Ascent of Everest South Face (Nepal): the expedition's team of Sherpas

In the spring of 2021, Expeditions Unlimited is organising an ascent of Mount Everest (8,848 m) via the South Face, on the Nepal side. After a magnificent acclimatisation trek over the high passes, the five members of the expedition, guided by expedition leader Bernard Muller and accompanied by some of the most brilliant Sherpas in the Khumbu region, reached Everest Base Camp. In the weeks that followed, François Trouillet, one of the participants, gave us a poignant first-hand account of the main stages of the expedition. In this post, François describes the team of Sherpas accompanying us on this expedition.

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François and Mingma at base camp © François Trouillet

In the mess tent there are photos and names of the whole team of Sherpas. There are 19 of them and they all seem to have the same name: Mingma Sherpa, Nigma Nuru Sherpa, Nigma Tensing Sherpa... So I put on my journalist's hat and went to interview Mingma Sherpa, the director of our camp and founder of the local Expeditions Unlimited partner agency, to find out a bit more about him!

The Sherpa ethnic group

Let's start with the name ‘Sherpa’! It refers to an ethnic group in Nepal. According to Wikipedia, it says: ‘The Sherpa people are an ethnic group originally from Tibet. In Tibetan, shar means ‘east’ and pa is a suffix meaning ‘people’: hence the word Sharpa or Sherpa, referring to those who come from the east. Around 500 years ago, the Sherpas left the province of Kham in (Buddhist) eastern Tibet to settle in the high Himalayan valleys of Nepal, particularly in the Khumbu valley. For Westerners, the term sherpa, used as a common noun, also refers to the porters (20-30 in an expedition) and guides (4 or 5), usually all from the sherpa ethnic group, who help the climbers on the Himalayan summits. More specifically, the majority of our team come from the village of Thame, which we passed through on our approach trek.

There are a few exceptions: some have the surnames Gurung and Kumar Rai, which are ethnic groups from the Makalu region. These exceptions are important because while the Sherpas are Buddhist and very religious, the other two are Hindu. But of course they get on very well together.

  
Sherpas leading the expedition © François Trouillet

The names of the Sherpas

Then the first names: Mingma, Nigma, Pemba, Pasang, Lahkpa... well, that's childish!

It's the day of birth in the week in Nepalese!

• Nigma: Sunday
• Dawa: Monday
• Mingma: Tuesday
• Lahkpa: Wednesday
• Phurba: Thursday
• Pasang : Friday
• Pemba: Saturday

Sometimes, there are two ‘names’ before the patronymic. Ex: Nigma Tshering. In this case, it's usually a name given by a lama at birth, often following problems, and which is supposed to protect the child. It can mean great, beautiful, etc.

Speaking of lamas, we are privileged to have four in the team, Sherpas who have been educated in a monastery. Generally speaking, as I've already said, the team is very religious.

Khumbu Valley © David Ducoin

Our team of Sherpas during the expedition

The base camp is a real little village, and the equipment was brought first by helicopter from Kathmandu to Namche Bazar, then by yak and porters to the base camp. The team then set up our camp.

The team is structured as follows:

• An expedition director at base camp, Mingma, who has reached the summit of Everest eight times.

Our Sirdar is Nigma Tensing. He is the leader of the Sherpas who are assigned to us for our ascents (1:1) and who do all the portages and installations in the high-altitude camps.

• Nigma Nuru is a guide who has reached the summit of Everest 22 times. He is more or less Mingma's right-hand man and has been with us from the start of the expedition, particularly during the acclimatisation trek. A Sherpa will be assigned to camp 4 (at 8,000 metres...) to welcome us at any time and will be in contact with the base camp.
   
• A team of cooks consisting of a chef and two helpers for the Sherpa team, a chef and two helpers for us and finally a chef (kitchen) for camp 2.
   
• All the guides have climbed Everest at least four times!
   

So now I know them better, we've got some great times ahead of us.

Join the next Everest climb via the Nepalese South Face or the North Tibet side.

Kala Patthar © François Trouillet