Apa Sherpa heads to Nepal — but not for Everest
Apa Sherpa heads to Nepal — but not for Everest
Apa Sherpa has broken the routine: The Salt Lake resident with the world record for the most summits of Mount Everest left for Nepal this week. But it isn’t April.
For the first time since 1994, the 49-year-old Sherpa from Thame, Nepal, will climb the Himalayas in the fall. And, after 19 trips to the top of the world, Apa is going to try and reach the top of a different mountain.
Accepting an invite from Swiss climber Stephane Schaffter, with whom he climbed Everest twice, Apa will attempt to climb an unnamed and previously unclimbed peak.
“I have no idea what to expect,” Apa said with a nervous laugh before he left for Kathmandu. “It is two days [walking] from my house in Thame. We used to walk by it with the yak trains when we were trading supplies in Tibet when I was a young boy. I had no idea I would ever be trying to climb it.”
Climbing with Schaffter and Apa is Adbul Karim of Pakistan. Schaffter’s idea for the climb is loosely translated to “connecting talent in the Himalayas.” Like Apa, Karim has developed a reputation as a strong porter who helps others achieve their dreams of making it to the top.
Apa has never met Karim, but he is looking forward to spending time with both climbers in the Nangpa La Valley, the route used by traders to deliver goods between Tibet and Namche Bazar in Nepal.
The unnamed peak the trio is trying to climb, with documentary cameras recording every move, is 22,200 above sea level and about half way between Apa’s home village of Thame and the border with Tibet.
Apa and his wife Yangji have spent time with Schaffter in Switzerland. Apa says he knows Schaffter well enough to tell him if things get too dangerous on the mountain.
“Climbing in the fall is more dangerous than the spring and I have no idea what the climb will be like,” Apa said. “I will know more when I get there. I don’t want to get into trouble. On Mount Everest I know every step. This will be very different.”
Apa’s last week in North America was chaotic. His family is looking for a house and he had a speaking commitment in Park City at the Utah Department of Natural Resources on Tuesday. That left little time to pack for the trip and his flight on Thursday. Due to the tight schedule, Apa missed an opportunity to hand President Obama a rock he collected from the top of Everest this past spring during his 19th summit.
The environmental group WWF, which partnered with Apa’s Eco-Everest Expedition in 2009, asked Apa to present the rock to Obama during talks on global warming at the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday.
“I was excited when they asked me to give him the rock, but I just could not make it there with the climb and the talk,” Apa said. “It is disappointing. I would have liked to meet the president.”
Apa expects to return to Salt Lake City in early November and wonders if his family may be in a new house when he arrives.
“We were trying to find one before I left and we did, but somebody had already bought it,” Apa said.
brettp@sltrib.com
For a look at Apa Sherpa’s 19th summit of Mt. Everest in the spring of 2009 visit http://sherpas.sltrib.com/2009/
The Salt Lake Tribune
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