It’s population is around 20 million of which the majority reside in the hospitable lands of the southern plains and Kathmandu range. The north consisting of scattered outposts of villages in the snow laiden mountainous area provides a bearable yet unforgiving climate for the devout religious adherents. The lower base mountain towns include Simikot in the northwestern Humla district and Mustang in the far north. The institutional standards of this area are administered under the Buddahist monks from their monasteries located in Solu-Khumbu or Thyanboche. Spiritual representatives communicate to the religious leader the Dhali Lama himself in Dharamsala, India. These communities of monks, indigenous Sherpa, (which means man from the east), and some Tibetan immigrants who fled the Chinese invasion of the 1950‘s comprise the locals population. The northerners subsist on a despairingly meager existence that is beyond comprehension to any western visitor. Many of the local's primary occupations is subsistence farming, portering or operating a village commisary. Due to the nearly inoperable roads that exist, many supplies that aren’t transported via helicopter require the manpower of Sherpas to haul nearly two hundred pound loads from the central Katmandu area into the cold mountains, a distance of about 190 miles. The popularity of mountaineering in the last several decades has added more work for the grim men and few women capable of exerting such physical toil.

For the country as a whole influence has seeped into the more populated regions from a host of donor nations. A Nepal Aid Group was established in 1976 that includes seventeen western contributory members. Also Russia, China, and India have been important in the development of the countries airport, telecommunication and farming improvements. The fee for a trekking expedition to obtain permits to venture into the highly prized Himalayan region has spiked dramatically since the mid nineties. Before, several hundred dollars could secure a package of permits and a local support team however in part to preserve the sanctity of northern Nepal and prevent against nefarious fatalities, the price is now tens of thousands of dollars.

Much has been written about the harrowing details of the expeditions that set out to conquer the tallest mountain in the world. So immense information can be found on the subject by inquiring into stories like Jon Kraukauer’s Into Thin Air or the writings of Jeremey Bernstein among others. A brief history though on the original explorers into this harsh territory goes as follows.

During the British colonization of greater India during the mid nineteenth century, a statistician working for the British Survey of India thought he had discovered what was the hightest mountain. Consensus remained for the next hundred years and more sophisticated satelite technology later confirmed his findings as fact. Mount Everest largely went unnoticed by Brittish expeditionary soldiers due to the difficulty of observing it from a distance. Upon treks by military explorers crossing into Tibet to establish diplomatic and trade relations, the mystique of the mountain began to develop the allure of an attainable conquest. The Nepalese government had completey closed the country to expedition until 1950 so the early twentieth century fascination had to be approached from the boundary of Tibet that claims the North Face of the mountain.

In 1904 a British commander gained Tibetan approval to open the area’s mountains to adventurers but it was not until 1921 that George Leigh-Mallory, would arrive to embark upon the summit. He and his team of about a dozen made two separate attempts, the first upon his initial arrival and again three years later in 1924. The first attempt resulted in several of the climbers making it as high as 27,000 without the use of oxygen. It was is considered the first known expedition to use Sherpas. At the end, members of the party were swept away in an avalanche that claimed about seven Sherpa lives. Mallory and his Anglo team members though succumbed to no injury during the initial voyage and returned to attempt a second expedition of many sherpas and twelve expeditioners. All that survived on Mallory in this repeated attempt were writings that were discovered describing the section that laid ahead for him to complete the climb to the top. It is likely that Mallory encountered a tenous late afternoon storm system that are prone to settling in and causing fatal weather conditions for those who don’t begin their descent early enough.

Once entry way for expeditions were opened in Nepal, a handful of efforts began with a sense of national pride. In 1952, a Swiss team along with a sherpa Tenzing Norgay of Darjeling India came very close to reaching the top before being stopped by precarious conditions. A year later Norgay returned for his seventh attempt in the company of British colleague Edmund Hillary and they became the first to successfully complete the defying journey.

Preparing oneself for the conditions of such high altitude and vertical obstacles of ice, deep snow and onset of inclimate weather requires sheer domination of physical endurance. To date their have been nearly 2000 successful climbs, a small fraction compared to those that set out to make the summit. Since 1990 the fatality rate has decreased due to tighter regulation on guide companies that can lead the trips. In 1995 one of the the most fatal explorations as told in Into Thin Air claimed the life of esteemed alpinists Rob Hall, Scott Fisher and eight other members of their outfit. The nostalgia surronding the accomplishment for those devotees who seek to revel in the glory of the challenge makes for a fascinating topic. Below are some links to interesting sources that further examine the signifigance of one of Nepal’s wonderous treasures.