Kanchha Sherpa was a member of the 51-member Sherpa expedition led by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay that made the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. Kanchha's team, which had set out from Siliguri in Falgun 2009, had built a route and reached the Khumbu Icefall from the base camp in a week.
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Kanchha Sherpa, the last surviving member of the first successful expedition to climb Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, passed away on Thursday at the age of 93. According to Kanchha's son, Tshering Penjo Sherpa, his father passed away at 2:10 am at his residence in Kapan. Kanchha, who lived with his two sons in Namche Bazaar, below Mount Everest, had come to Kathmandu for treatment three months ago. He was suffering from a cancerous tumor.
He was born in Namche, the youngest of five brothers and three sisters. Despite his middle name, he was called 'Kancha' by his family and was given the same name in his citizenship certificate.
Kancha was 21 years old when Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa made the first successful ascent of Mount Everest in 1953. Hillary and Tenzing climbed Mount Everest on 15 Jestha 2010 (29 May 1953). The expedition included 16 British and 35 Nepali Sherpas at that time.
Kancha was the only surviving member of the expedition after 2070. He had come to Kathmandu from Darjeeling with Hillary and Tenzing and walked from Bhaktapur to climb Mount Everest, he had said in an interview with Kantipur a few years ago. In the interview, Kanchha said that he had been a porter at the time and had reached South Col (8,382 meters) below the peak of Mount Everest.
During the winter of 2009, rural life in the Khumbu region was very difficult. There were very few Sherpas who ate rice carried by porters from Dolakha. Most of the time, the Sherpas lived on a diet of potatoes and radishes. Kanchha worked as a firewood cutter in the village. At that time, British and American climbing teams were trying to climb Mount Everest from the northern face towards Tibet.
Nepali Sherpas used to go to Darjeeling in search of work. At that time, someone told the village, ‘Tenzing Norgay is in Darjeeling. He offers work!’ Then Kanchha ran away from home and reached Darjeeling via the mountainous route of Sankhuwasabha and Taplejung. According to him, at that time, Tenzing Norgay had also left the hut due to the hardships of mountain life and reached Darjeeling.
Tenzing used to take foreign tourists to the mountains near Darjeeling. He had attempted to climb Mount Everest from the northern face of Tibet with a climbing team. Kanchha's father had also reached the northern face of Mount Everest with Tenzing in that expedition. 'Since my father worked with him in that expedition, when I called out my father's name, he took me with him. He had found work for two other friends in the Sherpa's house there,' Kanchha had said.
Kanchha worked as a firewood collector in Darjeeling. At that time, Tenzing had told Kanchha and his friends about Hillary's expedition to climb Mount Everest from Nepal. After staying in Darjeeling for a few months, Kanchha had taken the train to Raxaul via Siliguri in 2009. From there, he boarded Sardar's Indian truck and descended to Kathmandu via the by-road. Eleven Sherpas from Darjeeling, who had experience in mountaineering, also came with him.
Kanchha had described his first experience of mingling with foreigners in Kathmandu at that time. 'I had seen foreigners for the first time after they came to Kathmandu,' Kanchha had said in that meeting. He said he had also seen Hillary at that time. At that time, Hillary had come with the British military climbing team. The Sherpa team had collected the climbing equipment that had come from New Zealand and Britain via Raxaul in Bhaktapur. According to Kanchha, at that time, the first camp was set up in Bhaktapur for two weeks.
At that time, 1,200 Tamangs who carried heavy loads and 35 Sherpas who were going to climb the mountain were gathered at a fixed wage of 8 rupees per day. The porters had to arrange their own food. Many had brought their own food from home. At that time, paper notes were not in circulation. Transactions were made in silver coins. ‘There were 25 boxes of money just to pay the porters and Sherpas. The then government had deployed 5 policemen with loaded guns to Namche to protect the money,’ Kanchha had said.
Hillary’s team reached Namche on the 16th day from Bhaktapur via Panchkhal and Dolalghat on 27 Falgun 2009. They had walked the 273-kilometer journey from Kathmandu at an average rate of 8 kilometers per day. The Tamang porter was returned from Namche due to ‘high altitude sickness’.
Hillary and the foreigners were kept in Namche for a week to acclimatize to the high-altitude environment. At that time, the porters carried about 5 tons of food, including food. It took another 6 days to reach the base camp of Everest from Namche. About 200 porters and porters from Namche, Thame, Khumjung, and Pangboche carried tents, sleeping bags, oxygen, kerosene cans, prepared food in cans, medicine, and climbing equipment. Oxygen cylinders weighing 30-40 kg were placed in rucksacks and made heavy.
Before that, the Sherpas of the Khumbu region had never set up base camp. There was no village above Lubuche, where the hut of the porter lived. The last village was Dingboche. Kanchha, who was considered a god on Chomolong, was accompanied by his uncle Pasang Phutar Sherpa. He considered the area around the base camp of Everest at that time to be strange.
It took the Sherpas a week to build a road from the base camp to the Khumbu Icefall. There was no park like there is now. Trees were allowed to be cut down. The Sherpas had cut 20 pine trees and carried them to the base camp. From there, they carried them and built a bridge, stairs, and a path on the snow. The first camp was set up ahead of the base camp. Then, within a day, they reached the second, third, and fourth camps. In the evening, kerosene was burned in the camp. They cooked soup by heating the snow and eating it.
Some doctors came with Hillary, some took photos, some worked on maps and tents. At that time, gloves were not used like now. Everyone was given glasses. That was also the first experience of the Sherpas, including Kanchha. Two people slept in each tent. Hillary and Tenzing slept in one tent. After climbing up from the fourth camp, 14 people including Hillary, Tenzing, two Sherpas from Darjeeling, and Kanchha reached South Col. Many foreigners could not climb up from the second camp.
Hillary and the foreigners leading the expedition used to talk on walkie-talkies. Fortunately, the weather did not deteriorate at that time. There was another camp above South Col. Kanchha and his friends had to carry their luggage up to there. They would return after carrying their luggage. On 16 Jestha 2010, at 12 noon, Hillary and Tenzing set foot on the peak of Everest. The news arrived at the second camp via walkie-talkie. The Sherpas of Darjeeling translated the news in English and told Kanchha and his friends. “We were very happy with that news,” Kanchha said.
Before Hillary, various climbing teams had attempted to climb Everest 10 times. Before Hillary, the British had first attempted to climb from the Tibetan side. But that expedition was unsuccessful. At that time, the first climbing expedition from the Nepal side was estimated to take 3 months to reach the peak. However, the journey was completed in 45 days. Hillary and Tenzing had descended to Camp II in the afternoon of the day after the climb. A helicopter had arrived from Kathmandu to pick them up there. After they returned by helicopter, the Sherpas including Kanchha left their food there and returned to Namche in four days, carrying provisions.
This is the story of Kanchha's first Everest expedition. Many books and documentaries have been written about Kanchha, including his experiences in mountaineering and the first expedition. He was deeply concerned about the increasing pollution in the mountains in recent years. Nepal Mountaineering Association President Fur Gyalje Sherpa said that memorial parks and statues will be built in Pokhara and Kakani in memory of Kanchha. "Kanchha was the godfather of Nepal's mountaineering sector. We are establishing an award in his name," said the President Sherpa.
Tourism and aviation entrepreneur Lakpa Sonam Sherpa said that with Kanchha's death, the tourism sector around the world has been shocked by the departure of a living witness to an important event on this earth. "Kanchha was a source of inspiration for the alpine community around the world. All climbers around the world are shocked by his death," the Sherpa said. With the death of Kanchha Sherpa, all members of the first Everest climbing team have now been transformed into the pages of history. An era of adventure has also passed away with Kanchha.
