Elisabeth Bothell
Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
Dr. Jon Holtzman

The Sherpas of Nepal

“They were being paid, as all men are paid, for services rendered, but it was not primarily for pay that they were on that march.  No less than the Western mountaineers who employed them, they were doing what they wanted to do, what they were born to do.  They were not hired help but companions in adventure” (Ortner, Life and Death on Mt. Everest, 45). 
In the northeast Solu-Khumbu region of Nepal live the Sherpa, the Himalayan people most widely known for their role as porters on climbing expeditions up Mt. Everest.  This region lies 9,000 to 16,000 feet above sea level (Bista, 159), making acclimatization a far less difficult task for the Sherpas than for Western climbers who live much closer to sea level.  The Sherpas’ capacity to survive in high climates, along with their strong builds and ability to carry heavy loads for extended periods of time made the Sherpa the ideal climbing partners on the first attempts to climb Everest.  As Everest ascents have become popularized, trekking has become an industry in Nepal.  The economic system of the Sherpas in Nepal has always revolved around their mountain environment, but since Sherpas began working as porters for the trekking industry, the methods have changed.
Portering as an occupation has existed for approximately 150 years (Ortner, Life and Death on Mt. Everest, 30).  The Sherpa have lived in the Solu-Khumbu region of Nepal for approximately 450 years since they migrated there from Tibet.  Before the Sherpa began working for wages, their economic systems changed with the seasons.  No work of any sort can be done in the high elevations during the winter due to the frigid weather; many Sherpa families migrated to lower altitudes during this time (Bista, 160).  Their mountain environment also dictated their three main forms of economic sustenance, these being agriculture, trade and animal herding (Bista, 161).  The Sherpa economy “in many respects reflects adaptation to the environmental conditions of their high-altitude homeland” (Stevens, 56). 
The Sherpa are agropastoralist transhumants (Stevens, 59).  They maintain crops as well as raise animals for food and trade.  Herding of livestock is a great source of wealth in Sherpa society.  The “Sherpa village economy does not allow the concentration of productive process in a single locality” (Furer-Haimendorf, 24), however.  As animals graze, members of the Sherpa families may follow the animals to herd them while other members may stay at the home.  However, it is not unknown for an entire family to move from their homes for several months at a time, leaving the old residence locked up in wait of their return (Stevens, 56).  The conditions of the land and the weather also do not allow the Sherpa to live in one location all year.  As an agricultural community the Sherpa grow a range crops in various areas that compose the non-meat diet of the Sherpa.  This is a result of the high altitudes and the rough terrain at which the Sherpa live.
The land of the Sherpas is incredibly diverse.  The extreme differences in altitudes, even within one valley create an equally extreme variation of climactic zones, in some areas ranging from subtropical to near-arctic (Stevens, 58).  The eastern hill farming region is often rough, steep and stony.  This environment can make it hard to plant crops, but at the same time it allows for excellent watering and drainage.  The Khumbu region mountain ledges are often home to sandy soil, which is ideal for growing potatoes, a staple crop of the Sherpa.  These can be grown at elevations up to 14,000 feet  above sea level (Karan, 65), while barley and buckwheat, two other staple foods, can be grown even higher. 
The agricultural season does not last long in the highest altitudes of the Khumbu region.  The area is “seldom free of snow before the middle of March” (Furer-Haimendorf, 25), and the land must be prepared and the walls that protect the fields from wandering herds must be repaired before the crops can be planted.  The season is also affected by the Indian Monsoons that occur from the mid-May to mid-October.  In parts of the region these monsoons are a constant rain of varying intensities for days at a time (Ortner, Sherpas Through Their Rituals, 13).   The high altitudes of this region also make survival impossible for diseases and bugs that could infect crops.  Many of the mountains are also made of volcanic soil, creating very fertile land for growing. 
In the lower valleys of the Solu region, however, the growing season lasts much longer due to the more temperate weather.  As in Khumbu, potatoes are a main crop.  This has only been so for about 100 years, however.  “Legend has it that the first seeds came from the British ambassador’s garden in Sikkim” (Ortner, Sherpas Through Their Rituals, 15).   Barley and wheat, the original crops of the Sherpa, along with maize, and various vegetables and spices are also grown in the Solu region.  The monsoons affect this area just as they do in Khumbu. 
The weather patterns and conditions of the land have a great effect on the economy of the Sherpa.  These natural occurrences are embedded into the Sherpa economic system.  Not only does the land affect the foods and wealth of the Sherpas, it also affects their marriage practices.  Because good farming land is hard to come by in the Solu-Khumbu region, polyandry is a common practice.  When brothers marry only one wife, the wealth of the family need not be split up into pieces for the brothers to each have a piece of.  Instead the wealth is shared among all of the brothers, and is then passed down patrilineally to the next generation.  The entire economic system of the Sherpa actually evolves around their habitat.  The mountains in which the Sherpa live dictate the economics of the society.
One of the most commonly herded animals of the Sherpa is the yak.  As transhumants the Sherpa move with their animals as the seasons change.  Once the crops have been planted at their low-altitude homes in the valleys, the Sherpas travel to the higher elevations where grass good for grazing is found.  Yaks and sheep can graze as high as 18,000 ft (Stevens, 71).  While Sherpas tend their yaks in these high elevations, they generally do not also tend another set of crops.  Yaks are necessary for the Sherpas third traditional industry, trading.  Their wool may be woven into mats and blankets and traded for grain.  The yak hair is also used for blankets and ropes.  Neither is used for Sherpa clothing.  Only the very soft wool of young yaks is ever used for clothing.
Other animals that are kept include goats, zubu cattle, llamas and water buffalo.  The urang (male zopkiok and female zum) is a crossbreed of cattle with yaks.  Another crossbreed, the dzopkyo, is excellent at carrying loads in both very cold and very warm weather.  It can also be used for plowing fields, something for which Sherpa’s themselves are shunned from doing. Crossbreeds bring the highest profits because of the high level of labor needed to create and maintain them, because the males are infertile so herders must have a supply of yaks and cattle as well (Furer-Haimendorf, 45).  Crossbreeds are an incredible source of milk, which also comes from yaks, and is often traded in Tibet for sheep’s wool.
Milk is not traditional consumed by the Sherpa except in small amounts (Furer-Haimendorf, 48), but its products are highly consumed.  “Great quantities of butter are needed for domestic as well as for ritual use” (Furer-Haimendorf, 49).  While butter is kept to be used by the Sherpa and very rarely traded due to little surplus (although it brings very high prices in Tibet when it is traded), the other milk byproducts are often traded.  These include cheese, curd, yogurt and the difficult to make luxury food called korani.  A butter-salt tea is also a traditional favorite of the Sherpa. 
 Sherpas also eat the meat of the animals they keep.  Their Buddhist religion does not allow the Sherpas to kill animals, so when traders visit Namche Bazaar they hire Tibetans to slaughter their animals.  In most cases only the oldest animals are slaughtered.  Sherpas will also eat the meat of any animal that is killed accidentally or falls off a mountain “(a not-improbable occurrence, although some of the accidents are a bit suspicious)” (Ortner, Sherpas Through Their Rituals, 17).  Meat is usually eaten, but is sometimes dried to be traded as well.
Just as the environment affects the growing season, trading also tends to occur in times dictated by the mountain.  Trading has two seasons: early summer and autumn.  The high mountain passes are difficult to cross during the freezing months, and the monsoons of summer prevent trade during July and August (Furer-Haimendorf, 63).
Trading, while not the main source of income for most Sherpa, is used very often to acquire goods.  Most trade occurs at Namche Bazaar (also referred to as Namche Bazar), “the main trading center, a village of about 100 substantial stone houses with wooden roofs” (Bista, 162).  The Khumbu region and Namche Bazaar are on a trade route, which connects Nepal and Tibet.  Sherpas from Khumbu often act as middlemen for people living further away.  Sherpas of the Khumbu region have been determined to have a monopoly on the trade at Namche Bazaar, mainly due to the fact that because they are from such high altitudes they are the only people capable of carrying such large loads over the pass at 18,000 feet above sea level (Furer-Haimendorf, 60). 
Trade between Tibet and Nepal was very heavy before the Chinese occupation of Tibet.  Since then, however, Sherpas have not been allowed to enter Tibet.  Regulations also prevent Tibetans from traveling into Khumbu and in fact, any further than Namche Bazaar. Namche Bazaar became a major center of trade due to this.  This has made trade for the Sherpas of Solu more difficult, but with the use of Khumbu Sherpas as middlemen the trading is possible.
Tibetan salt has been one of the most important items traded to the Sherpas.  There is no naturally occurring salt in Nepal, so it must be traded for.  Salt traditionally has been a very important commodity to the Sherpas, as it must be used in Sherpa foods (Furer-Haimendorf, 67).  Sherpa traders exchanged grains not available in Tibet, millet, a dye called madder and dried potatoes, all very valuable to Tibetans, for salt.
Most Sherpa traders are farmers who trade only what their families need.  Many take part in small-scale trades.  Some big merchants, however, trade as their occupation.  They acquire a large surplus and trade for others as well as themselves.  Recently this has also been done in exchange for currency in addition to trade for other items.
While the use of currencies by the Sherpas is a significant change to their traditional trading, in the recent past, the biggest change that has come to Sherpa society has been the creation of the trekking industry.  While this has changed many aspects of Sherpa life, it is interesting to note that the changed economic system still revolves around the environment in which the Sherpa live.  Without the mountain, there would be no trekking.
Prior to the first Western expeditions up the Himalayan Mountains, most Sherpas had never considered climbing the great mountain they called “Chomolungma”.  “The very thought of climbing them was considered blasphemous” (Janow).  Climbing was a mode of transport for them, not a hobby.  The Sherpas had worked in nearby Darjeeling as manual laborers, often referred to as “coolies,” since the mid-1800’s (Ortner, Life and Death on Mt. Everest, 30) to earn small wages and food.   When climbers began attempting to peak the mountains, this coolie work became that of a porter, carrying equipment and gear as well as leading the climbers over the Sherpa’s familiar territory.  The first people to act as porters were the Sherpas.  Climbers have confused the ethnicity of the people with the title of the job. The role of “porter” has often been called “sherpa” due to this confusion.  This is just another way in which the economic system is embedded into the culture.  The original “sherpa’s” knew that the highest wages came to those who carried at the highest altitudes, so they quickly proved themselves as capable of working at these heights, leaving the low-altitude grunt work to people of other tribes such as the Tamang and Lhomi.
When climbs up Mt. Everest first began, it was very difficult to obtain a job on the climbs.  Recommendations from highly trusted Sardar, leaders of the porters, were required, as the job market was so competitive (Fisher, 117).  This has changed since the number of climbs has increased drastically, although it is not known exactly how many climbs have taken place.  Now about 80% of Sherpa households are involved in the trekking/tourism industry in some way (Fisher, 115). 
Sherpas gain not only money from their work, but often also gear, food and of course the prestige of having climbed to the highest peak in the world.  With these gains, they have also lost some things.  Sherpas have far less free time when they are involved in mountaineering than when engaging in their traditional practices.  They often spend months away from home at a time.
It is possible that the Sherpa farmers will no longer be able to support themselves in the ways they have for the past 450 years.  Land is at a shortage, especially since much of it has gone to building restaurants and equipment shops.  Too many families are trying to live off the same piece of land.  Instead of being able to grow a surplus of food to trade for other things they need, many farmers are now able to grow only enough for their families (Fisher, 116).  With the more exciting and lucrative trekking possibilities, the younger generation is losing interest in farming and its meager returns.
With so many tourists polluting the area, herding has also become much more difficult.  Animal reproduction is no longer certain, causing a threat to this practice.  The land shortage also affects the areas in which animals can be taken for grazing.  With so many Sherpas working on the expeditions, there is also a shortage of people to care for the animals.  “Several Sherpas who used to own herds of yak told me that they had switched to the keeping of cross-breeds because they lacked the men to look after the yak in the high pastures” (Furer-Haimendorf, 57).  It seems that the herding of people instead of animals would ensure a more stable economy for the Sherpa at this point (Fisher, 117). 
Trading has also been greatly affected by the new industry.  While Sherpas can now sell their goods to the Westerners who come to climb the mountain, the trades with Tibetans have been on the decline.  Traders now frequent Kathmandu more than Namche Bazaar.  The goods being traded and sold have changed as well.  Whereas making and selling/trading wool clothing used to be highly regarded, “today…the supply of wool is short, it is relatively rare to find Sherpas engaged in this” (Furer-Haimendorf, 78).  Trading is not needed the way it used to be.  Sherpas now have money with which to buy the goods they require. 
The creation of the trekking industry in Nepal has brought about several changes to the Sherpa economy.  It has brought new money and wealth into a culture that used to base its wealth on animals and agriculture.  These changes in many cases have made it easier for the Sherpas to support themselves; they have brought new opportunities to the Sherpa.  However, they have also taken a toll on the traditional ways of the people.  It is unknown which practices will survive the trekking industry and which will fade away.  As long as the tourists continue climbing and are kept happy, it seems the trekking industry may overrun the former industries of the Sherpa.  Of course, “like cattle, tourists give good milk, but only if they are well fed” (Fisher, 123).