Nima

Nima Sherpa is our intrepid guide. Young Mark and I requested someone for the mountain last year, and Asian trekking gave us Nima. Everyone else thought we were softy wimps to make that kind of request, but soon everyone was relying on Nima. My first impression was of a shy young man with soft hands. Now I know that kathmandu airport slows down plane departures to wait for him, that he can negotiate huge bags of gear through the chaos of that airport. He is a expert boxer and loves kittens. His parents died when he was young, in different tragic circumstances. I have seen him carry huge loads up the mountain. He started as a porter when he was a teenager and moved up the ranks to become a mountain guide. He has been part of many expeditions included the Tibetan route up mt Everest. As we walk the trail he stops to shake hands with the young porters and knows all the other guides. He tells us about the sacred mountains, the children in the villages and the names of the grains growing in the gardens. He makes a plan for our trip, and then I spend all day trying to talk into modifications. Nima is the ultimately Sherpa guide.