On Top Of The World

responded to it differently.

Ed Douglas, the editor of the Alpine Journal, has written a meticulous biography of Tenzing Norgay, which rescues him from the obscurity into which he has fallen, and gives us a more realistic portrait of a remarkable human being. He does not only provide us with the outline of Tenzing’s life, he places him in the context of his times, bringing out his astonishing achievement, and demonstrating that his true heroism lay beyond the scaling of Everest.

Tenzing has always been seen as a Nepalese, who later took up Indian citizenship, a fact cited by the Government of Nepal recently as the reason for not naming him a Hero of Nepal. It is a surprise, then, to discover that he was actually born in Tibet. Tenzing once wryly noted: “For the first thirty-eight years of my life no one cared what nationality I was. What difference does it make?”

Tenzing left his family and went to Darjeeling, looking for jobs. He gained a reputation as a reliable and resourceful Sherpa, resulting in his working for European expeditions in the Himalayas. In 1948, he went to Tibet with the Tibetologist Giuseppe Tucci, and met the young Dalai Lama.

Then came Everest. A contemporary account from James Morris (now Jan Morris) is telling of the aftermath: “Tenzing, his hat pushed back on his head, his face wreathed and crinkled with smiles, laughed — while worshipping Sherpas gazed at him. Indeed, he was a fine sight, sitting there in the moment of his triumph, before the jackals of fame closed in on him.”

That is the tragedy of Tenzing Norgay. For the rest

of his life, he was trapped by Everest. While Hillary managed to live a life in its shadow, Tenzing was forever fighting for his due. After the initial burst of enthusiasm, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru coaxed Tenzing into running a mountaineering institute in India. Here, he slowly sank into near oblivion. It is now that his true heroism surfaced — Tenzing did not allow his spirits to sink. Stoically, this illiterate Sherpa worked at his memoirs with the help of collaborators, trained a generation of mountaineers, and helped to place

Sherpas in a more equitable position, as far as helping European expeditions was concerned.

In the end, the Tenzing we should remember is not just the masked conqueror of Everest. It is the smiling Sherpa in a photograph taken two months before Everest, who boldly stands on the peak of Chukhang, ready to break the shackles of time and place, and try to raise his people into a better life.