South Asia: Pakistan and the Himalayan States - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 211

ancestors migrated into the Everest region from Tibet
around 500 years ago. They began trading with people in
lowland Nepal and India. When the Tibetan border was
closed by China in the 1950s, Nepal was opened to for-
eign climbing expeditions.
Sherpas had already served as servants and porters
for British climbers attempting to reach Everest' s summit
from Tibet. However, when Hillary and Norgay achieved
the summit from Nepal, the word Sherpa was heard
around the world.
Sherpas are now dependent on tourism. Although
some lead expeditions to conquer peaks, others guide
trekking groups at lower elevations. Some Western
climbers admit that they pay Sherpas to take risks they
are unwilling to take. On some occasions, injured Sher-
pas have been abandoned by climbers too anxious to
reach a summit. There are other negative consequences.
Having earned money to be there in the first place and
then dirtying the land is offensive enough to the gods. A
terrible death in the snows even furthers the detriment to
one' s karma and diminishes chances of a good rebirth.
Master-servant relationships are now being trans-
formed into client-guide relationships. T Today, , many
climbers go lightweight and even without oxygen. Sher-
pas are employed to maintain base camps. However, me-
dia attention is usually given to the large-scale expeditions,
and those guides who do climb seldom receive recogni-
tion equivalent to that of their clients. Have you ever
heard of Sundare Sherpa, who has ascended Mt. Everest
five times without oxygen? Or Kaji Sherpa, who in 1998
climbed the peak in 20 hours and 24 minutes, two hours
faster than the previous record?

of Buddha and various other gods. If you visit one
of these temples, you will be offered butter-tea. This
is tea with seemingly rancid yak butter floating on
top. Yak products are also used in traditional medi-
cine and their tails make fine dusters for the sacred
scrolls in Buddhist temples.
First domesticated in Tibet, yaks cannot sur-
vive well below 10,500 feet (3,500 m). A blood he-
moglobin is thought to be responsible for a yak' is
ability to exist in thin air at high altitudes. It begins
to lose its condition around 7,000 feet (2,100 m).
Females, called dimos , are smaller than males and
give about one quart of milk a day . Dimos produce a
calf once every two years; populations do not repro-
duce quickly . Yaks can live 25 years.
There are around 12 million domesticated,
black, brown, and gray yaks. Wild yaks are much
larger and are always black. Wild yaks, however, are
very rare, their populations diminished by illegal
hunting and loss of habitat.
Yaks can be crossed with cattle to produce ani-
mals better suited to lower elevations. This animal
is called a dzho and looks like a cow with long hair.

About Y aks

Imagine a one-ton, hairy ox standing 6 feet high at
its shoulder. Imagine a beast that is able to carry as
much as 300 pounds for 20 or more days at an ele-
vation of 18,000 feet! (I've trekked at 15,000 feet
and could barely breathe. I had to have a little
boy carry my camera equipment.) This is a yak, the
most useful animal for residents of the high Himalayas
(Figure 7-20).
Aside from their packing abilities, they provide
meat, milk, butter, cheese, wool, and leather. Yak
butter is offered in copious amounts in Tantric Bud-
dhist temples and is even used to make sculptures

Figure 7-20
This is your friendly “rent-a-yak.'' T Tourism is increasing in the
remote regions of the Himalayas. Photograph courtesy of
B. A. Weightman .