At exactly 9AM on 16 August, a 4.5M earthquake hit Xizang on the Tibetan Plateau. Four hours later, 65km away in Nepal, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/climate-breakdown-linked-to-thame-flood">a glacial lake burst</a> unleashing a cascade of destruction downstream. It is not certain if that tremor so nearby caused the lake to burst — either because an avalanche on the south ridge of Mt Tengi Ragi Tau fell into it, or heavy monsoon rain led to the collapse of a moraine. Either way, the snowmelt emptied into another lake below and unleashed a debris flow that roared down the valley to the village of Thame. Fortunately, children at a school had gone home early that Friday and inhabitants had time to climb to safety when they heard the approaching roar. There were no fatalities. Thame was not as lucky on 4 August 1985, when a bigger lake in an adjacent valley, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-mountains-are-melting">Dig Tso, burst after an avalanche fell on it</a>. Twelve people were swept away by the ensuing flood, a newly built hydropower plant was destroyed, and a section of the Everest trekking trail was washed away.&nbsp; <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/climactic-change">Glaciologist Tenzing Chogyal Sherpa</a> remembers his mother telling him that their home in Namche Bazaar was spared because it was on higher ground. “But she told us that with trails destroyed, food and supplies couldn’t reach us. At one point, her family had to survive on rotten potatoes,” recalls Sherpa, who works at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and uses remote sensing to map climate-induced hazards in the Himalaya. &nbsp; He says the Thame flood this week was a reminder of the inherent risk of living in the mountains which are magnified by climate breakdown. And the region is still very much at risk.&nbsp; “To the south, we have Lumding Tso, a potentially dangerous glacial lake that also empties into the Dudh Kosi, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/human-face-of-a-himalayan-climate-crisis">to the west in Rolwaling is Tso Rolpa</a>, a lake that is now 3km long. And to the north is Dig Tsho, which burst in 1985,” says Sherpa.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240823050844_34eedc4fb5b287a3b861a2b2196758c635d011ec5666bac2031a8c6f0bde801b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240823050844_34eedc4fb5b287a3b861a2b2196758c635d011ec5666bac2031a8c6f0bde801b" data-rendition-name="original" width="623" height="695" loading="lazy" alt="Thame flood map"> </figure>  "We are facing one of the worst disasters since the Dig Tso flood. This is a wake-up call, not just for us in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/on-thin-ice-in-the-khumbu">Khumbu</a>, but for the entire Himalaya to rethink our ways, find alternatives to reduce the risks, and explore measures to protect ourselves," he adds. The Thame flood was a smaller disaster compared to the flood that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-smarter-himalayan-infrastructure">destroyed the Melamchi headworks in 2021</a>, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/sikkim-flood-is-warning-to-nepal">massive Sikkim flood last year</a>, or the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-is-lost-cannot-be-repaid">debris flow that ravaged Kagbeni</a>. All were caused by glacial lake bursts or moraine collapses due to extreme rainfall. Anil Pokhrel of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) flew to Thame on Saturday morning to inspect the glaciers above the village. He confirmed that two of five small glacial lakes below Tashi Lapcha pass had caused the flood. Satellite data shows that till two years ago, there were only four lakes.&nbsp; Across the Himalaya, there are now thousands of new glacial lakes that <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Lake,1404">do not even have names</a>. In Nepal most of the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/danger-nepal-s-glacial-lakes-are-filling-up">21 most dangerous ones</a> are located in the centre and east of the country, but there are dozens of enlarged lakes in China which drain into tributaries of rivers that flow into Nepal like the two Bhote Kosis, Arun and Tama Kosi.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240823050844_4e2cc8d68aea97f2b8262553ada6d911acf0ff1883b5454b151e85effde1745e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20240823050844_4e2cc8d68aea97f2b8262553ada6d911acf0ff1883b5454b151e85effde1745e" data-rendition-name="original" width="920" height="496" loading="lazy" alt="at risk GLOFs in Nepal map"> </figure>  Some of these lakes are infamous because of their volume, the rate at which they are expanding, and the potential danger they pose to populations downstream — like Tso Rolpa, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/walking-the-talk-on-climate">Imja Tso</a> and Thulagi. But the Thame flood, and others like the Nare Lake outburst below <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/what-is-it-about-ama-dablam">Ama Dablam</a> in 1977 show that even smaller lakes can cause massive damage. In fact, it does not even take a lake burst to cause destructive debris flows. The Melamchi and Kagbeni floods appear to have been caused by moraines that collapsed in unusually heavy rain because they were no longer cemented by permafrost.&nbsp; Even a relatively small flood like the one in Thame can be damaging far downstream. The debris flow moved swiftly downstream, destroying a Rs80 million bridge on the Dudh Kosi in Okhaldhunga. Most villages downstream had been evacuated, so there were no casualties. If the flood had been bigger, it would have threatened <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/missing-pieces-of-the-hydropower-jigsaw">major hydropower projects</a> on the Dudh Kosi. “We cannot ignore smaller lakes anymore,” warns Pokhrel of NDRRMA. “We often think and plan from a hazard perspective, how big a disaster can be. But we must also look at risk, possible cascade damage on downstream communities.”&nbsp; Thame is at 3,840m elevation, but Pokhrel says he was surprised by how warm it was up there this week. “It felt like Kathmandu,” he says. “And satellite imagery shows accelerated melting of the upstream in the past month which could have led to the cascading collapse of the two lakes.”&nbsp; Glacial lake outbursts and debris flows are going to be more destructive and frequent in Nepal in the coming years, making them a fact of life. Seismic risk in the Himalaya adds to the dangers posed by the climate emergency. Local communities and governments have no option but to adapt by installing early warning systems, planning <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-s-cooking-in-nepal-besides-politics">smaller decentralised hydropower schemes</a>, moving settlements and infrastructure higher, and conducting detailed hazard mapping. “Thame showed us we cannot only rely on satellite mapping, and why in-situ observation is so important in a country with such a diverse topography and climate as ours,” says Sherpa. “There are more than 50,000 glaciers in the Himalayan region and we haven’t even studied 1% of them.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024082108084_aa61ab79fcc840b34f0392965affa0dbe6ad7c86f99c8b0205b0ce49c9584c64.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="2024082108084_aa61ab79fcc840b34f0392965affa0dbe6ad7c86f99c8b0205b0ce49c9584c64" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="thame flood"> <figcaption>Thame flood this week. Photos: RSS</figcaption> </figure>  Despite the scarcity of field data, there have been considerable advances in remote sensing technologies that have helped fill this gap in data and help understand the changing cryosphere. ICIMOD’s recent report shows that glacier mass loss has increased by 65% in recent decades. The report also warns that the risk of flooding could increase much more in the coming century. Because so many of Nepal’s rivers are transboundary, a bilateral early warning mechanism with China is also urgent. Because of the scale of the danger, Nepal needs resources from the international community for adaptation, as well as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/lost-and-damaged">loss and damage reparation</a> to cope with future risk. “Our government needs to get in touch with the Chinese government to conduct a study of glacier lakes located near Tibet, which are the source of glaciers in Nepal. We should collaborate on early warning system and implementing risk reduction measures,” says Anil Pokhrel.&nbsp; Tenzing Chogyal Sherpa co-founded a global advocacy campaign called <a href="https://saveoursnow.earth/">#SaveOurSnow</a> last year to provide local communities with agency to deal with climate induced risk. Supporters of the campaign include former new Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, celebrity mountaineers like Reinhold Messner, Chris Bonington, Kenton Cool and the descendants of Tenzing Norgay. Says Sherpa: “As glaciers melt and lakes expand, disasters like Thame will be more frequent, we have to adapt. We need to tell our stories to the world, even as they continue to debate on the topic, we are already facing the brunt of it without having caused it ourselves. At local levels, we have to get back on our feet and prepare for what's coming.”&nbsp;

Sonia Awale

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Lives on the line in the Himalaya

Besides<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/dispelling-myths-about-climbing"> traffic jams in the Khumbu Icefall</a> and a spat between Nims Purja and the government over fixed ropes, it should be the cornice collapse near the summit of Mt Everest last week that killed 2 climbers that should be focusing everyone’s attention.&nbsp; It was a busy week on Chomolungma as climbers pushed for the summit in the narrow weather window 20-22 May. More than 500 climbers reached the top <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/peak-season-in-the-nepal-himalaya">this season</a>, most of them last week.&nbsp; Inevitably, there was a bottleneck on the knife-edged southeast ridge near the top. Videos showed climbers queuing up on the fixed rope on top of an ice overhang that seems to have collapsed under their weight. Of the six climbers who were caught in it, two (a British and Nepali climber) probably died in the long fall down the Kangshung Face.&nbsp; Climber Vinayak Jaya Malla was on the summit at 6:00 am on 21 May 21, and witnessed the collapse on his way down. He wrote on Instagram: ‘The Everest summit ridge felt different than my previous experiences on the mountain. There was soft snow.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240529090540_ebf81b309687dd85a4dfc5e6dc941afe1221b9a43bb987262eb295441e88f558.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240529090540_ebf81b309687dd85a4dfc5e6dc941afe1221b9a43bb987262eb295441e88f558" data-rendition-name="original" width="1750" height="2205" loading="lazy" alt="Everest expedition 2024"> <figcaption>Vinayak Jaya Malla at Everest.</figcaption> </figure>  Malla’s post has a series of photos and videos that shows a line of climbers making their way down the Hillary Step. Another longer line is inching up on the same rope on top of the cornice, a hardened overhanging mass of ice. After the collapse, some of the climbers are seen to be hanging by the rope and helped back up by others. They eventually self-rescued, pulling themselves up as can be seen in the video. The collapse could have been much worse, with delays causing climbers to run out of oxygen, had Malla not helped break a new route that allowed traffic to start moving in both directions. Malla is a veteran rock and ice climber and is one of only about 75 IFMGA/UIAGM (International Federation of Mountain Guides Association/Union Internationale des Associations de Guides de Montagnes) certified guides in Nepal, a process that takes six to eight years and one of the few non-Sherpas with that certification. Many of the comments on Malla’s posts despaired at the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mt-everest-pvt-ltd">traffic jams on the mountain</a>, and called on the Nepal government to reduce the number of permits.&nbsp; Malla has a more pragmatic view, and told us: “There is so much money and so many people employed on Everest expeditions that reducing permits would reduce income. How do you tell one Sherpa he can climb and support his family but another that he cannot?”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240529090540_43b0e8a0a667bb708097b4074fd20a66f36a1facd5aa6f5ee234a6bc7a34dec5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240529090540_43b0e8a0a667bb708097b4074fd20a66f36a1facd5aa6f5ee234a6bc7a34dec5" data-rendition-name="original" width="1069" height="1600" loading="lazy" alt="Everest expedition 2024"> <figcaption>Vinayak Jaya Malla is a veteran rock and ice climber.</figcaption> </figure>  Malla has other solutions like a two-way fixed rope, and also government flexibility on fixing rigid dates of the climbing season. If guides had been allowed to set up fixed ropes from 1 May instead of 11 May, as was the case on the North Face of Everest, there would have been a wider weather window. Malla also things there is no reason for the climbing season to end exactly on 29 May just because it is historically set, and it would be safe to extend it till mid-June. A proposal from other mountaineers is to spread climbs around other Himalayan peaks by pricing Everest higher. Malla had to work hard for his certification, and says: “It is the equivalent of a PhD in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/mountains-of-books">mountaineering world</a>. With it, guides will always have work in Alaska, the Alps and the Himalaya.” Many <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/mt-everest-in-business-class">high-end Everest expeditions</a> only hire certified guides, and some request one-on-one guiding too. Malla grew up below Dhaulagiri, and had no intention of being a mountaineer.&nbsp; But in the third year of his Bachelor’s of Business Studies while completing an assignment related to tourism that Malla wrote a report comparing three mountains, and was instantly hooked. After working six frustrating months as an investment intern, Malla decided that a desk job was not for him. He faced initial resistance both from family and friends when he started climbing. “When I proved my capability and started making money, those doubts fell away,” says Malla. He has summited Everest twice, Lhotse, Dhaulagiri, and Manaslu.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240529090540_63b9555303c918304db9ae9483db0ff484c401729767457fb0e2a8c2fe3de759.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20240529090540_63b9555303c918304db9ae9483db0ff484c401729767457fb0e2a8c2fe3de759" data-rendition-name="original" width="1360" height="1600" loading="lazy" alt="Everest expedition 2024"> </figure>  His most memorable summit, however, was a first-ascent of the 5,911m Sisne Himal in remote Rukum based only on Google images. Just getting to the base of the mountain takes as long as climbing it.&nbsp; There are a lot of hurdles climbing in western Nepal, he says, adding: “Permits are never cheap, we need to assemble a team. Route conditions can change, and locals think the mountain gods will be angered. Yarsagumba hunters wonder if we are there to steal their business.”&nbsp; Due to his certification and skillset, Malla is often called upon on rescue missions. Some climbers have insurance, but no other financial rewards for rescues.&nbsp; Malla was also involved in the retrieval of 22 bodies when <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/pokhara-jomsom-flight-with-22-missing">a Tara Air flight to Jomsom from Pokhara crashed</a> into a cliff in Mustang in 2022. He says, “It has become a pretty normal thing for me to see a dead body, but I can’t let it get me emotional when I am carrying out a rescue.”&nbsp;

Vishad Raj Onta

Everest cornice collapse

Air disasters in Nepal have become so commonplace they only make fleeting headlines. &nbsp;
The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/final-moments-of-yt691">Yeti Airlines ATR-72 crash on 15 January</a> was the deadliest domestic air disaster in Nepal. Three helicopters have gone down since then, and the Manang Air tragedy on 11 July was the fourth.
The reasons are the same: a reckless disregard for safety, regulators not enforcing protocols, and lack of navigation aids.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-to-make-nepals-skies-safer">How to make Nepal's skies safer</a>, Kunda Dixit
Even at the best of times, Nepal’s terrain and weather make flying risky. But neglect, apathy and carelessness add to the danger.&nbsp;
Five members of a Mexican family on a sightseeing trip and their Nepali pilot were killed in Solu Khumbu on Tuesday. They had taken off from Surke, an alternative to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/more-than-luck-in-lukla">Lukla</a> in bad weather. Visibility was already marginal in the narrow Dudh Kosi gorge.
The chopper would have had to climb to 4,200m to clear Lamjura Pass which was covered in cloud. Nepal’s civil aviation regulations require pilots on mountain routes to always be on Visual Flight Rules (VFR).&nbsp;
A commission of inquiry has been formed, as happens after every crash. But we can already say that the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/chopper-hits-mountain-near-everest">helicopter was not flying VFR</a>.&nbsp;
The helicopter that crashed was one of two bought brand new by Manang Air, it is designed for high altitude rescues. One of the same model landed on the summit of Mt Everest in 2005.
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/crash-course">Crash course</a>, Kunda Dixit
Helicopters are inherently more tricky to fly because of vertical takeoff and landing in built-up areas or rugged terrain, and because they cannot glide in case of engine malfunction. The AS350 Ecureuil family of choppers has had 1,244 incidents since it went into operation in 1991, and there have been fatalities in many of them.
In Nepal alone, there have been at least 18 chopper crashes killing 98 people in the past 60 years (map). About half of them have been due to CFIT (Controlled Flight into Terrain) in which a helicopter impacts high terrain in poor visibility.&nbsp;
In fact, nearly all of the 73 air crashes in Nepal (of fixed wing and helicopters) in the past 70 years in which nearly 1,000 people have been killed, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/60-years-of-living-dangerously">have been classified as CFIT</a>. Most have occurred in the monsoon, or in seasons when mountains en route or on approach are covered by clouds.
The deadliest helicopter crash in Nepal was also a CFIT. Twenty-four passengers, including renowned conservationists were killed in 2006 when <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/remembering-nepal-s-conservation-heroes">a MI17 flew into a mountain above Ghunsa</a> in the monsoon. Nepal Tourism Minister Rabindra Adhikari and aviation entrepreneur Ang Tshiring Sherpa were among <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-last-journey">six killed in Taplejung in 2019</a> when their helicopter flew into a mountainside in a blizzard.
In the past 8 years alone, there have been seven chopper crashes, including three non-fatal ones on hospital helipads in Kathmandu.&nbsp;
Crashes like the one this week where foreigners are involved garner international headlines. It further damages Nepal's reputation and impacts on tourism, and therefore the economy.
Nepal is already on the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/eu-blacklist-limits-nepal-airlines-ferry-flights">European Union's safety list</a> because of repeated crashes in the past in which tourists have been killed. The EU has insisted that the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) be unbundled with separate entities for regulatory and operational functions.&nbsp;
However, we are not sure that will necessarily <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19695">make flying safer</a> since the causes have more to do with lackadaisical mindsets and a fatalistic culture. Not much will change if the bureaucrats are the same. &nbsp;&nbsp;
VFR protocols by air traffic control and airlines should be enforced. Weather webcams must be installed along dangerous sections like Lamjura and the Kali Gandaki Valley near Jomsom. Pilots should ignore company or passenger pressure to fly in bad weather.
Cockpit hierarchy and complacency on the part of experienced pilots flying frequented routes are also factors. There is a tendency to underestimate enroute weather conditions, and over-reliance on terrain visualisation maps in aircraft with glass cockpits.&nbsp;
Given that we know why most crashes happen in Nepal, they should not happen. The important <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/business/taking-air-safety-seriously-in-nepal">rule for pilots in Nepal</a> must be: do not fly into clouds, they have rocks in them.

Keeps happening

The Sherpa high altitude guides who take climbers to the tops of Himalayan peaks and glory have for decades been nameless and consigned to the shadows. They are also exposed to the most dangerous parts of mountains for the longest period -- as the tragic death of three guides on the Khumbu Icefall this month proved. Things were not much different back in the autumn of 1990 when Pasang Lhamu Sherpa attempted to climb Mt Everest. The French leader of the expedition she was with ordered her to go back down. He seemed to be worried Pasang would steal the thunder from his climbers.&nbsp; As it turned out, Christine Janine became the first French woman to climb the world’s highest peak as Pasang Lhamu looked on from a lower camp. She realised it was her identity as a Nepali Sherpa woman that prevented her from getting to the top too. This ordeal only made her more determined to become the first Nepali woman to conquer Chomolungma. Pasang: In the Shadow of Everest is an inspiring story of the ambition, dedication, and triumph of this amazing woman. In equal part, it is the retelling of a tragedy that transcends socio-cultural boundaries.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230422040440_a41b978e19c989753156c07a2cdebb4d5fcc2b3637e5143cdff192f4d8e1e6a1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20230422040440_a41b978e19c989753156c07a2cdebb4d5fcc2b3637e5143cdff192f4d8e1e6a1" data-rendition-name="original" width="719" height="478" loading="lazy" alt="Nancy Svendsen, Ang Dorjee Sherpa, and Dawa Yangzum"> <figcaption>From left: Dawa Yangzum, Ang Dorjee Sherpa and Director Nancy Svendsen.</figcaption> </figure>  "Her incredible story moved me," says Nancy Svendsen, the director of the 72-minute documentary that premiered on 19 April, ahead of the 30th anniversary of Pasang Lhamu’s historic climb on 22 April 1993, and the 70th anniversary of the first climb on 29 May 1953.&nbsp; Svendsen was first introduced to Pasang Lhamu not as a Nepali national hero, but as the late sister of her brother-in-law, Ang Dorjee Sherpa. But the climber’s story resonated strongly with Svendsen who had worked in corporate America, a field traditionally dominated by men. "From that moment, I have been working to gather her archival footage and pictures. I started with very little. We had maybe a few home videos and scrapbooks of pictures her daughter gave me, and that was it," recalls Svendsen. Pasang Lhamu came from a deprived farming family so much of her climbs and expeditions were never filmed. But Pasang makes it work with press footage combined with contemporary photos to portray her life. Svendsen has also deployed clever edits and animation to show Pasang Lhamu’s last journey. The entire production took 10 years with Svendsen changing her career to become a first-time filmmaker to locate and interview the late mountaineer’s colleagues, including Pemba Norbu, the last person to see Pasang Lhamu alive. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/on-screen-mountains">On-screen mountains</a>, Sahina Shrestha  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230422040440_720c4705cb02a6e2881cc63ae2188da46c580cb200f2202977e3c8c5a6841163.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20230422040440_720c4705cb02a6e2881cc63ae2188da46c580cb200f2202977e3c8c5a6841163" data-rendition-name="original" width="452" height="700" loading="lazy" alt="thumbnail_Pasang-Lhamu-Sherpa"> <figcaption>Pasang Lhamu Sherpa</figcaption> </figure>  "It seems much like everything even risk-taking is gendered," says Dawa Futi Sherpa, Pasang Lhamu's eldest daughter and president of the Pasang Lhamu Foundation and Nepal’s former ambassador to Spain. "For the longest time my mother was criticised for leaving her family and takings risks with her life even as she was doing it for her country and Nepali women." Pasang Lhamu, born the only daughter of a Sherpa mountaineer, was not allowed to go to school or mountaineering with her brothers like the majority of Nepali women of her time. She eloped, escaping an arranged marriage, with Lhakpa Sonam Sherpa and opened her own trekking company in Kathmandu. Mother to three, she was a homemaker determined to level the status of Nepali women to what Western women had at that time. It was not necessarily her mountaineering skill she wanted to prove. Her struggle is seen in the backdrop of Nepal's quest for democracy as she clashes with the prime minister, political parties, and Western mountaineers to fund her expeditions. As she embarks on her fourth and final mission to Everest, we can see how the subordinate status inflicted on her for being a woman, a Sherpa, and a Nepali led to decisions that proved to be fatal for her and her team in that 1993 expedition. Pasang: In the Shadow of Everest brings the real Pasang Lhamu Sherpa to life, beyond what little is depicted in school textbooks while also addressing controversies surrounding her final climb through first-hand accounts. It equally showcases her trailblazing character that led to national mourning after her demise. "Climbing Mt Everest as a Nepali woman then is harder than climbing 14 peaks now," notes Dawa Yangzum Sherpa, the first Nepali international mountain guide who was at the premiere of the film in Kathmandu this week. Dawa Yangzum Sherpa herself started her career by climbing the Pasang Lhamu Foundation walls, and says that a whole generation of Nepali women mountaineers has grown up inspired by the legacy of Pasang Lhamu. After Pasang Lhamu, 65 Nepali women have scaled Mt Everest. Winner of 14 international film awards, Pasang: In the Shadow of Everest honors the legendary climber while also delving into the realities of Sherpas, often sidelined in mountaineering films. Public screenings of the Nepali version will begin on 28 April and there are plans for shows in 15 locations in Kosi and Madhes provinces with donations raised during its Nepali premiere. House Speaker Dev Raj Ghimire and famed ophthalmologist Sanduk Ruit were among the attendees at the premiere where Ang Dorjee Sherpa said: "This documentary will encourage Nepali women to dream big and conquer their summits." Read Also: <a href="http://nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/women-take-over-the-%20mountains,1868" target="blank">After Everest and K2, Sherpa women set sights on Kanchenjunga</a>, Tsering Dolker Gurung <a href="http://nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/all-women-nepali-team-scale-k2,1557" target="blank">Ketis on K2</a>, Ayesha Shakya <a href="http://nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/k2-women-nepal,1610" target="blank">Conquering the world</a>, Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita <a href="http://nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/WOMEN-ON-TOP,236" target="blank">Women on top</a>, Tsering Dolker Gurung <div class="embed-block"><iframe id="aswift_0" name="aswift_0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" width="718" height="0" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" vspace="0" hspace="0" allowtransparency="true" scrolling="no" src="https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-6415359448570403&amp;output=html&amp;h=180&amp;slotname=1392833685&amp;adk=461865442&amp;adf=3145719360&amp;pi=t.ma~as.1392833685&amp;w=718&amp;fwrn=4&amp;lmt=1682131490&amp;rafmt=11&amp;format=718x180&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.nepalitimes.com%2Farticle%2FNepali-Times-Buzz%2Fnepali-mountaineer-breaking-barriers%2C2708&amp;wgl=1&amp;adsid=ChAI8OiIogYQ0pOKyM7hx5U3EjkA3d-9b1mqGISDvdad8KAx3AewqDjyt9En6FuVBwQ5_OqP8GNB75I6e4TO0kQbDFGrRvZVZo9DZfI&amp;uach=WyJtYWNPUyIsIjEzLjIuMSIsImFybSIsIiIsIjExMS4wLjU1NjMuNjQiLFtdLGZhbHNlLG51bGwsIjY0IixbWyJHb29nbGUgQ2hyb21lIiwiMTExLjAuNTU2My42NCJdLFsiTm90KEE6QnJhbmQiLCI4LjAuMC4wIl0sWyJDaHJvbWl1bSIsIjExMS4wLjU1NjMuNjQiXV0sZmFsc2Vd&amp;dt=1682131427262&amp;bpp=2&amp;bdt=367&amp;idt=788&amp;shv=r20230418&amp;mjsv=m202304130102&amp;ptt=9&amp;saldr=aa&amp;abxe=1&amp;cookie=ID%3Dc5b4cdb05cf8144d-229b93d9a5de0091%3AT%3D1680592509%3AS%3DALNI_Mamkt9UmuQGMOCGLpZz_oPKpUIwdw&amp;gpic=UID%3D00000bebd63f863d%3AT%3D1680592509%3ART%3D1682128380%3AS%3DALNI_Ma_YtFySMX09AOoZZN28vO0GUGzPA&amp;prev_fmts=0x0&amp;nras=1&amp;correlator=4350293643221&amp;frm=20&amp;pv=1&amp;ga_vid=2032045364.1680592509&amp;ga_sid=1682131428&amp;ga_hid=371399134&amp;ga_fc=1&amp;rplot=4&amp;u_tz=345&amp;u_his=1&amp;u_h=900&amp;u_w=1440&amp;u_ah=813&amp;u_aw=1440&amp;u_cd=30&amp;u_sd=2&amp;dmc=8&amp;adx=207&amp;ady=3244&amp;biw=1440&amp;bih=657&amp;scr_x=0&amp;scr_y=691&amp;eid=44759926%2C44759842%2C44759875%2C31073974%2C31074012%2C42531706&amp;oid=2&amp;pvsid=2703339081112636&amp;tmod=178841159&amp;uas=0&amp;nvt=1&amp;ref=https%3A%2F%2Fnepalitimes.com%2F&amp;fc=896&amp;brdim=0%2C25%2C0%2C25%2C1440%2C25%2C1440%2C793%2C1440%2C657&amp;vis=1&amp;rsz=%7C%7CEebr%7C&amp;abl=CS&amp;pfx=0&amp;fu=128&amp;bc=31&amp;jar=2023-04-22-02&amp;ifi=1&amp;uci=a!1&amp;btvi=1&amp;fsb=1&amp;xpc=4JnXA4eA5J&amp;p=https%3A//archive.nepalitimes.com&amp;dtd=63261" data-google-container-id="a!1" data-google-query-id="CKu69o-8vP4CFYgIXAodE-4JOg" data-load-complete="true" style="overflow: hidden; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; border: 0px; width: 718px; height: 0px;"></iframe></div>

Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, the film

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131116/637232639c7e80680e0c4891jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="998"/><figcaption>APasang Lama Sherpa with his donation box on the Everest Trail. All photos: DUSTYNEP</figcaption></figure>The name Sherpa has become synonymous all over the world with mountaineering guides, but here in the villages below Mt Everest Pasang Lama Sherpa is better known as someone who has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qYOUIhLFe0">dedicated his life</a> not for fixing ropes on Mt Everest, but for maintaining the walking trails.The 78-year-old Khumjung native is no engineer, but his lifelong work has made the Everest trail safer for thousands of trekkers and villagers below the world’s highest mountain.Pasang Lama is a familiar face as he sits by the trail every day with a blue box for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN9eIgssRcQ">donations from trekkers</a>, and a register to note down names and amounts. It is like a voluntary toll booth, and the money goes to the trail’s upkeep.People here affectionately call him Lama Seru, and the man with the wizened face and glasses, began his career in the trekking industry at age 18. He was appalled by the dismal condition of the trails, and was determined to make them less dangerous for porters like himself.He quit portering and in the 1960s started maintaining trails with his wife Lakpa Yangji around Dingboche village which is situated at an altitude of 4,410m. Eventually, he rallied a team to widen other paths along the steep slopes to connect villages in Upper Khumbu for the benefit of locals.As trekking and mountaineering took off, footfalls on the trails grew, and with it the need to maintain the and repair the dangerous sections. For Pasang Lama and his wife, the only reward is a sense of personal fulfillment that comes from providing a public service.“I have revived trails in two wards here,” says Pasang Lama with pride. “Everyone is happy to walk along these paths because we have cleared all the bushes and thorns.”After the Sagarmatha National Park was established in 1976, Pasang Lama worked with it to streamline the paths. Finally in 2012, the Himalayan Trust set up by Edmund Hillary, recognised the couple for their years of service to the community.The trail from Namche to Tengboche is now a wide two-way path easily navigable for trekkers and yak trains, despite dangerous cliff drops. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/everest-trail-repaired-during-pandemic/">During the pandemic lockdown</a>, locals also laid down steps and railings along the steeper sections.For now, Pasang Lama sits by the trail with his donation box and a sign (right) that reads: ‘Dear visitors, this man Pasang Lama Sherpa has been doing social work to build, mend and maintain the main trail to Everest Base Camp with high spirit and solemn determination. Visitors are requested to make a small donation to support and encourage this devoted man to continue his sacred work, so that all the inhabitants and visitors in this area will be befitted on the days ahead.'<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131116/637232679c7e80680e0c4892jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125">North of the airfield at Lukla, most supplies reach the higher villages by porters carrying heavy loads, or on mule and yak trains. Namche is the largest town on the trekking route, but above the popular tourist hub there are only smaller seasonal settlements.There are plans to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-building-a-highway-to-everest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">extend the roadway</a> from Phaplu to Lukla, which is currently only accessible through the Tenzing-Hillary Airport or on foot. While there is some support for the road, others have argued that the road might disrupt the local environment if it connects the national park.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131116/6372326b9c7e80680e0c4893jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">The lack of a motorable road means that local people have to pay more for basic items. A Rs1,800 cooking gas cylinder in Kathmandu may <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-building-a-highway-to-everest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cost up to Rs15,000</a> in Upper Khumbu due to the additional transport cost. Helicopters can reach the higher villages above Namche, but that makes the items even costlier.In 2017, the construction of a new bridge over the Dudh Kosi River at Orlang Ghat raised hopes for easier vehicle access to the Solu Khumbu.The road is being extended to Chaurikharka, a village at 2,800m in altitude, near Lukla, and a day’s walk down from Namche. For now, most locals including Pasang Lama Sherpa are in favour of the better connectivity that the motorable road will bring, and he sometimes walks down to watch the excavators in action.He says, “With the new road, my family members from the city can visit me whenever they want.”

The trail builder of Everest

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413114/63722ec89c7e80680e0c24dfjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2016" height="1512"/><figcaption>Bhesh Rag Dahal's soup with dried mushrooms he collected. Photo: THOMAS ROEHL</figcaption></figure>For 25 years, Ang Jangmu Sherpa collected mushrooms in forests near her lodge in Tengboche. Just one local mushroom, known locally as petak, provides enough for one meal.Bhesh Rag Dahal collects and dries mushrooms for the winter months in his restaurant in Tashingma. Since mushroom keep so well, he still has a store of mushroom that was not consumed when tourism collapsed during the pandemic.He can sell the mushroom in the market for Rs10,000 a kg. Otherwise, he gives them away as prized gifts to relatives and lamas at Tengboche and other monasteries.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413114/63722ecc9c7e80680e0c24e0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1365"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>In the Solu Khumbu district at the lap of Mt Everest, edible mushrooms are an integral part of diet and an immense, overlooked part of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/economic-benefits-of-saving-the-ecology/">biodiversity of the Himalaya</a>.Now, a group of Nepali and American mycologists, who are scientists who study fungi, are identifying mushrooms on a first ever eco-tourism trek to Everest Base Camp.The three-week expedition that started out in mid-June out was organised by International Mountain Trekking (IMT), and included an international team from Nepal, US, and Mexico. Nepali mycologist and botanist Shiva Devkota and US mycologists Britt Bunyard and Thomas Roehl identified over 150 species of mushroom.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413114/63722ecf9c7e80680e0c24e1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3840" height="2560"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Thousands of trekkers and mountaineers make the journey to Everest Base Camp annually, but few notice the hundreds of species of mushrooms growing alongside the trail.“I had always seen mushrooms, but I was always in too big a hurry,” says IMT’s Richard Silber who hopes <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/model-for-post-covid-ecotourism/">eco-tourism</a> treks will allow the Everest region to be recognised for its biodiversity and the rich fungi populations beyond its mountains.Silber worked with Devkota and Sonam Jangbu Sherpa also of IMT to construct the first ecological tourism trek of its kind. In addition to mycologists, citizen scientists with interest in mushrooms joined the trek, guided by Phu Chiri Sherpa and Tenzing Tashi Sherpa.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413114/63722ed39c7e80680e0c24e2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="1600"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413114/63722ed59c7e80680e0c24e3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="1600">“There is this amazing biodiversity in Nepal — uniquely true because of the extraordinary altitude gradient — within a short band the terrain goes from 6,000ft to the highest point on earth,” Silber says.The Solu Khumbu’s altitude variation creates the niches for hundreds of unique tree species, making it a rich environment for fungi to grow in relationship with the vegetation. Until now, the region’s mushrooms had never been systematically cataloged.Devkota holds a PhD in mushroom research and says: “To make conservation and management plans, first we should explore what kind of mushroom species we have. I realised there was a gap, and an opportunity.”Now there is a push for scientists all over to document things before the precious mushrooms are gone. Says Bunyard: “The forest here is covered with life, but this is one of the most understudied parts of the world. There are no books here, it’s kind of a black box.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413114/63722ed99c7e80680e0c24e4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1200"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Fungi do not exist in isolation, but are critical to ecosystems. They enriched the diversity of life in the biosphere. “They are partners for pretty much all plants,” adds Bunyard.Mushrooms form immense underground networks with plant species, cycling nutrients, ensuring plant survival, and contributing to the carbon and phosphorus cycles.“If you killed all the fungi on the planet, all the trees would die. So fungi are basically responsible for the life of everyone on the surface of the world,” adds Thomas Roehl.When an environment is damaged by human activity, fungi can still thrive, and in some cases, help jumpstart new life. They also signify ecosystem health. Fungi can be used to indicate air pollution levels, as they struggle to survive in areas with heavy emissions.<h3>Mushrooms on Everest</h3>Even before entering Sagarmatha National Park, the expedition had already identified over 60 types of mushroom, including sightings of rarely viewed species.The team found Tremella salmonea, first described in 2019, and documented Amanita tullossiana, a new species found in 2019 in the Indian Himalaya.The researchers believe they identified Amanita innatifibrilla, a species with limited data and unknown range, but once documented in southern China. The team identified the highest mushroom ever found at an altitude at 5,193m.The researchers worked as they walked, identifying new mushrooms and explaining their discoveries to citizen-scientists.“This is unlike what you see in any academic institution,” explained Silber during the trek, describing the way the mycologists worked in the field. “They are drawn to the mushrooms like a magnet. They glom onto it. It’s inspiring, really, it’s cool as hell.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413114/63722edd9c7e80680e0c24e5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1066" height="1600"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413114/63722ee09c7e80680e0c24e6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1200"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>In addition to adding to Nepal’s mushroom database, Silber hopes this mushroom-focused trek is a model for future ecological tourism. In other parts of Nepal, tourists join treks for bird, crocodile, or tiger watching, and the Everest region’s botany, geology, and biodiversity could offer similar opportunities for tourism during the climbing off-season.Bhumiraj Upadhyaya, Chief Conservation Officer at Sagarmatha National Park, has worked in the national park system for over 30 years, but this is the first mushroom-focused trek he has seen.“Almost all the tourists come here just to see mountains,” says Upadhyaya. “There is so much more here than just the mountains.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413114/63722ee39c7e80680e0c24e7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1066" height="1600"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>He explains that major research gaps still remain for snow leopards, musk deer, and pollution nearby the Gokyo lakes.Scientific research in the region, however, is limited, due to irregular flights, high costs, and poor road conditions. Researchers are far more likely to go to the more accessible Annapurna or Chitwan regions.Solu Khumbu’s residents could benefit from more extensive mushroom knowledge. People have lived in the Khumbu before the establishment of the national park, so unlike visitors, local communities do not need park permission to forage for mushrooms.In fact, local mushroom species offer a source of protein and fiber during winter months, where fresh vegetables are unavailable.“Here they do not have sufficient vegetables and have to depend on planes and jeeps to bring vegetables from Kathmandu. Having knowledge of mushrooms might be helpful for the people for food source and security,” he adds.Locals grow their own mushrooms, or more often forage in nearby forests. Mushrooms can be dried, stored, and rehydrated for future use, which benefits the lodges who are overwhelmed with tourists in the spring and fall.Further scientific analysis of the region’s mushrooms could benefit those that rely on the food group. “Perhaps in the future, more people can know about edible mushrooms,” Jangbu Sherpa says. “During the winter there are no vegetables, so we can collect and dry them for the winter.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413114/63722ee69c7e80680e0c24e8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1200"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Another mushroom tour is already being planned for 2023, and Silber hopes that scientific activity in the Solu Khumbu can become accessible and community-based.“Of course it is hard to do science in remote areas. If you want to get up here and do this kind of work, it's a big and an important commitment,” he says.For future projects and research, IMT hopes to work with local populations, including building a science center with a donated house in Phortse. The main goal of research is to help local communities benefit from the knowledge.“We know through history that western scientists come in, do their work, and leave,” says Silber. “They do not engage or train locals, that’s not part of the research protocol. And it is a big missed opportunity in any community.”Alok Tuladhar and Shiva Devkota helped with this report.<h3>Shrooms can kill</h3>The work of a mycologist is critical in establishing mushrooms that are highly poisonous. Every year, dozens of Nepalis, mainly children and from poorer families, die from eating toxic mushrooms because the edible and poisonous varieties look the same.“Most of the people living near the forest, or low income people who depend more on the forest, are the ones getting poisoned,” explains mycologist Shiva Devkota.Mushrooms, which grow out of the ground only for up to three months in a year in the forest, are discovered, they are collected and shared with family and neighbours. If one of them happens to be toxic, it can kill an entire household or impact the whole community.In 2019, six people in the same family died in Palpa from toxic mushrooms. In 2016, eight people died in Panchthar district from eating poisonous mushrooms.Devkota was leading a mushroom expedition to the Everest region last month when he got news of 19 mushroom-related casualties from Butwal. Most mushroom illnesses and deaths, however, are unreported as they occur in remote rural areas.“There has previously been a communication gap, but now we know that mushroom poisonings are happening, and we hear about the deaths,” adds Devkota.In the Everest region, most toxic mushrooms are found below Lukla and the ones at higher altitudes are generally safe.“Just like there are no poisonous snakes the higher you go, there are no poisonous mushrooms here,” says Ang Jangmu Sherpa who has a lodge in Tengboche.The differences between an edible and deadly mushroom may be imperceptible. “If you don’t know what you are doing, stay away from amonita," says American researcher Britt Bunyard. Amonita has an iconic white cap, red dots, and veil.In 2021, Devkota and the Himalayan Climate and Science Institute partnered to create educational material for villagers, government agencies and clinics in Gandaki Province when mushroom foraging was more common during the pandemic.In the Khumbu, mushroom poisoning is not so serious. Locals only collect ones that they know are safe, and even then slice it to see if it has a green or purplish tint, indicating toxins.“Nepalis have been using mushrooms for a long time for medicinal purposes and for food. They are closely attached with folklore and taboos,” says Devkota who wants to step up awareness so more Nepalis can rely on this important and easily-stored food source.Sarah WatsonRead more: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-farmer-refuses-to-bury-head-in-sand/">Nepal farmer refuses to bury head in sand</a>, Mukesh Pokhrel

Mushroom trekking in the Himalaya

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412118/637221b09c7e80680e0c02ccjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1682" height="1158"/><figcaption>Photos: LITTLEBIG</figcaption></figure>A painting of Mt Everest could have only been unveiled on Everest Day 29 May at the iconic <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-himalayan-high/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hotel Everest View</a> in Syangboche.The triptych by British visual artist Sacha Jafri shows the panorama of a discoloured mountain range, the black of the rocks seeping into the fluid snow, against a sky progressively deeper the higher it goes.Below are reddish-brown hills gathered for a conference of sorts, their heads ever so slightly bent as if they are listening and thinking. At the centre lies a pool of water so blue it seems to be collecting the whole sky above.The painting appears as an almost abstract expression of the mountain rather than its reflection. It is Jafri's subconscious journey to the Himalaya, and there can be found immediately something childlike, innocence without pretense - a theme recurrent in his other artworks as well.The Everest painting is one of 50 Jafri is creating for <a href="https://www.theartmaze.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Art Maze project</a> in partnership with UNESCO, and commemorates the 50th anniversary of the UNESCO <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/convention/">Convention concerning the Protection of the World's Cultural and Natural Heritage</a> signed on 16 November 1972. The Convention then came into force on 17 December three years later.“This comes at a time in the world, with <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/here-today-gone-tomorrow/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate change</a>, the pandemic, the geopolitical flux, to reflect on the next 50 years and ask ourselves what we truly value as individual, societies and countries, and what should be passed down to the future generations,” says UNESCO Representative to Nepal Michael Croft.As such, the UNESCO’s <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/next50/">The Next 50 campaign</a> forms the foundation for the Art Maze, and 34 of the paintings of World Heritage Sites, including the Acropolis in Greece, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the Hyrcanian Forests in Iran, the Saint-Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, the Pyramids of Egypt, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/telling-the-story-of-buddhas-lumbini/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Lumbini in Nepal</a> have been completed.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412118/637221b39c7e80680e0c02cdjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1313" height="1969"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The paintings are characterised by their unique assortment of colours, which is reminiscent of lively crayons from childhood. Textbook realism has no place in these canvases, as the paintings are stripped to their essence.“We over analyse, become pompous and over-intellectualise art,” Jafri explains. “But all art, at the end of the day, is rubbish and superb.”This apparent contradiction finds reconciliation in the artist’s intent with which they create. “And I think if you focus on your intentions, then everything you create will be perfect,” Jafri adds.There is a sublime simplicity to Jafri’s method and work, enabling viewers to be more conscious in their world, their lives, and be open to love and compassion.The Art Maze curated by Marcus Schaefer is a 12x12m steel labyrinth gallery with Jafri’s paintings, giving visitors the opportunity to choose which path to take and create an experience where “the journey is the destination”.For over 25 years, Jafri’s work has been about reconnecting with the soul of the earth. His Journey of Humanity (2020) is dubbed the world’s largest and took him a year to create during the pandemic.That is the process of being an artist, Jafri believes – a journey where things continue to evolve, and one eventually creates something. “It is not about the moment of creation,” he adds. “It is the journey that has allowed it.”Journey of Humanity is a striking play of bold, vibrant colours, incorporating artworks by children from 140 countries, and spread over 1,700 square metres – roughly the size of two football pitches – and it’s aim as profound as its span: to raise around $11 million – it ended up raising $62 million – to help children across the world in need of education, health care and digital connectivity.The idea behind the painting was re-connectivity, which then expanded into the Art Maze. When Schaefer approached him with the concept, Jafri found it resonated with his own. Jafri then thought perhaps the project would be even more poignant if it was about the World Heritage Sites.The Maze was then launched on 23 March at the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah Helipad in Dubai with 30 works, and will be travelling around the world with plans for a Nepal stopover next year.“I thought if I represent these World Heritage sites in an art maze we could reconnect humanity to our natural and cultural heritage, to our ancestral past, to the custodians of our cultures, and we could start communicating again on a deeper level,” Jafri says.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412118/637221b79c7e80680e0c02cejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1979" height="763"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Maze and the Next 50 campaign also come at a time when Nepal is changing rapidly, trying to balance development with nature. Everest itself continues to be affected by the climate crisis and mass mountaineering.At the unveiling, Bishnu Rokaya of the Sagarmatha National Park said: “While Mt Everest and the park are already well-known, the painting will help us reach even more people, share our stories, and promote tourism and conservation efforts.”According to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/leverage-lumbinis-soft-power/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Michael Croft</a>, the campaign and Art Maze represent a strategic exercise to work with youths and Indigenous communities, not just in Nepal but around the world, to have discussions on sustainable living, successfully adapting to climate change, and hopefully push back against environmental degradation.“Nepal is an intensely diverse country and people with different identities and languages and experiences are able to identify themselves as Nepali, and that gives hope. If all this can exist and work, it is a positive story for the world,” remarks Croft.Raza Beig, executive advisor to ArtFi Chairman of BoredPuma has bought the Everest painting and plans to house its three panels in a museum and share it with the world. The profits from the sale of Jafri’s paintings will help communities living in the Heritage Sites they represent.His son Aly wrote to Nepali Times: “We feel Mt Everest and Sagarmatha National Park to be one of the most spiritual places on our planet, and now we get to look at it every day and share it with the world.”

Ashish Dhakal

Everest's natural heritage on canvas

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412114/6372213a9c7e80680e0c02a6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4000" height="2252"/><figcaption>Photo: EELUM DIXIT</figcaption></figure>Everest Base Camp sits on a glacier that is melting and on the move. It is now <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/on-thin-ice-in-the-khumbu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">50m lower than in 1953</a> when Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary were here on their way to climb the world’s highest mountain for the first time. Climbers have even reported pools of water on rocks on the South Col at 8,000m.Global warming is heating up the planet, but scientists say the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-terrifying-assessment-of-himalayan-melting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">temperature in the Himalaya is rising</a> twice as fast as the global average. The debris-covered Khumbu Glacier has unusual ice sculptures: arches, pinnacles and an enormous black rock sitting on top of an ice column 5m high.But it is all here today, gone tomorrow. Carved by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-change-is-a-disaster-in-the-nepal-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate change</a>, the columns melt and arches collapse. Base Camp travels slowly southwards on the moving ice, paths between expedition tents disappear during the night as the glacier grunts and growls in its sleep like a gigantic reptile.New surprise: a river now runs through camp. It freezes at night and by the time the sun comes up from behind the West Shoulder every morning, it is a fast-flowing gurgling brook.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/letters-from-base-camp-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Letters from Base Camp 2</a>, Eelum DixitOne climber said he wept when he saw that the stream actually originates in the Khumbu Icefall. We wonder how long it will take for the icefall to turn into a waterfall. All this is happening right around us, and because of us.“This glacial stream is getting bigger and bigger every year, its flow is alarming,” says Khim Lal Gautam, a civil servant and surveyor who has climbed Mt Everest twice, the last time in 2019 as part of the team that measured the true height of the summit at 8848.86m.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/mt-everest-city/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">overcrowded Base Camp</a> with all its kitchen tents, gas cookers and waste is making things worse, and Gautam says it should be moved beyond the glacier to Kala Pattar. “Imagine how much damage we are doing to the glacier just by being here,” he adds.https://youtu.be/iMKRC7oZhpYSpring climbing on Mt Everest has ended, and it has been a season of new records. Unusually long weather windows and above average temperatures meant that a record 650 people out of the more than 800 permits issued got to the top.But no matter how many clients and guides summit the mountain, there is one glaring thing that hits everyone at Base Camp as the sun comes up: the mountains are changing, and change is accelerating.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/letters-from-everest-base-camp-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Letters from Base Camp 1</a>, Eelum DixitIt is not difficult to calculate the carbon footprint of a large Everest expedition staying for two months at Base Camp. The livelihoods of expedition guides and  porters are important, but we have to ask what those summit photographs cost the planet. What of all those helicopter ferry flights, the LPG cylinders in the kitchen tents?The translucent seracs on Nuptse glow blue as the sun climbs higher, layers of ice that have accumulated over centuries being drawn down by gravity to the glacier below. Besides the spring thaw that melts winter snow, it is now also this permanent ice that is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/human-face-of-a-himalayan-climate-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">rapidly turning into water</a>.Most of the melting is due to global warming, but the ice is melting faster because it is <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19368" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">covered in soot and dust particles</a> from pollution brought up by wind from the south. What remains of the Lobuje Glacier is dirty ice.Many had hoped that the three month climbing season would allow the mountain to recuperate during the rest of the year. But the damage is more and more severe every year, so the Himalaya needs a break.

Here today, gone tomorrow

<figure><img width="1137" height="640" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111128/6372191d9c7e80680e0baa81jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>All photos: EELUM DIXIT</figcaption></figure>Everest Base Camp is ever-changing. The weather, the comings and goings, new world records — and the ice beneath. The night is punctuated by the sharp crack of avalanches as the hanging seracs calve off on Nuptse. After a week or two, the floor of the tent tilts, and my head is lower than my feet. Base Camp itself is on the move.  After Ang Tsering sets off for his summit push, other climbers arrive. Purnima Shrestha, a photojournalist for Karobar relates how after her first summit, it just became one peak after another.  She is at EBC after having climbed Kanchenjunga earlier in the week, and was now going for Lhotse. Last year she climbed Mt Everest, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu and Annapurna. Everyone expects her to do 14 peaks a la Nims Purja, but she has not made up her mind yet.“I don’t know, I want to keep K2 for when I’m in my 50s or 60s,” she laughs. “I don’t know what my life will be like then. There’s some poetry in leaving something unfinished, a challenge for me to pick up later on in life.”Kristin Harila has a much more immediate ambition. The Norwegian climber is sponsored by a watch brand, and is taking the help of Lakpa Sherpa and 8K Expeditions to fulfil her dream of conquering all 14 eight thousanders in record time. Not only will she be the fastest woman to do it, but she might even be the fastest human being to climb all 14 true peaks in record time.She adds, “I am completely beholden to the 8K Sherpas who help me up there. They are the backbone, without them I would not be able to even dream of doing what I am setting out to do.”“Nowadays individuals get too much credit, and make too much of their achievements,” she continues. “The real story is that it is a collaborative effort from fixing ropes to carrying oxygen and making sure that survival is possible at such altitudes.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/scaling-the-mountain-of-humanity/">Scaling the mountain of humanity</a>, Aria Shree Parasai <img width="1136" height="640" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111132/637219219c7e80680e0baa82jpeg.jpg" alt="">Dawa Sherpa has come out of retirement to help Kristin beat the record of 14 peaks, and has seen how climbing has changed in the last few decades.“Before you were truly going into the unknown, nowadays they can tell us precisely when a weather window will open. It is much easier,” he says, but adds that the mountains still have plenty of surprises.Dawa and Kristin had a tough time in April on Annapurna 1 when they got lost in a complete whiteout with fierce winds.   “It was the first time that I was in that situation. Annapurna 1 is truly the most difficult mountain in my experience,” he says.All activity at EBC also revolves around the weather. The conditions in Lukla for the ferry flights, weather here, and high up on the mountain. Nature has to be an ally for any progress from Kathmandu to the high camps, and the summit. Purnima leaves for her Lhotse ascent, and we head up to Pumori High Camp to get a better perspective on things. It is the day of Ang Tsering’s summit, maybe it will be possible for our lens to capture him on the southeast ridge more than 4,000m above us.These mountains are taller than anything else in the world, and even here we are already higher than all mountains in Europe. Be humble, the mighty mountains silently implore.Far off to the south, Ama Dablam is a swirl of vanilla ice cream, gleaming like gold in the first rays of the sun, even as the crags below us are in shadow. A shroud of fog blankets the Khumbu Glacier, drifting up the valley. It is movement in stillness in these mountains.The sun is rising from behind the West Ridge of Everest. The Icefall swooshes down from the Western Cwm and veers off to the right - like the bridal train in a white wedding. There are little dots of yellow and orange of Base Camp on the moraine below us, but even these soon disappear as the fog turns into cloud.There are rockfalls off Pumori as we descend, and we get word that Ang Tsering did summit Mt Everest that morning.But getting to the top is only half the battle, getting down safely is even more difficult. Back at EBC, we learn just how difficult it can be just listening in on the walkies. A client has thrown off shades, and is walking aimlessly on the South Col. Another ripped off the oxygen mask, and told his guides he will come on his own but headed off the wrong way. A team of unroped guides have to quickly help him back.“This happens,” says Lakpa, “there is lack of oxygen, a feeling of accomplishment, and some people hallucinate. This is when the Sherpa’s job is critical. Sometimes we have to force them to come down. They are angry up there, but once they get to Camp 2 they are grateful that we took control.”Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/mt-everest-in-business-class/"> Mt Everest in Business Class</a>, Shankar Dahal <img width="893" height="504" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111132/637219249c7e80680e0baa83jpeg.jpg" alt="">Rescue helicopters are able to land at Camp 2, and can even sling lift wounded off Camp 3.  Without these daredevil pilots there would be many more casualties on Everest every season. We run into Khimlal Gautam, the Nepali civil servant and surveyor who has scaled Mt Everest twice. Having summited 11 years ago, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/measuring-mt-everest-because-it-is-there/">he went up again in 2019</a> as part of the expedition to calculate the exact elevation of Mt Everest at 8848.86m. He is now worried about the impact of all the people at EBC. “Think of all the waste we generate by just being here on the glacier for three months,” he says, “maybe Base Camp should be shifted to Kala Pattar." Over the next couple of days, the climbers return to EBC. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/letters-from-everest-base-camp-1/">Patrine Cheng from Hong Kong</a> completes her ascent though the speed record remains unbroken. Ang Tsering arrives as well, having lost weight and still nursing that cough. Purnima also gets down after bagging Lhotse. Kristin was among the few still waiting to go up. That night there is a party at EBC.  Purnima says, “Now that I’m just one peak short of completing Nepal’s 8K peaks, the idea of Pakistan and China are more appealing. Especially K2. I might just go for it.” Kristin Harila later completes the double summit of Everest and Lhotse, beating her own record and thereby also climbing five eight thousanders in 24 days -- another record.  She and Purnima are off to Makalu now, where Kristin is aiming to set another record for the fastest completion of the First Phase. Once she does that, she will just need the weather to be on her side, and perhaps a little political clout to get to Xixapangma.  UPDATE, 28 May: The Norwegian Kristin Harila has set a record clmbing six 8,000m peaks in the fastest time, beating Nims Purja's record for 6 summits. Purnima Shrestha has also climbed Makalu, her sixth 8-thousander in Nepal. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/letters-from-everest-base-camp-1/">Letters from Everest Base Camp 1</a>, Eelum Dixit The final instalment of Eelum Dixit's Letters from Base Camp will appear next week in Nepali Times.

Letters from Base Camp 2

<figure><img width="2708" height="1492" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111124/637217bf9c7e80680e0baa04jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>The sun rises from behind Lho La on Thursday morning as seen from Base Camp. Photos: EELUM DIXIT</figcaption></figure>Everest Base Camp sits on a moving, melting avenue of ice and boulders. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/on-thin-ice-in-the-khumbu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">It is today 50m lower</a> than where it was when Hillary and Tenzing first climbed the mountain nearly 70 years ago. Surrounded by icy towers on all sides, it is a noisy place with growls from beneath and cracks of frequent avalanches above. As the sun comes up there is a new sound: the gurgle of water from a stream that runs down along <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/living-through-the-himalayan-thaw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Khumbu Glacier</a>. One can picture what it was like before the expeditions got here as the spring climbing season got underway in early March. It is now <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/mt-everest-city/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a tent city</a> along a  river of melting Himalayan ice.  It has numerous suburbs: Pioneer Adventure, Elite Exped, Seven Summit Treks, named after the expeditions going up to Everest or Lhotse. Three more weeks, and they will all be gone.  It is a temporary Dubai: a boomtown amidst pinnacles of ice, where nothing grows but everything is available for a price. The only difference is that this is a 5,300m expanse of ice and rock, not a desert. And in their own way, the inhabitants here are also climbers.  They come here from all over the world to fulfill their dreams of standing on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/overkill-on-everest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">top of the world’s highest mountains</a>. Every year, more records are set, and more broken.  <figure><img width="2714" height="1480" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111124/637217c39c7e80680e0baa05jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>                       The melting ice pinnacles of the Khumbu Glacier at Base Camp.It is the high altitude guides mainly from <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/why-are-sherpas-always-happy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Sherpa community</a> who are mostly the reason those records can be set. From setting up tents, preparing food, fixing lines, stockpiling oxygen at high camps, and deciding all-important climbing windows – it is the Sherpa who do it all.Nepal’s other ethnic groups have also started to rise up the ranks in different roles, and even among the Sherpas there are more and more from the Makalu and Rolwaling regions. We are here to follow one such Sherpa, Lakpa Sherpa from Walung below, Makalu, as he leads his first clients up the world’s highest peak for the first time as the proprietor of his brand new 8K Expeditions outfit. He plans to climb with his clients, who trust his expert guidance. It so happens that one of Lakpa’s first clients is Ang Tshering Lama, owner of The Happy House in Phaplu – the place that <a style="font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/highs-and-lows-of-sir-ed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Edmund Hillary</a> considered his home as he built schools and hospitals in Solu Khumbu decades ago.  Back in Sir Ed’s day, Phaplu was an important stopover on the walk-on from Lamosangu on the Everest trail. Today, most trekkers start their journeys after flying to Lukla, or even higher. Soon, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-building-a-highway-to-everest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a road from Phaplu</a> will arrive at Chaurikharka below Lukla. For now, helicopters are the taxis of the Khumbu sky during peak season – ferrying cargo and trekkers up and down between Lukla and Base Camp. Call them the ‘Ubercopter’, or ‘Heli-Tootle’ of the Himalaya. Lakpa Sherpa himself came to Kathmandu and rose up with no wealth, no contacts,  pulled himself up with the straps of his climbing boots, starting out as a porter 14 years ago. “I started from zero,” he recalls. “I didn’t get a leg up from my father or my brothers. I used to wait around the shutters of different trekking agencies in Kathmandu to get work.”His first jobs were with Pasang Sherpa’s Green Lotus Trek and Expeditions. Eventually, he was promoted to Mountain Guide, and between 2016 and 2021, became Managing Director of Pioneer Expeditions.  <figure><img width="1578" height="1498" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111124/637217c69c7e80680e0baa06jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Lakpa Sherpa at Everest Base Camp, with his brother Tashi. Photo: 8K</figcaption></figure>When trekking and mountaineering <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-climate-crises-hit-everest-region/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">collapsed during the pandemic</a>, Lakpa sold some property, banded together with two friends and started 8K Expeditions. He risked his savings to start a company of his own at a time when tourism had hit rock bottom. But meeting Lakpa in person, it would seem like he does not have a care in the world. When we get to Base Camp on 10 May, Kami Rita Sherpa had just beaten the record by climbing Everest for the 26th time. Raju Lama held the highest ever music concert somewhere above Camp 2. Lhapa’s namesake, 48-year-old Lhakpa Sherpa also started out as a porter, and broke her own previous record climbing <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/measuring-mt-everest-because-it-is-there/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Everest</a> for the 10th time. Some 150 other climbers also reached the summit on Thursday, including the Full Circle expedition that put six Black American climbers on top.There are 317 climbing permits for Everest this season and more records are set to be broken, including by Marc Batard, 70, who is bypassing the Khumbu Icefall on a new route to be the oldest man to climb the mountains. Nepal's Sagar Sunar, who is 109cm tall, wants to be the shortest man on the summit.At the 8K tent at Base Camp we find that Lakpa has developed the ‘Khumbu Cough’ – a whooping and wheezy expectoration that will not allow him to join Ang Tshering when he heads for the summit of Everest at 1AM on the 12 May.Lakpa has always prided himself in the fact that as leader of the company, he wants to also lead his clients to the top. He must be crest-fallen. But Lakpa has also realised after having climbed Annapurna I, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/what-is-it-about-ama-dablam/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ama Dablam</a>, Makalu, Baruntse and Dhaulagiri, that his most important job is at Base Camp to work on logistics, and communication. Another factor is that his wife, Samasti Sherpa, has ordered him to stop climbing.“She tells me that if I climb another high peak she’ll divorce me. She’s pretty clear about that,” Lakpa laughs. “But I have to climb so… I have to convince her somehow.”  <figure><img width="2706" height="1490" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111124/637217c99c7e80680e0baa07jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>                   The summit of Mt Everest peeking from behind the West Shoulder, as seen      from above Base Camp earlier this week.  Such family pressure is strongly felt by <a style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/where-have-all-the-guides-gone/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s mountain guides</a>. Fear of losing a loved one is real. At Base Camp this week we hear of three fatalities on Everest, two of them guides.  Even if he does not climb Everest this season, Lakpa is going to take one of his clients to Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum 1 and 2 and Broad Peak. He is helping Norwegian climber Kristin Harila break the record of most female ascents of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/um-hong-gils-project-impossible/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">14 peaks above 8000m</a>.  “Since I have already done K2, I have said I will be her guide on the other four,” says Lakhpa. The radio crackles. It is Pema Chering one of the few members of the International Federation of Mountain Guides Association (IFMGA) and Lead Sirdar of Team A. Pema, who has summited Everest 19 times, has reached Camp 2. Team B Sirdar, Tshering Pemba, who has summited 11 times, follows.  In the back and forth we hear that it took part of the group 15 hours to get to Camp 2 – the Sirdars in the communications tent tell us that means that they were walking in the blazing afternoon heat in the parabola of the Western Cwm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5J4pJ7RGOsA river of ice now runs past Base Camp as the Himalaya warms up due to climate change.It would not have been an easy climb. The ascent to Camp 1 is done early in the morning so that climbers have a chance of getting there at 8 AM or 9AM in order to get to Camp 2 before noon. “Anything after noon is walking in heat you have never experienced anywhere in the hottest parts of India. That’s why your cheeks burn up – because the reflected heat off the mountain snow is far worse than direct sun,” says guide Nima Sherpa.It’s now hours before Ang Tshering’s ascent, and though Lakpa is not going up with him, he has put him in the capable hands of another one of Nepal’s few IFMGA guides – Lead Sirdar, Tshering Lama. <figure><img width="1600" height="1200" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111124/637217cc9c7e80680e0baa08jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Lakpa Sherpa on the summit of Mt Everest in 2017. Photo: 8KThat evening, at the members tent, we get to know a few more of the clients that are in and around Lakpa Sherpa’s orbit – either climbing with 8K or past clients. Shehroze Kashif, a 20-year-old from Lahore, holds the record of being the youngest climber to scale K2, which he did under Lakpa’s guidance. Shehroze is just strolling through to catch up with his climbing friends, and tells us of his mission to be the youngest climber to complete the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-next-for-reinhold-messner/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">14 peaks above 8,000 meters</a>. Patrine Cheng from Hong Kong plans to beat the record of fastest female climber to reach the top of Everest. Lakhpa is positive about her chances. I ask Cheng why she is going for this record, she says she read about someone from Hong Kong who broke the record, and thought why should she not give it a try. “I think she can achieve an ascent in under 22 hours. She can show the world what women are capable of,” Lakpa says. <figure><img width="1600" height="900" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111124/637217cf9c7e80680e0baa09jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Patrine Cheng from Hong Kong (in red jacket) with Sherpas at Base Camp before heading off.</figcaption></figure>And what about Lakpa? What drives him? He does so much work for others, what does he get out of all of this? He points to a climber who is heading out with Ang Tshering, Sunil Nataraj from Bangalore and replies, “I might be his mountaineering mentor, but he is my life mentor.”  He adds, “It is not all about money, although I make sure all our Sherpas at every level are paid better than they would normally expect. That is why we have the best people, we care about the people who make us grow. We get credit from clients we help get to the top.”  It is midnight as Ang Tshering, Sunil Natraj and Tshering Lama get out of their tents and sit down for an early breakfast. As they make their way to the gumba for puja, Ang Tshering’s cousin, Tashi, comes over to wish him godspeed.  They hug, and when the prayers are done, the team of four Sherpas and two climbers are off, illuminated by their head torches. They have reached a little way off when Tashi calls Ang Tshering back. His Aunt in Kathmandu is on the phone to say she is praying for him. In that moment, we all understand the gravity of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/why-we-climb-mountains/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">what it means to climbers</a>, guides, and the families involved in these adventures on the world’s highest mountains.

Letters from Everest Base Camp 1

Nepal’s only international aviation gateway, at Kathmandu airport, will cut night-time operation hours to allow construction of taxiways, and airlines have been told to curtail flights. This is expected to lead to more than normal chaos during the height of peak autumn and spring tourist seasons at an airport that is congested even at the best of times. The airport will close from 10PM to 8AM from 8 November-31 March 2025. The taxiways will now connect to the thresholds at both ends of the runway, making the airport more efficient in handling higher frequencies of landings and takeoffs. The parallel taxiway extension will allow international flights to land every 4 minutes instead of the current every 7 minutes. At present planes have to wait to land until a plane taking off backtracks along the runway.&nbsp; Kathmandu is Nepal’s only airport with international operations, and it has only one runway that is only one way in from the south over the mountains. With the taxiway improvement, the airport will be able to handle 42 aircraft landings and takeoffs per hour — double the current capacity.&nbsp; The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has been trying to entice international airlines to also start flying to and from the other two international airports at Pokhara and Bhairawa (Lumbini) by slashing landing and handling charges. But so far only Nepal Airlines operates a weekly flight to Bhairawa from Kuala Lumpur.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241018161016_046569e53d1d66cd445cc66c697c0ef724810aec9f54bdf827481e3cd6b80c32.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241018161016_046569e53d1d66cd445cc66c697c0ef724810aec9f54bdf827481e3cd6b80c32" data-rendition-name="original" width="2356" height="1134" loading="lazy" alt="Kathmandu airport expansion"> <figcaption>Kathmandu Airport Expansion plan with extension of taxiways to the thresholds of runways 02 and 20 that will limit airport operations from 8 November 2024 - 31 March 2025. Areas in blue are existing structures, including the international terminal which in future will be the domestic airport, and the new international terminal near the north end of the runway,</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241018121028_6e17cc2ee87c1b02d78cb54905825b7aa15299b7a00f5eddb01a59579ab85c1a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241018121028_6e17cc2ee87c1b02d78cb54905825b7aa15299b7a00f5eddb01a59579ab85c1a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1353" height="1328" loading="lazy" alt="Kathmandu airport NT"> </figure>  CAAN has reportedly told international airlines to cut their flight frequency to Kathmandu citing the shorter operation hours and has told budget airlines to shift some of their flights to Pokhara or Bhairawa, or face cuts. Many airlines currently operate regular flights to and from Kathmandu between 10PM and 8AM: Air Arabia to Sharjah, Fly Dubai to Dubai, Jazeera Airways to Kuwait, Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong, Singapore Airlines, several Nepal Airlines flights, and one of four daily flights by Qatar Airways to Doha. Jazeera Airways, FlyDubai, and Thai AirAsia have applied and got permission from CAAN to begin regular flights to Bhairawa’s Gautam Buddha International Airport. Starting 9 November, FlyDubai will start making a stopover in Bhairawa before flying on to Kathmandu. Immigration, customs and security are all fully functional in Bhairawa. In Kathmandu, the next phase of the airport upgrade includes converting the current international terminal for domestic operations, the construction of a new international terminal where the domestic departure area is now, as well as moving the hangars and the Nepal Army Air Wing to the eastern side of the runway. The apron area will also double its parking space for widebody jets. This is part of a Airport Capacity Enhancement Project that was initially funded through a $80 million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the entire masterplan is expected to cost $800 million. This project is the latest upgrade to Nepal’s only international airport since it saw its first flight in 1949. The current international and domestic terminals are too small to handle the current annual traffic volume of 8.5 million passengers a year that is growing at 20% a year.

Kathmandu airport to cut flight hours

As Kathmandu becomes more congested and polluted, and with remote online work becoming the norm, many professional Nepalis are planning to retire in Pokhara, or move there.&nbsp; With its stunning mountain panorama, balmy winters and proximity to a profusion of wilderness areas, builders are responding to this demand with new townhouses, housing development and apartments. One such block of flats is the 10-storey <a href="https://sungavaapartment.com/">Sungava Apartment</a> located at Phulbari above the Seti River, near the point where it flows into and under Pokhara. The imposing structure near Manipal Hospital is almost complete, and on a recent visit the site was strewn with huge boulders unearthed while digging the foundation.&nbsp; The Seti brought down these boulders during a gigantic flood that geologists estimate happened 800 years ago when a chunk of Annapurna IV broke off and ploughed into the glacier below. Today, Sungava (means ‘orchid’) sits safely on a high terrace, 100m above the blue-green Seti and commands a view of Dhaulagiri, Annapurna South, Machapuchre, Annapurna III and IV.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024102411104_5f8fc736c86ea3c08d7bef43bb727081d3cc1a2caa55ae2b441717e6044de7e9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024102411104_5f8fc736c86ea3c08d7bef43bb727081d3cc1a2caa55ae2b441717e6044de7e9" data-rendition-name="original" width="2016" height="1512" loading="lazy" alt="High living below the Himalaya NT"> </figure>  The soil here is conglomerate that has solidified like concrete, and the boulders were extracted by heavy earthmovers. It is intriguing to think that these metamorphic rocks as big as cars, rounded by glacial grinding, were once a part of a much higher Annapurna IV. Even for those with little interest in geology, Sungava is an ideal place to contemplate the tectonic forces that pushed these peaks into the sky to be sculpted into delicate shapes by wind, snow, earthquake and avalanche over millions of years. The view of the Himalayan panorama from Sungava’s many balconies are breathtaking when not obscured by clouds, or the haze that drifts in from across the southern border. On most days, just watching the towering pyramid of Machapuchre (Tamu name: कतासुँ क्लिको) play hide and seek with the clouds is mesmerising. There are rocks aplenty at Phulbari, and it is probably the flowers that grew along the flat terraces e that gave the place its flowery name. The boulders will hopefully be turned into a rock garden while landscaping. An nearby restaurant complex is making the best use of the stones in its design, using flat rocks as outdoor benches and tables. Sungava was designed by the husband-wife architect team of Deepak Sherchan and Jyoti Joshi of <a href="https://thedarkmermaidamarbshrestha.blogspot.com/2013/12/creative-builders-collaborative-cbc.html">Creative Builders Collaborative (CBC)</a>, which also built Heritage Plaza, Indreni Apartment and numerous other projects in Nepal. Sadbhavana retains CBC’s trademark Newari-style masonry and here it borrows from the orange brickwork of the old town of Pokhara, integrating it with modern design elements. A few of those heritage houses are still standing in Ganesh Tole and Ram Krishna Tole in Pokhara’s old quarter.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024102411108_5eb64a4885961b6d30781cefeb1e8a313da313ac5227c7a66b60f0c7d48d6fab.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024102411108_5eb64a4885961b6d30781cefeb1e8a313da313ac5227c7a66b60f0c7d48d6fab" data-rendition-name="original" width="1362" height="595" loading="lazy" alt="High living below the Himalaya NT"> </figure>  About 400m from the apartment past a bend on the river, and down below three tiers of terraces in the canyon is a suspension bridge. Below it, the Seti is still swollen with post-monsoon flow as it tumbles away in a hurry to head down south.&nbsp; Back at the apartment, it is quiet, far away from the hubbub of Lakeside a 15 minute drive away, and in the lap of greenery. There are 52 units at Sungava and it already has a close-knit prospective community of professionals, including doctors, publishers, engineers, and businesspeople from the renewable energy and IT sectors.&nbsp; Some residents say they opted for a second home in Pokhara to make it a ‘base camp’ to explore the Annapurnas with its many hiking trails made newly accessible with new roads. With the NRN citizenship law, overseas Nepalis can now also buy the flats. &nbsp; The floor plans include options for north and south-facing 3-bedroom apartments with verandas, and the facility has underground parking has EV charging, heated pool, sauna and gym. There are still some unsold apartments with panoramic views of the mountains and one can imagine oneself at the kitchen with its huge window, humming a ditty while preparing breakfast: “खाना पकाउँ हिमाल हेरेर...”

High living below the Himalaya

When the United Nations held its Summit of the Future at its headquarters in New York in September, many world leaders, including Nepal’s Prime Minister K P Oli, highlighted the effect of climate breakdown in increasing the frequency and intensity of natural disasters. What did not get as much attention was the long term impact of the climate crisis on food production. In fact, heat stress, weather extremes and the consequences on rain-fed agriculture is already being felt worldwide, undermining the chances of the <a href="https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/">UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)</a> being met by 2030.&nbsp; The SDG’s 17 targets commit countries like Nepal to reduce poverty and inequality, end malnutrition, protect the natural environment, and ensure that citizens all enjoy health, justice and prosperity without leaving anyone behind.&nbsp; However, besides the impact of climate breakdown on agricultural production, in Nepal the area under cultivation is impacted by urban expansion, falling productivity and the need for expensive inputs like fertiliser and pesticides.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_626413c5baf4dae407ac9579231b41daeb51510aa636b75aeb7489d94cca6a62.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241019041052_626413c5baf4dae407ac9579231b41daeb51510aa636b75aeb7489d94cca6a62" data-rendition-name="original" width="999" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Kathmandu's urban sprawl is eating into its fertile cultivable lands. Photo: TAYLOR MASON</figcaption> </figure>  Now, a new study led by Nepali researcher Prajal Pradhan at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands looks at how urban agriculture may offer a solution to falling food production and meeting SDG targets. The researchers evaluated 1,450 publications exploring the contributions of urban agriculture with both positive and negative effects, and published their findings in the journal Cells Report Sustainability. Urban agriculture can help achieve 17 SDGs, positively influencing 81 targets. However, it could also undermine 51 goals.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-vanishing-land">The vanishing land</a>, Taylor Mason “Urban agriculture offers immense potential for sustainable development, but realising this potential depends crucially on adopting practices that minimise its adverse effects while maximising its benefits,” Pradhan explains. Urban agriculture can substantially enhance urban food security, provide employment to the urban poor, serve as ground water recharge in built-up areas, and preserve open spaces that can serve as safe havens during disasters like earthquakes. However, it also presents problems like the potential health risks from contamination and the need for expensive inputs. &nbsp; “Urban agriculture plays a definitive role in advancing the SDGs, but achieving this requires tailored, context-specific solutions that address the unique challenges of different regions,” says Yuanchao Hu of Wuhan University in China and who is a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. “But it needs equitable access and rigorous management of environmental risks.”&nbsp; Rapid urbanisation is eating into Nepal’s most fertile agricultural land, which means farming in remaining open spaces inside cities can be a viable alternative, especially as food prices rise.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_7b7c9413086226fbdc630d45acf772cfa1ced77a8970b9056ec5ec7e5226fdf8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241019041052_7b7c9413086226fbdc630d45acf772cfa1ced77a8970b9056ec5ec7e5226fdf8" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="999" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>A vegetable patch in between new houses in Thimi. Photo: TAYLOR MASON</figcaption> </figure>  “The conversion of Nepal’s most fertile land into cities is a severe problem,” Pradhan told Nepali Times. “Crop cultivation, horticulture, agroforestry, beekeeping, livestock rearing, or aquaculture can all be farming activities within and around cities.”&nbsp; The study makes recommendations for sustainable practices that build on the positive aspects of urban agriculture while mitigating the downsides, thereby promoting more resilient cities in future. Research shows that urban agriculture has been helping many countries attain SDG targets by enhancing food security and biodiversity while helping education and preservation of open spaces.&nbsp; Indeed, many farmers from the hinterland who have settled in Kathmandu Valley or other urban areas of the country have been practicing urban agriculture, leasing neighbourhood patches or cultivating roof gardens both out of necessity because of inflation and falling income to grow their own food, and also as a fulfilling hobby. Saurav Dhakal, a sustainability advocate with Story Cycle and now research fellow at the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand, says there are socio-economic and environmental benefits of urban agriculture. “It provides benefits to all urban dwellers, regardless of their income status,” says Dhakal, “families get fresh food, and there are many other benefits like water retention, heat regulation and biodiversity. These are all public goods, so special government incentives may be needed.” It is not unusual to see vegetable patches and even paddy fields within inner city Kathmandu where an older generation of farmers are using available fertile land and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/rooftop-gardens-kathmandu,1415">roof gardens to produce fresh, nutritious food </a>to reduce their dependence on food items that have to be bought after being trucked in from large distances.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024101905100_1291ce98dbbb8caed8702ac4b1d469b3e13016d7ecaaf3bfd5f91c974d3c0c77.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2024101905100_1291ce98dbbb8caed8702ac4b1d469b3e13016d7ecaaf3bfd5f91c974d3c0c77" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="999" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>An older generation of farmers are using any available fertile land to continue farming but it is getting more and more difficult. Photo: TAYLOR MASON </figcaption> </figure>  Nepal’s urban population grew rapidly from only 3.6% in 1991 to 25% today. There is large outmigration from the mountains to peri-urban areas of the Tarai, to Kathmandu Valley and Pokhara, with many young men then moving abroad for work. Kathmandu Valley’s population has swelled to nearly 3 million, and is growing at 6.5% a year. Dilip Shrestha, 71, used to work for Nepal Food Corporation, so he knew firsthand about inflation, shortages and vegetables with pesticide residue. So, when he designed his new house in Kathmandu, he built a spacious roof where he grows cucumber, ginger, garlic, coriander, onions, tomatoes, chili, beans, okra, pumpkin and lettuce. His family eats healthier, and he has reduced dependence on the market.&nbsp; The co-author of the Cell Reports Sustainability journal article, Daya Raj Subedi who is a PhD candidate at Beijing Forestry University, says urban agriculture also promotes inclusion and psycho-social wellbeing.&nbsp; He says, “A crucial finding of the study is the identification of opportunities and challenges associated with urban agriculture, it can promote sustainable transformation of society.” In Banepa, 55-year-old Bijaya Manandhar in her lifetime has watched the fertile farms of her neighbourhood that used to supply vegetables to Kathmandu, now completely built up with no open space left. The pandemic lockdown prompted her to turn to the family’s <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/rooftop-agriculture-on-the-roof-of-the-world">ancestral livelihood by growing food</a> not on terrace farms, but on the roof terrace. Manandhar is now a part of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/rooftop-agriculture-on-the-roof-of-the-world%5C%5C">कौसी खेती र करेसाबारी क्रान्ती</a> (Rooftop Farming and Garden Revolution) which has an online membership of 52,000, and awards annual prizes to women who excel in urban agriculture.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_7257f5def8f823f35a799fa6f6825e153f2ffa406ac11325d4fe74049b79e96d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20241019041052_7257f5def8f823f35a799fa6f6825e153f2ffa406ac11325d4fe74049b79e96d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="736" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Rooftop farming is gaining popularity as a form of urban agriculture. </figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_beff1a4494ce896dd8fd383ee1f518e5448bcf7ea8bb138255391c7bcb9769ed.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20241019041052_beff1a4494ce896dd8fd383ee1f518e5448bcf7ea8bb138255391c7bcb9769ed" data-rendition-name="original" width="4000" height="3000" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> </figure>  Pradhan says the challenge now is to upscale such examples of successful urban agricultural practices so they support Neal’s efforts to meet SDG targets. He adds, “Crop cultivation around cities can be protected by land use plans and regulations. Promoting community-based agriculture, including rooftop gardens, requires community engagement and public-private partnerships across the food value chain.”&nbsp; Such support would accelerate the popularity of existing rooftop farming and community gardens in Kathmandu Valley, or kitchen garden initiatives in Pokhara, and building on traditional farming practices that are preserved and integrated into urban settings like in Bhaktapur and Banepa. In Lalitpur, the Women Entrepreneurship Facilitation Center promotes urban farming enhancing both sustainability and empowerment.&nbsp; Another co-author of the report, Yuanchao Hu from China says followup research of the team will aim to identify good practices in local urban agriculture practices. He adds, “There are examples of urban agriculture that optimise sustainability, ensuring that it remains a viable solution for cities globally while countries try to meet SDG targets.” Prajal Pradhan, Daya Raj Subedi, Kshitij Dahal, Yuanchao Hu, Prakriti Gurung, Sijal Pokharel, Sagar Kafle, Biplav Khatri, Sudeeksha Basyal, Monika Gurung, and Aruna Joshi. Urban Agriculture matters for sustainable development. Cell Reports Sustainability, 1:100217, 2024. [DOI: 10.1016/j.crsus.2024.100217] Prajal Pradhan (<a href="mailto:p.pradhan@rug.nl">p.pradhan@rug.nl</a>) This article is brought to you by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a>, in collaboration with <a href="https://inpsjapan.com/en/" target="_blank">INPS Japan</a> and <a href="https://sgi-peace.org/" target="_blank">Soka Gakkai International</a>, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240630110640_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20240630110640_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758" data-rendition-name="original" width="680" height="103" loading="lazy" alt="SDG logo"> </figure>

Back to the land in the cities

The 700-year-old Lakshmi Narasingha temple in Bhaktapur houses a rare half-lion and half-human incarnation of Lord Vishnu carrying the Goddess Lakshmi. The temple was destroyed in the 1934 mega earthquake that killed 10,000 people and destroyed many monuments in Kathmandu Valley. It was rebuilt by a German project in the 1980s, but as a single-storey structure instead of its original two-tier pagoda design.&nbsp; With new findings from in-depth research, Bhaktapur municipality began re-restoring the temple in 2021, preserving its original architecture.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_2fae38cce543ad7b1f6de632feb3e212e08ed1acedd747830e949d7b8e878f18.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241017131016_2fae38cce543ad7b1f6de632feb3e212e08ed1acedd747830e949d7b8e878f18" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “Our temples and heritage sites hold deep meaning. It is disheartening to witness how often they lose their original elements, whether by design or accident,” explains Kumar Chawal of the Consumer Committee of Bhaktapur. “There is a need to preserve our architecture and protect its historical value for future generations. Otherwise, we risk losing a vital part of our identity.” The Laksmi Narsingha restoration is similar to the Bhai Dega temple in Patan Darbar Square which also collapsed in 1934, but was rebuilt with a Moghul-style dome by the Rana government at the time. Only two months before the 2015 earthquake, heritage conservationists had started to rebuild Bhai Dega as the original three-tier based on early photographs. But priorities shifted when four other temples in the square were brought down by the 7.8M earthquake on 25 April 2015.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_697ea707d9ad163be5de5f2efbf5b70d3cab771adcc22f0fae6bf937c6cb0130.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241017131016_697ea707d9ad163be5de5f2efbf5b70d3cab771adcc22f0fae6bf937c6cb0130" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  This showed how damage to monuments in Kathmandu Valley spanned from one earthquake to the next. Bhai Dega restoration remains half-complete to this day because money for its restoration ran out.&nbsp; Whereas Bhai Dega restoration was done by the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust with grants from western embassies and international foundations, in Bhaktapur it is the municipality itself that allocated the Rs30.7 million needed to restore the Lakshmi Narasingha temple. The expected date of completion is early 2025. The municipality and local communities are focusing on two main aspects: preserving the past and promoting localisation. The restoration team has designed a blueprint for the temple by using historical photographs and insights from older generations.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_182882fdc393c99e70d1d0490319e415229563666c4934e3a582426ebf00ca30.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241017131016_182882fdc393c99e70d1d0490319e415229563666c4934e3a582426ebf00ca30" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="560" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “At first, the Lakshmi Narasingha temple had only one entrance, but during the demolition process, we uncovered the foundations of four doors. Now, we are restoring all of them. This is an example of how our ancient structures have changed over time, often without our knowledge,” says Chawal. “Constructing temples is not like building houses. They carry historical and spiritual values, which is why they hold a special place in our hearts,” he adds. By replicating ancient design elements and rebuilding the temple as accurately as possible to its original form, the team has stayed true to Bhaktapur’s soul. But the restoration also revived ancient techniques that were in danger of being forgotten, generating employment for woodcarvers, masons, and contractors. The community of Bhaktapur’s Gahiti neighbourhood near the famous Nyatapola Temple has also set aside specific days for locals to volunteer in the reconstruction work. This has encouraged young people to take pride in ownership of their heritage. Families have also supported the effort by donating funds for bells, the temple pinnacle, and other structural features to the temple.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_db850ec0c084cdbe54f65bee92dad2ad8122d20fd60ec87ec086fbb9d2f72bd6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241017131016_db850ec0c084cdbe54f65bee92dad2ad8122d20fd60ec87ec086fbb9d2f72bd6" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “I feel at peace knowing I have contributed my sweat to restoring this temple,” said one volunteer. “It is our duty to preserve our temples and heritage. The Nyatapola area will look magical once this temple is completed.” Community mobilisation is a long-standing tradition in Bhaktapur. In the past, locals have actively participated in the restoration of other temples in the city, such as Bhairav and Nyatapola fostering a strong sense of ownership. This collective engagement has not only been crucial in preserving the city's historical monuments but also in strengthening the bond between local communities and their heritage, says officials at the municipality. While securing funding is essential, and the municipality showed it values heritage conservation, the Lakshmi Narasingha restoration is proof that active involvement and sense of responsibility of the local community is as important, if not more. Local involvement also means that the monuments will be cared for into the future, When locals take ownership of these efforts, the restored monuments are not only protected in the present but are also cared for in the future.