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  • Nepal; travelling butcher in the Khumbu, 1986. Well-dressed Sherpas buying yak meat from butcher, near Lukla (altitude 2827 metres). Meat is not generally eaten by Sherpas who are Buddhists, adhering to the oldest, unreformed sect of Tibetan Buddhism known as Kar-gyud-pa. Buddhists make up about 5.3% of Nepal's population whilst 89.5% are Hindu. The cultural heritage of the Sherpas, however, has always remained with Tibet.
  • Nepal; agriculture and subsistence in the Khumbu, 1986. Area as N0022565. Farmland on the lower slopes of the Himalayas (altitude 2900 metres). Sherpas are Buddhists and their houses are surrounded with prayer sticks flying cloth flags. A sherpa group with yaks travel along
  • Nepal; agriculture in the Khumbu, 1986. Growing potatoes at Phortse (altitude 4000 metres). At this altitude, in breathtaking but inhospitable terrain, potatoes are the principle crop of the Sherpas. Phortse is one of the highest permanent village settlements on the journey to Sagarmatha (Mount Everest).
  • Nepal; foot transport in the Khumbu, 1986. Two young Sherpas carry planks of wood up to the village of Kunde (altitude 3600 metres). Wearing boots which are barely held together and cast-off clothing from Western trekkers, these men transport building materials up a precipitous track.
  • Nepal; Sherpa porters in the Khumbu, 1986. Well-dressed Sherpa porters prepare for a trekking expedition organised for a party of western vacationists. They will guide, bring up the rear, cook and strike camp. Such expeditions pay cash wages far in excess of anything Sherpas could hope to earn elsewhere and such income is invested in loans, cattle, land, tradeable articles and jewellery. Until the influx of mountaineering expeditions following Hillary's Everest climb (1953), western medicine was unknown in the Khumbu. Distribution of mainly analgesic and antibiotic drugs has led to misuse.
  • Nepal; foot transport in the Khumbu, 1986. A young Sherpa takes a 'breather' by resting his load on a walking staff. Sherpas carry enormously heavy loads on their backs and many of the raw materials and goods which move through the Khumbu are transported in this way. The tree on the right of the picture is a Rhododendron aboreum which grows to fifteen metres and bears the national flower of Nepal. Photographed near Lukla (altitude 28287 metres).
  • Nepal; agriculture in the Khumbu, 1986. Pangboche (altitude 4200 metres), showing the tiny, walled terraced fields on which Sherpas cultivate their staple crops (potatoes, barley, wheat). Potatoes are rarely grown beyond 4000 metres but barley is grown at higher altitudes. Scattered juniper and birch trees share this terrain with sub-alpine grasses. Few people live permanently beyond this village amid the last scattered trees below the treeline.
  • Nepal; agriculture and subsistence in the Khumbu, 1986. Sherpa with young yak. The economic emphasis of the Khumbu is on animal husbandry, and the breeding and tending of yaks and cattle was an important occupation when this photograph was taken. Yaks command a good price. On walled, flat terraces, Sherpas cultivate their staple diet of potatoes, barley, buckwheat, and in lower areas, rice. In this picture, taken at altitude 2900 metres, the land sustains the commercial cultivation of medicinal herbs although increases in production are limited by environmental degradation, largely through soil erosion.
  • Nepal; yak transport in the Khumbu, 1986. Sherpas drive a pair of heavily laden yaks along a narrow path on the long climb from Lukla (altitude 2827 metres) to Namche Bazar (3446 metres), the main town in the Khumbu region. The yak is the beast of burden in the Khumbu as well as providing wool, milk, cheese and butter. Yak butter is burned in votive lamps and drunk in tea. The animals command a high price and are carefully nurtured by their owners.
  • Nepal; Sherpa traders of the Khumbu, 1986
  • Nepal; Sherpa children of the Khumbu, 1986
  • Nepal, Sherpa children of the Khumbu, 1986
  • Nepal; deforestation in the Khumbu, 1986. Stacked firewood outside a Sherpa house at Phakding (altitude 3200 metres). Also shown are carrying baskets (bottom right) and prayer flags attached to thin sticks stuck into the ground. In common with many smallholdings, the ground floor of the house is reserved for animals while the family lives upstairs. By the early 1980s, it was estimated that massive deforestation was contributing to the loss of 240 million cubic metres of topsoil in Nepal each year. Sherpas rely on wood for fuel but lack of chimneys in most homes contribute to the coughs and bronchial congestion common to most. Poor hygiene is prevalent because precious wood must be destroyed to create hot water.
  • Nepal; Sherpa children at a water pipe, 1986
  • Nepal; Sherpa children of the Khumbu, 1986. Two smiling children share an amusing moment in the village of Phakding (altitude 3000 metres). Their clothing highlights the poverty of some of the Sherpa families.
  • Nepal; town life in the Khumbu, 1986. A street in Namche Bazar (altitude 3446 metres). Men relax outside a store. In the mid-1980s, Nepal was rigidly patriarchical although Sherpa women had more autonomy than other groups. Women generally had limited access to markets, education, health care and local government. Malnutrition and poverty hit them the hardest, and female children were usually given less food than male children, especially during food shortages.
  • Nepal; town life in the Khumbu, 1986. Namche Bazar (altitude 3446 metres), a bustling and prosperous market town, is the largest Sherpa settlement in the Khumbu. Many of its Tibetan-style houses devote the ground floor to animal shelters while the family lives upstairs. Most have windows and doors at the front of the building only, the back being built into the side of the mountain. Firewood is stacked against walls, and small terraced fields grow staples (potatoes, barley, wheat). At left is a Buddhist shrine or stupa, on each side of which is painted the eyes of the Buddha. Prayer flags are strung out from its summit.
  • Mount Everest; Khumbu region, eastern Nepal, 1986
  • Nepal; bridge over river in the Khumbu, 1986
  • Nepal; air transport in the Khumbu, 1986
  • Nepal; Kunde village with its hospital, 1986
  • Nepal; town life in the Khumbu, 1986
  • Nepal; wooden suspension bridge over a canyon
  • Nepal; cremation on the Baghmati river, 1986
  • Nepal; agriculture and subsistence in the Khumbu, 1986. Farmland on the lower slopes of the Himalayas (altitude 2900 metres). In the late 1980s, food grains contributed 76% of total crop production but production of milk, meat and fruit had not reached a point where nutritionally balanced food was available to most people. Staples (potatoes, barley, wheat) were occasionally augmented by green vegetables in the monsoon season (June-October), yak cheese and milk which was not consumed in large quantities, and fruit which was rare and expensive.
  • Nepal; agriculture in the Khumbu, 1986. As N0022569C, different aspect. Pangboche (altitude 4200 metres), a view of the village with its walled, terraced fields. The houses are built with their backs to the mountain. Only the fronts have windows and doors.
  • Nepal; herdsmen of the Khumbu, 1986. Three herdsmen stop for refreshments at the Shomare Hotel. The sign above the door of this tea shop reads: 'Wel-come to Shomare Hotel', evidence that westerners pass the door en rout to the high mountains.
  • Nepal; air transport in the Khumbu, 1986. As N0022554C with aircraft taking off above the
  • Nepal; Kunde hospital in the Khumbu, 1986
  • Nepal; Kunde hospital in the Khumbu, 1986. This is the only hospital in the Khumbu region. A 'Visitors Note' at the gate reads: 'Interested visitors may be shown the hospital between 8 am - 5 pm depending on the availability of staff. For this service a donation is appreciated. The hospital depends on donations.' In 1986, the hospital was remarkably well equipped considering its isolation. There were facilities for minor, and in an emergency, major surgery and dentistry, local and general anaesthesia, and an X-ray machine running off its own generator. Some diagnostic facilities were carried out, and the walls of the main clinic were lined with shelves packed with a good supply of drugs, bandages and sutures.