This winter, Countryside Ski & Climb is very proud to be one of the launch partners in the UK for Sherpa Adventure Gear.
Even if the brand is new to you we are sure the word Sherpa certainly won’t be. Sherpa Adventure Gear was the inspiration of brand president Tashi Sherpa, who by chance saw a photograph in a New York magazine celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary’s famous 1953 Everest expedition. The article stopped him in his tracks because the photo was of his uncle and he was totally unaware that he was one of the original Sherpa on the expedition.
Today the term Sherpa is often used, incorrectly, to generally refer to the porters or helpers on mountain expeditions in the Himalaya region. To be more accurate, the name is actually that of a very specific ethnic group of mountain people - of whom there are about 150,000 out of the total Nepalese population (around 27 million). The Sherpa are highly regarded as elite mountaineers and experts in their local terrain and there is speculation that a portion of their climbing ability is the result of a genetic adaptation to living in high altitudes.
Nepal has a rich geography. The mountainous north has eight of the world's ten tallest mountains, including the highest point on Earth, Mount Everest (called Sagarmatha in Nepali). As it contains more than 240 peaks over 20,000 ft (6,096 m) above sea level Nepal is generally regarded as the mountaineering and trekking mecca.
One of Sherpa Adventure Gear’s main goals is to support and honour the Sherpa and their families as these people do so much for so little. For a typical expedition, they are the ones who make the route, carry the load and lay the rope all the way to top… and back. Many live in poverty and rarely get the credit they deserve for the success of an expedition. Money from every Sherpa product sold goes to a special fund for the underprivileged Sherpa children of Nepal.
So, not only is the product itself tested by high profile climbers such as Kenton Cool and Neil Gresham, it is also tested day in and day out by the Sherpa themselves and their efforts get put back into the community – a pedigree in performance that is hard to beat!
