The Sherpas are the inhabitants of the Khumbu Valley, the national park surrounding Everest. The term ‘sherpa’ refers to both their ethnic group and job description but it translates literally as ‘easterner’, describing their origins in Eastern Tibet.

The Sherpas run Base Camp and fix the routes up to the other Everest camps. They are invaluable to Everest mountaineers as guides and they also work as porters, carrying some of the heavier mountaineering equipment such as the oxygen supplies. Without the skill of the Sherpas, few expeditions to the summit would be successful.

Highly regarded as mountaineers and experts in their local terrain, the Sherpas have a genetic resilience to high altitude and impressive physical endurance. They have bigger lung capacities and lower blood pressure so they find it easier to function at altitude. In May 2007, Appa Sherpa successfully summited Everest for a record 17th time.

Sherpas have a religious bond with the landscape and treat the mountain they call Chomolungma, ‘Mother of the Universe’, with a spiritual reverence. Significant places on the route up Everest, often at dangerous points such as particularly steep ice towers or ladders, are scattered with colourful prayer flags and stones.

The most famous Sherpa is Tenzing Norgay who climbed Everest with Edmund Hillary in 1953.