Men of the Mountain

In spring 2001, as I fought my way up the Lhotse Face, traversed the Geneva Spur, hauled myself up the Hillary Step and finally, after two-and-a-half months, struggled onto the summit of Everest, it was impossible to shake the feeling that I was surrounded by ghosts. The recent fame of modern Sherpa climbers like Apa Sherpa, who has reached the summit 11 times, and Babu Chiri Sherpa who, before he was killed in 2001, completed a speed ascent in less than 17 hours, rests on decades of accumulated knowledge and sacrifice by the Sherpas who came before them: men like Tenzing...