Word: khumbu
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...into Nepal each year to see what heights they may surmount, there is one rule of thumb about the hiring of native porters. For climbs under 18,000 ft., the mountaineers usually pick their men from among the 5,000 Sherpa families living in the Nepalese area of Solo Khumbu. But for high-altitude work, the most able Sherpas are those who live in Darjeeling, across the border in India. Most of these men come from families who emigrated from Nepal in 1921 and got their rugged training in the Indian and Tibetan Himalayas before Nepal was opened to expeditions...
...when Tenzing paid a visit to his home town in Solo Khumbu, his old neighbors accused him of turning Indian and making scads of money at the expense of Nepal. To protect himself and his elite colleagues, Tenzing set up a Solo Khumbu branch of the Nepal Climbers' Association, a union of Sherpas he heads. In retaliation, the Nepalese Sherpas started a rival union, put a blunt demand before the Nepal government that it outlaw all such foreigners as Tenzing from plying their trade in the country. But the last word would probably come from expedition leaders themselves. Said...
...eastward end of the Cwm is sealed by the South Col, a 25,850 ft. ridge that joins Everest to Lhotse. Westward, the Cwm falls away in a giant ice fall that leaps precipitously down 4,000 ft. Beyond, at the foot of Nuptse, is the Khumbu glacier, the only known entrance...
From Thyangboche camp, the climbers skirted Nuptse and pitched Camp I on the scree of Khumbu. All around were towers of ice that rumbled by day and creaked and moved by night. Above was the great ice fall, savage and unstill...
Tenzing, who at the age of ten was herding Tibetan yaks above 20,000 ft., was riled at his leader's remark. Egged on by Nepalese hotheads (including Communists), he was induced to sign a statement, which he could not read, saying: "I practically directed operations from Khumbu Glacier...