Anyone who knows anything about climbing knows that the Sherpas are the unsung heroes of mountain climbing. While Sir Edmund Hillary may get most of the credit for summiting Everest, he could never have done it without Tenzeng Norgay. Face it, where would any group heading up Everest be without their dedicated team of sherpas lugging their crap, showing the way, helping people along?
Which raises a question: who are the sherpas, and why don’t they get more attention? Well, aways back Nova ran a program on the Sherpas people directed by Liesl Clark with Broughton Coburn. I confess I haven’t seen it…I believe it is part of a larger series on Everest… but as I was clicking around the Web this morning looking for Sherpa resources, I found the link to the Nova site. There is also the Wikipedia entry on the Sherpas, which provides much more in-depth look at these hearty souls. And then, finally, here’s a fine article about the Sherpas that will help you better understand their life-style, their beliefs, their stamina.