Life and Death on Mt. Everest was probably my most favorite book of all the books we have read in class and I think the reasoning behind it has a lot to do with my capstone class this semester. We discuss the components that help shape or re-shape a national or cultural identity and how that can change over time depending on the societal or in this case, both societal and environmental changes that occur within or around a specific culture.

I really enjoyed the lens that Sherpas viewed mountaineering as a way to better themselves, their families, and culture economically; they viewed assisting mountaineers as an opportunity more so than a burden or imposing foreign interest, I felt their approach and perspective in dealing with foreign mountaineering expeditions as very modern because they viewed European mountaineering expeditions as a way to transform and remake their society. Ortner mentions in the beginning pages of the book that Sherpa life before mountaineering on a grand scale was different, but not idyllic. It was hard and labor intensive, the environment is rough and there are no roads or vehicles, so really what other approach other than modernity and opportunity did these people have?

When dealing with European or American climbers there was a sense of bravery in regards to negotiations and understandings that took place with assisting ascents. The reason I use the word bravery is because of the negotiations that took place between expedition leaders, members of the expedition, and the Sherpas. I don’t think that negotiations could have been reached if the Sherpas did not view themselves as important and essential for a successful summit; I think that takes a certain level of self-respect and valuing one’s abilities to demand equality and also gain monetarily, financially, and famously such as the European mountaineers. It takes a certain level of bravery to demand those things from a more modern and educationally and technologically advanced society such as Europe or America and to also view yourself as worthy of those things.

Sherpas were also very smart in realizing their importance in mountaineering because of their familiarity with the environment surrounding the mountains in the Himalayas as well as on the mountains. They were also willing to change with the times and adapt in order to further themselves as individuals and as a culture. The close proximity of mountaineers and Sherpas up on the mountains was also an advantage for Sherpas, as cultures, religions, traditions, language, and basic understandings of life and mountains needed to be taken into account and mutual respect of differing opinions needed to also be weighed in on to ensure survival and successful ascents and descents of each mountain that was aided by Sherpas.

The risks associated with mountaineering is very scary, as Sherpas account for nearly half of the deaths on Everest. But as previously mentioned, what else have they got to lose? With every opportunity comes risk for reward. The reward seemed to be that of monetary compensation for each assisted ascent of Everest, which is no surprise to me as with today’s society, money matters in every aspect of life. Monetary compensation also seemed easy to assume as the reward due to the middle-class and upper-class people who tended to participate in each expedition, simply because they were the classes that could afford to shell out ~$65,000 to climb Mt. Everest.

I was just very shocked and impressed with a culture and society of people that weren’t at least in my eyes, as technologically and educationally modern as the United States or European countries. I was really impressed with their “carpe diem” type attitude regarding mountaineering.