Climate Witness: Apa Sherpa, Nepal

My name is Apa Sherpa. I am 49 years old and I live in Thame, a village in the Solukhumbu district of Nepal, right on the Everest trail. I’m a mountaineer by profession.

I was born and brought up in Thame and have climbed the mountains in this area for more then twenty years. My parents were yak-herders and farmers, but I went into mountaineering. I started by carrying loads for a few expeditions, then slowly became a professional mountaineer. Now, I hold the world record for climbing Mt. Everest for the most times – 19. I also lead many expeditions in this area.

During the past decades, I have observed many changes in the climate in this area. And when I also talk to the people living here I can hear about many such signs of changes. At first we didn’t realize that the changes were so severe, but then, we also did not know about anything called climate change.

Now, the changes in weather patterns are drastic. It didn’t snow at all during December, January and February, when it should snow heavily, and it finally snowed massively in May, when usually it’s dry. The numbers of hot days are also increasing. We saw mosquitoes in Namche Bazaar (altitude- 3440 m) for the first time in 2008 and we also saw a housefly at Everest Base Camp (altitude – 5360 m) which is unheard of. And, of course, the rapid melting of the snow in the mountains and glaciers. For the first time in my life, during the Eco Everest Expedition 2009, I saw running water around Camp 4 and near the summit of Mt. Everest. In fact, at Camp 2 we did not even have to melt snow for drinking, which was very rare in previous expeditions.

The melting glaciers pose an immediate threat due to the ever-increasing glacial lakes. The Imja glacial lake has slowly grown to a massive size in front of my eyes. My wife and I lost all our property and nearly lost our lives when a similar glacial lake Dig Tsho burst in 1985. I know how severe the impacts will be if a lake like Imja would burst. It would mean total devastation and not just for the people in the immediate vicinity but maybe also for people living downstream.

The people in the area are not very aware about these issues and therefore they cannot connect these changes into a single phenomenon. But these changes could have serious consequences for us. I have heard that there are 20 such glacial lakes in Nepal which are in danger of bursting. This not only poses a grave risk to all our property and infrastructure, but our lives. I have also gathered from the local people that the potato yield is not as good as before and that yak numbers are also decreasing – maybe these are the results of change in weather patterns. We have heard incidents of bushfires. And I cannot fathom what diseases mosquitoes and houseflies would bring in.

I am an uneducated person, yet I realize the seriousness of the issue. I hope our senior politicians and the government realize that climate change poses an immediate threat to the people living in the mountainous region. We need to educate the people there and we need resources so that these problems can be solved. I have dedicated my last two Everest ascents to raise awareness about Climate Change issues. This is just a small individual step. And it is definitely not enough. I think we need to work together unitedly if we are to ever find solutions to Climate Change and the problems it is creating.