With your Sherpa by your side…No Peak is too High

Let me tell you a story…

Barry (I just made up the name) is an accomplished mountaineer. To achieve his lifelong dream of scaling Mount Everest he flew to the top of the world. The country of Nepal perched in the lap of the mighty Himalayas.

Like all mountaineers he signed up with the Sherpas. His two Sherpas are unassuming: short (almost stunted), sunburnt, wearing faded clothes worn off at places.

Yet they carry a smile on their face that never fades, he wonders why!

With nerves of steel Barry sets out to conquer Mount Sagarmatha. The world watches on.

Barry with his sherpas behind him reaches the south base camp. ?

His Sherpas offer a prayer to the mountain spirit for their safety as Barry watches in reverence.

The highest peak peeks out from behind the other majestic peaks and the shiny silver snow cap strikes him with a bolt of enthusiasm.

His Sherpas walk ahead of him. They set up the climbing ropes so Barry could harness his carabiners to the line and move ahead.

His Sherpas walk with him. They sing a mountain folk song and keep Barry’s spirit high. They endure drudgery with a smile.

His sherpas keep him aware of the perils that lay ahead. There has been a massive avalanche the previous night and with the oncoming snowstorm they decide to take cover.

Finally, they enter death zone. Barry has trained hard for this day. At an altitude of 8000m oxygen level drops to 30% of sea level.

Barry’s Sherpas walk behind him, so he doesn’t fall behind.

Barry’s body starts to give in, he is showing early signs of HAPE. But he remains determined. With fire in his belly, Barry crawls ahead. His Sherpas watch his back.

His Sherpas must ensure that Barry summits in the short clear weather window.

Finally, they traverse past the Hillary step and Barry’s dream is moments away from coming true as he sets his eyes on the peak.

The moment has come Barry is standing on the top of the world. He proudly unfurls the flag.

His sherpa clicks his picture, now the world knows Barry did it!

It is time to descend fast before HAPE catches up.

On his way down Barry runs out of his oxygen and his Sherpa shares their oxygen to keep Barry going.

Barry is disoriented with exhaustion and leans on his sherpas. His sherpas carry him down to safety. ?

Barry reaches the base camp with his sherpas.

Finally, the nightmare is over. Barry will not die today.

Barry is overjoyed and thanks his sherpas for their service. He gives them a bear hug and pays the promised amount for doing their job wonderfully.

Barry says “My dream has come true! It was the most challenging achievement of my life, and I couldn’t have done it without my Sherpas”

Back home Barry is showered with accolades, he is the hero. The Media is going frenzied! He becomes the first person from his nation to scale the highest peak.

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No one ever knew the name of the Sherpas

As a child I dreamt of becoming a mountaineer, so straight out of school I signed up for the mountaineering course in Manali. Soon realization set in that climbing mountains is not my cup of tea.

But I could never fall out of love with the mountains.

There are 14 peaks in the world that are over 8000 meters high. All of them are in the Himalayas and half of them are in Nepal.

Scaling each peak requires insane amount of skill, endurance, and inhuman human spirit. In 1986 an Italian mountaineer Reinold Messner was the 1st to scale all the 8000m+ peaks in the world. It took him over 7 years.

Fast forward to today.

A crazy sherpa who worked with the British military announced he along with his sherpas will scale each of the 14 peaks in 7 months!

With awe I followed the story of Nirmal (Nims) Purja the brave heart sherpa with limitless endurance and courage.

To do it in 7 months meant he must do the impossible of scaling K2 in the winter- a feat no one has ever achieved nor dared.

The project name an oxymoron ‘Project Possible’

Running against time they climbed three 8000+ peaks – Kanchenjunga, Mt Everest and Mt Lhotse within 8 days. A feat that is hard to fathom.

The world took notice when NY Times published a photograph. He had clicked it on his way down from the summit and called it “Traffic Jam on Mt Everest”- it went viral!

Along with five other Sherpas- Mingma David, Tenzi, Geljen, Pem Chiri and Dawa Temba, Nims achieved the impossible feat of making ‘Project Possible’ happen in 6 months!

Nims must ensure that the world knows his sherpas by their name.

He said My Sherpa has a Name

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If you have reached this far and wondering, why am I talking about sherpas and scaling mountain peaks? Here is what I am trying to say.

The most widely used analogy for success is scaling a mountain peak.

‘No Peak Too High’

Truth be told no one scales the peak without her/his sherpa. No one!

Who are our sherpas?

·?????Each one who is working hard to achieve our goal

·?????The success belongs to them as much it belongs to us

·?????Their names must be called out with pride

Your Sherpa has a Name

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Last week I was in Kathmandu where our team brings Unilever’s most loved nutrition (food) brands to 30 million Nepalis. Our team (read sherpas) work tirelessly to win every Nepali heart with our products.

PS. Picture A (left):

Our sherpa team: Rekha, Dibbendu, me, Mani Tanduran, Sudarshan, Sushant, MB Swami, Arose, Dipendra, Ashma. Not in the picture are Kriti, Ritesh, Vishnu, Neha, Nandini, Prashant

Picture B (right): Traffic Jam on Mt Everest

In May 2019 when the weather cleared up after a week of snowstorm; 200 mountaineers clipped on to the line put up by the sherpas enroute to the peak. Each mountaineer inched closer to their dream as their sherpas cheered them along.

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With your Sherpa by your side

No Peak is too High! No Dream is too Big!?