Namche / Sherpa Guides versus Western Guides
By Marshall Thompson
A question keeps bothering me while I’m here: Why do Sherpa guides get paid less than Western guides? Since the price people will pay to climb Mount Everest is governed by the free market, there’s no easy answer. However, Dawa Steven, our guide who is half Sherpa and half Belgian, speaks five languages and studied business administration in Scotland, had a good guess. It comes down to the language barrier essentially. People are risking their lives and they want to make sure they can chat with somebody about it. Apparently. Still, as Dawa Steven pointed out, most people who come back a second time go with Sherpa guides. So, in essence the days of disparity between Western and Sherpa guides may be coming to end. Not any time soon, for sure, but they’re on their way. Dawa Stevens father, Ang Tshering Sherpa, founded his own company about 30 years ago, Asia Trekking. Today, they are one of the largest in the area. It’s a trend that is showing all over the Khumbu Region, the local people are taking over the tourist business. Enterprising Sherpa have started their own lodges and cafes. A few decades ago, trekking companies would buy all their supplies in Kathmandu and then hire porters to bring it up. But now, Sherpa entrepreneurs are bringing in their own supplies and then taking the mark-up for themselves. Most of the trekking companies are happy to use the lodges and cafes because they’re so convenient. Soon, Dawa Steven said, the Sherpa will have created enough innovative tourist accommodations that people won’t even need a trekking company. When that happens, the Sherpa will be directly getting every dollar from the tourist industry that makes such a heavy impact on their peaceful valleys. It’s exciting to see, frankly. I’ve been to so many areas of the world where the tourist industry is essentially a form of slave labor – rich individuals capitalizing on the lucrative combination of amazing natural resources and grinding poverty. I’m happy to report from Namche today that the Sherpa are not falling into that devastating pattern.
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