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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
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