Tenzing Norgay: The Sherpa Raised by the Mountain of Snows
Conflicting accounts exist regarding the birthplace of Tenzing Norgay, the child of Mount Everest. As a boy herding cattle, I often wondered why no birds flew above that mountain. Additional photographs were taken from the mountain’s base to verify that they had reached the summit and to show that their Everest ascent had not been fabricated. That achievement still carries significance today. Tenzing Norgay, 1953, ©RoyalGeographical Society via G; Two people at the summit, 1953 ©gettyimages.
Many later accounts, including that of his son Jamling Tenzing Norgay, indicate he was born in Tibet and grew up in the Kama Valley at the southern foothills. In his own autobiography, however, he described himself as a Sherpa from the Khumbu region at the southern foot of the Himalayas. Then, during a 1985 interview with an Indian radio station, he said his parents came from Tibet. His exact birth date remains unknown to anyone; he himself settled on around late May, relying on his mother's imprecise memories of the weather and crops at the time.
As a teenager, Tenzing Norgay ran away from home twice, one time going to Kathmandu. Later, he was sent to the Tengboche Monastery to become a monk, but he felt it was not right for him and left. On that occasion, he and several other young Sherpa fled to Darjeeling, hoping to join a British expedition to Mount Everest. After he reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953, he decided to mark his birthday on that date. The British mountaineering team with Sherpa guides, 1952, ©BBC
Tenzing recounted two explanations for his youthful attraction to climbing Everest, which he revealed after his historic achievement. He stated that listening to older Sherpas' stories about expedition teams led him to dream of conquering Mount Everest. Additionally, he mentioned that as a child, monks at the village monastery had told him that deities and spirits lived on Mount Everest's slopes, sparking his wish to make a pilgrimage there.
Mount Everest rises through roughly two-thirds of the Earth's atmosphere, nearly at the cruising altitude of modern jet aircraft, which helps explain why the summit felt unattainable. For close to twenty years, this porter participated in every expedition aiming to conquer the mountain. The initial map of Everest dates to 1933, and the first successful climb, by Norgay and others, came 20 years later. © National Geographic. The porter and his wife.
Despite the region's scarce oxygen, frigid temperatures, and volatile weather, he persistently pursued his objective by serving as a regular porter on climbing expeditions for many years, earning respect within every team he joined. Numerous confident summit attempts relied on his support, yet without exception, each one ended in failure.
The triangle formed by Dargeeling, the Sherpa people, and Mount Everest defined Tenzing Norgay's life. At age 19, he made his home in a Sherpa community village within the Dargeeling District of the Dargeeling City area. Around that time, he had married Dawa Phuti, a Sherpa woman, and the couple lived in a poor community not far from the market. Together with their two daughters, they all shared a single room there before he accomplished his successful climb of Mount Everest. Carrying a teammate on his back, 1953 ©National Geographic.
Situated at 2,000 meters above sea level on a steep slope in the southern foothills of the Himalayas, Dargeeling is a small town whose population currently stands at 120,000, compared to just 25,000 residents in the 1950s. Great Wall at Badaling, 1912, ©wikipedia The Sherpa community, comprising both men and women, consists of industrious outdoor workers. Even today, one can observe Sherpa women on the streets carrying large baskets shaped like cones or pyramids.
Before Tenzing Norgay found fame, his wife was frequently one of these laborers—a small but robust woman born in Darjeeling to Sherpa parents. Tenzing's own home is a tiny room in a pink stucco house located on a high street in Darjeeling; when the sky is clear, one can see the striking snow peaks to the northwest, including Kangchenjunga, the world's third-highest mountain. As for Mount Everest, a viewer must go to Tiger Hill, a lookout point 13 miles southeast of the city, to see it.
Dajiling porter, 1890, ©wikipedia Sherpa porters from the Great Himalayas, 1890, ©ebay.com. Did the young Sherpa porter, peering out the window, ever imagine that the mother of all mountains would one day raise him above every other person on the planet? At that moment, he was still 20 years away from becoming famous worldwide. Once that happened, he would be this world's hero. To be continued. Sherpa Tenzing, 1953 ©gettyimages. Before going up, he had been nobody special.
This article is a translation taken from Aguo's blog. Upon his return, he was regarded as a hero across the world.