YOUR SOCIETYYOUR SOCIETY
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By donating to those affected by the April avalanche, the AGS is
supporting the porters and guides who have helped our climbers.Everest’s human element
AGS DONATIONSCLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY OF SARAH MACLAGAN/Isoodon obesulus obesulus;COURTESY HAYLEY DAVIS/Isoodon obesulus obesulus;COURTESY DAVID NICHOLLSLEFT: COURTESY GREG MORTIMER; RIGHT: COURTESY PETE WELLSO
N 18 APRIL, as dawn
approached, an avalanche
swept down the slopes below
Everest’s Khumbu Icefall and killed 16
Sherpa porters – the worst accident in
the history of the mountain.
At least nine people have climbed
Everest with AGS funding and Nepal’s
Sherpa guides and porters have almost
always been part of those climbs.
Pete Wells led an AGS expedition
to the summit in 2010. Although he
hoped to be the first to digitally film
at the top, the environment proved
too tough for the filming equipment.
Pete vividly remembers puffing
his way up to Everest’s Camp II.
Exhausted and with a splitting altitude
headache, he could barely make
out what looked to be an ant trailascending into the clouds, way above
on the Geneva Spur.
“It was our Sherpa porters taking
loads up to Camp IV,” he says.
Throughout the climb he was in awe
of their strength and relied heavily on
their instincts and experience. “If it
weren’t for Kami Rita Sherpa I may
never have reached the summit of
Everest,” Pete says, “or made it
down alive.”
Greg Mortimer, the director of the
Australian Himalayan Foundation and
former long-time AGS trustee, also
remembers friends who helped him
on the first Australian expedition to
reach the peak in 1984 (see page 28).
“Our ’84 expedition was almost
unique in that we did not have paid
Sherpa porters,” Greg says. “But wedid have Nepali friends come with
us into Tibet and on to the climb.”
One, Naryan Shrestha, died
on a later Everest expedition, says
Greg. The other, Tenzing Sherpa,
now resides in Sydney and he and
Greg are still in regular contact.
“These guys are the glue that binds
all expeditions,” Greg says. And
not just physically – they also
“smiled, laughed and took care of
our souls”, Greg says.
As a way of saying thank you to
the Sherpa people for their continued
support and guidance, the AGS has
redirected some funding towards
the Sherpa Support Fund, run by
the Australian Himalayan Foundation.
This money will fund the education of
Sherpa porters and their families.Altitude specialists. Tenzing Sherpa (left, at
left) and Naryan Shrestha in 1984, assisting
on the fi rst Aussie Everest expedition. Pete
Wells (above, at left) and Kami Rita on an
AGS-sponsored expedition in 2010.ag0914p114_yoursoc - 113 2014-08-07T11:23:18+10:00