National Geographic: Return To Everest Page #4

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when the head lama was a child

and the Hillary family

helped build a wall.

On the western ridge above Kunde,

Mingma's wife, Ang Dooli,

also remembers.

In a more private ritual

she brings juniper to the shrine

she and other villagers

built long ago

for Louise and Belinda Hillary.

Yet even the Eight Furies cannot

protect the Sherpa villagers

from the risks of change.

Once reached only by an arduous

two-week walk over mountain trails

the distance from Kathmandu now

can be covered by plane

in less than an hour

provided of course that

the Lukla airstrip,

which bears some resemblance

to a ski jump,

can be found in

the frequent overcast.

Speaking a dozen languages,

tourists from Europe, Asia,

and America disembark

from the aircraft,

pass through the villages

alarming small dogs,

awakening the merchants,

and delighting the local children

who have discovered the blessings

of balloons and bubble gum.

Today the Khumbu is invaded

yearly by thousands of trekkers

and porters plodding the steep

trails and spreading their bivouacs

across the upper slopes like

an occupying army.

More ambitious are

the expeditions intent on conquest

Since Hillary and Tenzing

first reached the summit,

nearly 150 men and women

have stood on Everest.

In Kathmandu there is

a growing list of other teams

booking dates on which

they too can attempt to

climb Everest or a score

of other peaks.

Everywhere the sound

of the saw is heard.

Hillary tells of its impact.

"I believe the problem of

conservation in the Khumbu area

is a very serious one indeed.

There are literally dozens

of small hotels

being constructed with the view

to supplying accommodation

to walkers and trekkers

and climbers.

This has put

a very considerable pressure

on the local timber resources.

In the old days the Sherpas

used to have very strict rules

about where they cut firewood,

and how much they cut.

And the whole society was well

balanced ecologically.

All that has changed.

Nowadays most of the upper valleys

have been completely denuded

and many of the forests have

been thoroughly thinned out."

As the Sherpas are learning,

their mountain homeland is

astonishingly fragile.

Not only in the Khumbu

but throughout Nepal,

trees are being cut

at a devastating rate

one third the nation's forest

in the last decade.

Already ravished slopes are

bringing disastrous penalties.

No longer held by trees,

landslides are destroying terraces

built by centuries

of patient labor,

have even swept away

or buried entire villages.

With the help of

Hillary's Himalayan Trust,

at least one resident is being

banished from the Khumbu parklands.

Relentless foragers of seedlings

and low vegetation,

goats long have threatened

the slow-growing shrubs

and trees of the high country.

Now Hillary, too, joins in a great

goat roundup with Mingma Norbu,

warden of the Sagarmatha National

park on the flanks of Everest.

From the scattered slopes almost

five hundred goats at last

are gathered near Namche Bazar

and driven to the less vulnerable

lowlands in the south.

At park headquarters,

Warden Mingma Norbu leads

an intensifying

effort to save

the Khumbu from calamity.

A student in the first school

built at Khumjung

over twenty years ago,

he is a proud example of the

education made possible by Hillary

Now, speaking both Nepali and

occasional English,

he teaches a new generation

of Sherpa children

to recognize the evidence of

damaged trees

and erosion on the scarred

landscape around them.

He stresses the critical

importance of tree nurseries

and the need for

a wider program of reforestation

protecting not only

their fragile world,

but Sherpa culture itself.

Celebrated in a museum photograph,

the climbing of Everest

by Hillary and Tenzing

hastened the changes

taking place in Nepal.

Now on the thirtieth anniversary

of that historic event,

the Khumbu is no longer

an island lost in time.

Yet the past sends emissaries.

Announced by the beat of drums,

ancient protectors of

their Tibetan ancestors

appear amid the villagers

assembled at Khumjung School.

Believed to be the guardians

of the four gates of Earth,

"snow lions" have come down

from the icy summits

to dance and cavort for

the honored guests.

While the conquerors of Everest

sample the home-brewed chang

of the village women,

the school staff prepares a lesson

on how mountains really

should be climbed.

As the guests should know,

a little chang steadies the nerves,

helps blur the dangers and

difficulties that lie ahead.

A helping hand is

always appreciated.

Pace yourself.

The steeper the slope,

the more rest you need.

Try not to trip on a tangled rope.

The fall may be

farther than you think.

When altitude sickness strikes,

a whiff of oxygen can work wonders.

When lost, look for the summit.

That's where you're going.

In the final assault on the last

gale-swept ridge, don't lose heart.

"I'm going to die.

I'm going to die."

"Okay"

"Thank you very much."

Celebrating one journey,

Hillary begins another.

From Khumjung School

he leads a climb of children.

Bearing seedlings of fir

and rhododendron from

Sagarmatha's nurseries,

the students of Khumjung school

are bringing back growth

to the blighted slopes

below Everest.

Helped by Hillary as

they commit roots to soil,

they are part of

a new children's crusade,

not to seek redemption in heaven,

but to renew life on Earth.

Around Hillary stand

the silent witnesses

of the journey he began long ago

Ama Dablam, Kantega,

Thamserku, Everest

the summit where he and Tenzing

once left a bit of chocolate

and a few biscuits.

Today he has brought a richer gift

the small beginnings of

a new woodland,

the little trees protect

by the prayers of children.

But the answer to prayers often

lies in those who pray.

In the opening minds of

Khumbu's children

lies a measure of

their world to come.

In them Sir Edmund Hillary

long ago

found something more satisfying,

more enduring,

than leaving a footprint

on a mountaintop.

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