Sir Chris Bonington
What exactly is the Sherpa Heritage Museum?
The Sherpa Heritage Museum is, in fact, the family house of Pertemba Sherpa, who is probably the most successful expedition sirdar [chief Sherpa] ever – he was my sirdar when I climbed the southwest face of Everest [in 1975] and in 1985 as well. He’s a brilliant organiser and leader, a fine climber and a very nice guy. His family was one of the first to arrive in Khumjung [a Nepalese village at an altitude of 3,900 metres just above Namche Bazar] about 150 years ago. They came over from Tibet, where they had a house, to spend the summer with the yaks in Khumjung when there was no-one else there. They decided it was quite a nice place to live and started living there all year round. They were obviously a wealthy and successful Sherpa farming family as it’s a big, beautiful house, the oldest in Khumjung. Pertemba felt that it should be preserved, and had the idea of actually giving the house to the community, but first completely renovating back to its original state. Virtually all of the houses in Khumjung have been modernised with corrugated iron roofs or enlarged windows, and although they’re probably more comfortable to live in, they’re not like Sherpa houses once were. Pertemba has very strong views about his roots, so he wanted to give it to his community, to remind youngsters of their history and give trekkers and tourists an opportunity to learn about the Sherpa community.
What’s the building’s current state of repair?
It’s pretty dilapidated. Unless something is done about it pretty quickly, the whole thing’s going to fall down – that’s why we’re making an appeal to raise funds at the Royal Geographical Society. It’s a relatively modest amount we need – £52,750 – which is incredibly reasonable, but that’s just for the actual repairs. It’s very difficult to make a museum such as this self-sustaining, so you need a small sum of money to act as a cushion. I’m confident we’re going to raise that money because there are so many people out there who’ve visited Khumjung and Everest and have come to love the Sherpas. Today, the Sherpas are in a state of change; they’re modernising. The problem is, in their haste to modernise, there’s a danger they’ll discard their roots along with their early architecture. Pertemba is getting no material gain from this whatsoever, it’s just something that he really wants to do for the community. Doug Scott [the first Briton to climb Everest], who’s a good friend of mine, has a very successful charity, Community Action Nepal (CAN), which basically builds schools, hospitals, bridges and other infrastructure for the poorer villages. It also works with the local people to ensure that there are local businesses, run by local people. And through CAN, we can actually support a project such as this – CAN will act as the vehicle for handling all the funds, while the project management will be done by the Khumjung Sherpa community in conjunction with CAN.
Describe the layout of the house
I’ve been there a couple of times, and to be honest, [the exterior] reminds me of 17th-century farmhouses in the Lake District. Inside, there are two main areas: a religious wing containing a prayer wheel and lovely murals on the wall and then there are the living quarters of the house. They’re connected by a little bridge, which can be easily broken should a fire break out. The living quarters consist of a huge living space with a fire at one end – the smoke just found its way through the roof – they didn’t actually have flumes. Downstairs is where they would keep all the animals, the idea being that during the bitterly cold winter, when there was a lot of deep snow, the Sherpas would keep their yaks, sheep and goats downstairs so that the heat from the animals would rise up and help to warm the upstairs. The house is going to be completely as it would have been 150 years ago, except with a little restaurant, guesthouse and gift shop adjoining. These will help provide revenue to sustain the museum.
In what ways are the Sherpas’ lives modernising?
In Khumjung, the great thing is that the Sherpas have exploited tourism rather than outsiders, such as large organisations and hotel chains [doing so]. All of the lodges are very characteristically Sherpa, but they have electricity, internet connections, satellite phones and hot showers. The Sherpas have always been a very enterprising group of people, perhaps because, historically, they have always lived around the boundaries of Nepal, Tibet and India, and they’ve always been great traders. The most successful Sherpas work on the trekking routes or in lodges and provide an increasing standard of living for themselves,
as well as employment for other people – employed in domestic roles in lodges, for example. Inevitably, some of the youngsters are going off to Kathmandu, where they get satellite television and are exposed to more Western cultures and values. There’s nothing wrong with that; what Pertemba and I would like to see is the younger generations develop and change, yet nurture their original values by remembering and understanding the heritage from which they come.
November 2007
The Sherpa Heritage Museum is, in fact, the family house of Pertemba Sherpa, who is probably the most successful expedition sirdar [chief Sherpa] ever – he was my sirdar when I climbed the southwest face of Everest [in 1975] and in 1985 as well. He’s a brilliant organiser and leader, a fine climber and a very nice guy. His family was one of the first to arrive in Khumjung [a Nepalese village at an altitude of 3,900 metres just above Namche Bazar] about 150 years ago. They came over from Tibet, where they had a house, to spend the summer with the yaks in Khumjung when there was no-one else there. They decided it was quite a nice place to live and started living there all year round. They were obviously a wealthy and successful Sherpa farming family as it’s a big, beautiful house, the oldest in Khumjung. Pertemba felt that it should be preserved, and had the idea of actually giving the house to the community, but first completely renovating back to its original state. Virtually all of the houses in Khumjung have been modernised with corrugated iron roofs or enlarged windows, and although they’re probably more comfortable to live in, they’re not like Sherpa houses once were. Pertemba has very strong views about his roots, so he wanted to give it to his community, to remind youngsters of their history and give trekkers and tourists an opportunity to learn about the Sherpa community.
What’s the building’s current state of repair?
It’s pretty dilapidated. Unless something is done about it pretty quickly, the whole thing’s going to fall down – that’s why we’re making an appeal to raise funds at the Royal Geographical Society. It’s a relatively modest amount we need – £52,750 – which is incredibly reasonable, but that’s just for the actual repairs. It’s very difficult to make a museum such as this self-sustaining, so you need a small sum of money to act as a cushion. I’m confident we’re going to raise that money because there are so many people out there who’ve visited Khumjung and Everest and have come to love the Sherpas. Today, the Sherpas are in a state of change; they’re modernising. The problem is, in their haste to modernise, there’s a danger they’ll discard their roots along with their early architecture. Pertemba is getting no material gain from this whatsoever, it’s just something that he really wants to do for the community. Doug Scott [the first Briton to climb Everest], who’s a good friend of mine, has a very successful charity, Community Action Nepal (CAN), which basically builds schools, hospitals, bridges and other infrastructure for the poorer villages. It also works with the local people to ensure that there are local businesses, run by local people. And through CAN, we can actually support a project such as this – CAN will act as the vehicle for handling all the funds, while the project management will be done by the Khumjung Sherpa community in conjunction with CAN.
Describe the layout of the house
I’ve been there a couple of times, and to be honest, [the exterior] reminds me of 17th-century farmhouses in the Lake District. Inside, there are two main areas: a religious wing containing a prayer wheel and lovely murals on the wall and then there are the living quarters of the house. They’re connected by a little bridge, which can be easily broken should a fire break out. The living quarters consist of a huge living space with a fire at one end – the smoke just found its way through the roof – they didn’t actually have flumes. Downstairs is where they would keep all the animals, the idea being that during the bitterly cold winter, when there was a lot of deep snow, the Sherpas would keep their yaks, sheep and goats downstairs so that the heat from the animals would rise up and help to warm the upstairs. The house is going to be completely as it would have been 150 years ago, except with a little restaurant, guesthouse and gift shop adjoining. These will help provide revenue to sustain the museum.
In what ways are the Sherpas’ lives modernising?
In Khumjung, the great thing is that the Sherpas have exploited tourism rather than outsiders, such as large organisations and hotel chains [doing so]. All of the lodges are very characteristically Sherpa, but they have electricity, internet connections, satellite phones and hot showers. The Sherpas have always been a very enterprising group of people, perhaps because, historically, they have always lived around the boundaries of Nepal, Tibet and India, and they’ve always been great traders. The most successful Sherpas work on the trekking routes or in lodges and provide an increasing standard of living for themselves,
as well as employment for other people – employed in domestic roles in lodges, for example. Inevitably, some of the youngsters are going off to Kathmandu, where they get satellite television and are exposed to more Western cultures and values. There’s nothing wrong with that; what Pertemba and I would like to see is the younger generations develop and change, yet nurture their original values by remembering and understanding the heritage from which they come.
November 2007
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