Post date: Feb 24, 2012 10:1:53 AM
HIMALAYAS, NEPAL (FILE - JANUARY 2012) (HIMILAYAN CLIMATE INITIATIVE HANDOUT - Nepali mountaineer Apa Sherpa, who reached the summit of Everest 21 times, said he will not be scaling the 8850-metre (5.5 miles) mountain for a 22nd time.
Nepali mountaineer Apa Sherpa, who has reached the summit of Everest 21 times, says he will stop scaling the mountain, and instead, concentrate on environmental work in villages on the Himalayan trail.
The 52-year-old said he will instead use his influence to concentrate on spreading climate change awareness in villages in the Himalayas, as well as cleaning up rubbish along the trail.
Sherpa, whose 21st ascent in May 2011 was dedicated to the impact of climate change, said he started his environmental work with team member Stephen Dawa Sherpa in 2008 and would like to do more.
"It's with the intent of not scaling Everest again, that I got involved in this new project. I won't climb the mountain anymore, but I will go up to the base camp, definitely. Since 2008, we had planned to work on climate change, and we had collected a huge amount of garbage since then," he said.
In January 2012, footage released by the Himalayan Climate Initiate handout showed Sherpa and team members visiting villages in the Himalayas in Nepal.
Sherpa said he devised the Great Himalayan trail of about 170 km (105 miles), to weave through as many villages as possible, to see Nepal's many ethnic groups and to meet and speak with as many people as possible.
Environmental activists said the Himalayan glaciers are rapidly shrinking, threatening the lives of millions of people who depend on them for water.
The president of Himalayan Climate Initiave, the organisation that Sherpa works with, said climate change is causing the melting of glaciers, which could swamp communities downstream.
"The water which melts from the Himalayas is being used for drinking by Singaporeans, Thai people and Myanmar people alike. All the communities lying south of the Himalayas is in a way, in danger because of climate change. If we don't alert them in time, it's not only their lives in danger, rather, it affects all the southern downstream communities," Anil Shitrakar said.
Sherpa said his newfound cause has been an inspiration.
"It is no doubt difficult, walking 17 to 20 kilometres (10.6 to 12.4 miles) a day. We had to walk from morning till it got dark. I don't worry and I don't get tired, because the opportunity of speaking with my Nepali brothers and sisters is an opportunity to share our ideas," he said in an interview on Thursday (February 23).
Apa first climbed the summit of Everest in 1990, when he was 30 years old.