Ain’t no mountain high enough, not even Everest, for the people of the Nepalese village of Phortse

In high-altitude Nepal, one Sherpa village has more Everest summiteers than anywhere else on Earth. Why?

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Trainees from the Khumbu Climbing Centre in Phortse, Nepal, the village with more Everest summiteers than anywhere else, are put through their paces. The centre has given many Sherpas professional climbing and safety skills, making it easier for them to get hired for expeditions. Photo: Amrit Ale

Published: 8:15am, 26 Feb 2023

The village of Phortse, in Nepal’s Khumbu Valley, is perched high on a plateau, surrounded by lush green slopes and snow-covered mountains. In a narrow lane at an elevation of 3,800 metres (12,500 feet), two unassuming young men in their early 20s are spinning yarn on their balcony.

I casually ask if they have summited the venerable and very nearby Mount Everest – called Sagarmatha in Nepali – and one of them nods an indifferent yes.

Later, in my guest house, I ask our host, Panuru Sherpa, serving us tea, whether he has summited Sagarmatha and he replies nonchalantly that he has indeed – “13 times”.

In a nearby house live a father, son and daughter who in the spring of 2021 reached the peak of Sagarmatha together, a first, and a Guinness World Record.

Yulha Norbu spinning yarn in front of his house in Phortse, Nepal. Photo: Neelima Vallangi

“When we summited Everest together as a family, there was no plan,” says the daughter, 21-year-old Pasang Kanchi Sherpa, “but when we set the record I felt encouraged to pursue my dream of mountaineering in future.”

Since commercial mountaineering in the Himalayas began, in the second half of the 20th century, Nepal’s Sherpa people have played an outsize role in supporting the climbing expeditions and foreign clients.