuit a bit earlier in the day.
Today was generally a good rest day in basecamp, which means meetings for those of us who endeavor to figure out schedules and strategies and future meeting possibilities. Erica and I did bust out of camp for a fine walk in the lower glacier before lunch. I love getting out there to explore ... note that I normally refer to walking "in" the glacier near basecamp, whereas anywhere else in the world it would be normal to talk about climbing "on" a glacier. In this particular section of the Khumbu, which is devoid of snow cover, one walks up and down hidden gullies and waterways in the ice. I like to get out to easier walking on a medial moraine of rock and then to find a new way home through the ice with a different gully each time. This time I was able to show Erica a few old logs that had been used for crevasse bridges in the days before ladders. These, of course, had originally been placed up in the Icefall and had been carried down with the passage of decades. Even so, the logs still clearly bore the crampon scars of whichever famous climbers had scrambled across them.
After lunch, our camp was quiet with napping and a few board games. I joined Peter Whittaker, Jeff Martin and Linden Mallory for a short walk to Damian Benegas' camp, where an initial team-leader meeting had been called for. There was plenty of handshaking and backslapping among those gathered. All of the usual suspects of South Side Everest climbing, plus the former North Siders who've all given up on the Chinese restrictions on entrance to Tibet-The big players-IMG and HimEx, Adventure Consultants and Jagged Globe were there, along with Croatians, Russians, Kazakhs, Koreans, Irish, Spanish, Swiss and Canadians. Willie and Damian Benegas went over the group business with input from those assembled. We tried to figure out radio frequency overlaps and attempted to pool resources for rescues and rope fixing. The gang agreed to meet tomorrow to build a helipad to the west of camp. I helped myself to popcorn and pimento-stuffed green olives from the Benegas table while the big business was conducted and the hors d'oeuvres were sadly being overlooked. The olives were tasty and the meeting therefore a great and friendly success.
We looked like a totally different crew at breakfast this morning. Part of that was because it was still slightly dark when we had breakfast today... we were up early for Icefall training. But when the light happened to hit a face here and there, it showed freshly shaved mugs and clean, fluffy hair. We neatened up yesterday afternoon, testing the shower.
When I first began coming to Everest, in 1991, we wouldn't have dreamed of such an extravagance. Or perhaps back then, we simply thought seventy days of grubbiness was required to properly test a summit wannabe. We all wanted to be Everest "hardmen" in the classic mold. Or maybe with some classic mold. Nowadays, of course, it is clear that we can't possibly measure up to the legends of the Everest game by accumulating filth. Cleanliness is in. And besides, it just doesn't seem all that difficult anymore to set aside one propane tank for an on-demand heater connected to a barrel full of water attached to a tiny electric pump, which all results in a hot stream of water coming out of a showerhead near the top of a tent built for such a purpose.
Our clean team walked out of camp this morning at 6 AM. Ten minutes later, we'd stepped into crampons and were trudging up and over ice rolls and ridges, bound for the start of the climbing route. Our Sherpa team had beaten us to it, having rolled out of camp at 4:30 AM. Seven of them fired up the newly established Icefall route to establish our Camp I at around 19,900 ft. Two more, Tschering and Mingma, went to CI but then continued on all the way up the Western Cwm, claiming some prime real estate up there at 21,300 ft for our Advanced Basecamp (aka ABC, aka CII, aka "Tschering and Mingma kicked butt"). The rest of us contented ourselves with a good stretch of the legs, climbing 90 minutes out of camp to reach the first ladders and fixed ropes, which we practiced on for a bit before returning. It was a good reminder for all that we are new to these altitudes and that it is cold out on the glacier before the sun hits. But nearly everybody came down jazzed and excited to get after the rest of the Khumbu Icefall in the coming days. The Icefall is an intimidating place, but it is also quite beautiful in the early morning light.
Resting up this afternoon, we watched as a number of teams pulled into basecamp. Within a few days, the gang will all be here, but for today we were happy to see the Alpine Ascents team pull in with a bunch of guides we've all worked alongside of for years. IMG got here before us, and they are just a stone's throw away with a bunch more of our friends. Russell Brice came through camp yesterday and reported that his big HimEx team is doing well in their slightly separate basecamp twenty minutes down the trail. There have been a few sightings of the Benegas brothers, Willie and Damian and it will be fun to connect up with them again for some milk tea. Henry Todd is rumored to be on the approach. The season is on and all the usual suspects are gathering.
We survived the first night without a roof over our heads. Quite comfortably, by all accounts. There were no dogs barking in the night, no heavy boots clunking down wooden hallways to latrines, none of the endless coughing fits coming through the thin walls of trekking houses. Instead, we had easy breezes, the quiet rustle of comfy down sleeping bags and moonlight coming through our tent ceilings. Oh yeah, and occasionally the violent thunder of avalanches... but that didn't truly bother us. We know we've picked a safe place for basecamp far enough from the vertical walls of this enclosed valley.
The day has been spent sorting gear, talking over plans, napping, reading, eating and getting to know our Sherpa teammates. We've got great strength and experience in our Sherpa team, and we'll depend mightily on them during this trip. I'm not aware of any team attempting the mountain this season that won't be reliant on Sherpa help. Some may claim to be going with minimal support, but they will still be heavily dependent on the Sherpas who fix the route through the Khumbu Icefall, to say nothing of the route above. This is not to say that, of the many talented non-Nepalese climbers assembled here at the foot of the hill, none would be capable of climbing the mountain without Sherpa aid, but the simple fact is that such climbs are not attempted in this day and age on this route on this mountain.
There is often confusion among those not versed in Himalayan climbing as to who Sherpas are and what their various jobs may be. I'm often unnerved back home to hear people say, while hiking or working hard, that they'd sure like to have a Sherpa along to carry their pack or to do their digging. Such comments are usually made in jest and are probably for my benefit when folks know that I have spent time in Nepal and Tibet. Nevertheless, they tend to sell the real Sherpa people short.
Referring to someone as "Sherpa" is to say that they are from a tribe of mountain people in a specific region of Nepal. It is not a job designation. It doesn't simply mean "porter" and it definitely doesn't mean "servant." Early on, when the pioneering Himalayan expeditions were discovering the amazing work ethic common to the Sherpa culture, these men were trained as high-altitude load carriers. But almost from the start, there were plenty of individuals -notably Tenzing Norgay who excelled at the art of climbing, who eagerly grasped its strategies, and who exhibited just as much ambition to reach summits as any Westerner.
By this 2009 Everest season, one cannot correctly make more than a few broad generalizations about who the Sherpas are on this mountain. Many may still be farmers the rest of the year... many may still fulfill the simple yet essential role of high-altitude porter... but then there will also be a fair number of excellent mountain climbers with superior strength and skill on rock and ice who are being counted on to guide individuals and lead expeditions. Some will struggle with English, but will then surprise the heck out of you when they turn out to speak French, Korean and Japanese just fine. Some will never have been out of these valleys, but increasingly others will turn out to have traveled the world; to be putting their kids through college in Canada, India or the U.S., to be web-savvy, literate and politically astute.
Away from the Himalaya, the assertion is often made (by people who, I feel sure, mean to honor this group of climbers) that Sherpas are universally strong and across-the-board gifted with a physiology that makes high-altitude climbing a snap. True, many Sherpas have less trouble acclimatizing than those who visit these mountains from elsewhere, but it probably does Sherpas more honor to recognize their limitations than any perceived inherent advantages. They don't live on Mount Everest. The highest commonly inhabited villages are usually only around 12,000 ft to 14,000 ft in elevation. They don't have three lungs and two hearts... or any other crazy adaptation that makes climbing easy. The really humbling thing for me is to realize that my Sherpa partners are working just as hard as I am when we are clawing our way up some slope in difficult conditions with heavy packs. That climbing is difficult for them -not easy- and that they go out to do it anyway, day after day without whining, indeed while smiling and laughing. It isn't just what we see on the mountain either. For a bunch of days we walked through rough farmland where every single rock was neatly in place, where fields were endlessly being tended to, where houses were simple but always in good repair. The work ethic was obvious, uncommon and admirable.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not implying that the First Ascent team will be on holiday here. When the Sherpas we're partnering with cook and carry water and hack out tent platforms from the Lhotse Face and fix rope and get hard work done in dangerous conditions, sometimes we'll be right alongside them. And sometimes they'll be doing it while we rest or get other jobs done. And obviously the Sherpas won't be doing it for free. Money is a huge motivator in this part of the world, and expedition work turns out to produce some of the best opportunities in all of Nepal. But money doesn't adequately explain the smiles and the warmth and the friendship that our Sherpa partners will share with us on this trip. We'll try to be worthy of that friendship.
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