How Dangerous Is A Mount Everest Sherpa's Job?

Updated
How Dangerous Is A Mount Everest Sherpa's Job?
How Dangerous Is A Mount Everest Sherpa's Job?


Officials are calling Friday's avalanche on Mount Everest the deadliest day on the mountain in history. At least 12 Sherpa guides were killed.

According to Al Jazeera, investigators say the Sherpa guides were up on the mountain fixing ropes for climbers who were down at base camp when snow and ice started barreling down Mount Everest.

And with at least a dozen of those guides now confirmed dead, several news outlets are taking a look at how dangerous the job of a Sherpa is.

The New York Times notes many Sherpas, who come from rural areas in Nepal, take on the dangerous job since it's one of their few chances to make good money. The paper translated an interview that a Sherpa did with the Nepal National Mountain Guide Association.

"Our job is to make a good scale for the clients, to make this comfortable. We have to do that. ... Normally [in] our culture ... we say, 'The client is our god.'"

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