Sherpas heading for home

DRAPER — It's never easy for Yangzin Sherpa to say goodbye to her husband, knowing he's going to undertake a treacherous expedition up Mount Everest.

Apa Sherpa, a guide and porter, has reached the summit of the world's tallest mountain a record 16 times, and every time he starts climbing, Yangzin worries.

Apa leaves again on Wednesday to co-lead a May Everest expedition consisting exclusively of Sherpas to help raise awareness about the Sherpa ethnic group and money for education and health care in Nepal.

Yangzin is excited about the expedition's cause. But, she says this climb will be even harder for her, because she'll be halfway across the world in Utah, a place where she doesn't speak the language and thousands of miles from her native Nepal, where she normally would attend Buddhist ceremonies at monasteries to help bring her husband home safely.

But Yangzin bravely puts her hand to her chest, saying she'll be praying in her heart for her husband's safe return.

She also has a friend from Nepal here, Fhuli Sherpa, whose husband, Lhapka Gelu Sherpa, is also a leader of the "Super Sherpa" expedition.

Using Yangzin's son, Denjinz, 21, as an interpreter, Yangzin and Fhuli speak mostly in Sherpa, saying they don't like their husbands' high-risk occupation. There's roughly one death on Everest for every 10 successful attempts at reaching the 29,035-foot summit.

However, the two say their husbands have always returned all right. And they're enthusiastic about this particular expedition because it will bring attention to the Sherpa people through a documentary and book, and at least 25 percent of the proceeds will go to help people in Nepal. That money is needed, they say, particularly for education.

"They don't have education. They'd like for all children to have an education and a good life," Denzing said. In English, Yangzin adds, there is "no money, no school" in Nepal.

The two women say they never received a formal education in Nepal, where just over half the population is illiterate and nearly one-third of the population lives below poverty, according to the CIA's World Factbook.

Their husbands also have little education. Yangzin says her husband has about a fifth-grade education, and Apa dropped out at age 12 to start working as a porter. He briefly returned to middle school, which was in a different town, a three-hour walk from his home.

Being a mountain guide and porter is considered a good occupation in Nepal, allowing those with little education to earn a middle-class lifestyle, the women say.