It is the classic annual starting signal for the spring season when the so-called Icefall Doctors make their way to the 5,364-meter- high base camp at the foot of Mount Everest. Today, the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) announced that the eleven-member team set off from the Khumbu main village of Namche Bazaar.
Although a commercial Everest season without this team is unthinkable, the Icefall Doctors are hardly ever mentioned in the later success stories. That is why I am naming them here. Base Camp Manager is the experienced Tshering Tenjing Sherpa. The Icefall Doctors are Ang Sarki Sherpa, Dawa Jangbu Sherpa, Dawa Nuru Sherpa, Nima Tenji Sherpa, Mingma Gyalzen Sherpa, Dawa Chhirri Sherpa, Lhakpa Sona Sherpa and Tendu Sherpa. They are joined by Wangdi Gelbu Sherpa and Ngawang Thaten Sherpa, who look after the team’s physical well-being in the kitchen at base camp.
Selected and paid for by the SPCC
Year after year, the so-called Icefall Doctors “doctor” the ascent route through the dangerous Khumbu Icefall, the passage on the way to the summit of Mount Everest with the greatest objective dangers. With their ladders they bridge deep crevasses, with the fixed ropes they secure the route – and then maintain it throughout the season until the end of May. It’s extremely dangerous work, as the icefall is constantly moving and one of the mighty ice towers can collapse at any time. Due to climate change, the Sherpas are increasingly having to contend with very wide crevasses.
Team leader Ang Sarki Sherpa is the longest-serving of this year’s Icefall Doctors. The 53-year-old has been earning his living in the icefall above Everest Base Camp since 2008.
The Sherpas, who are specialized in this dangerous work, bring home 2,500 to 3,000 dollars at the end of the season. The Icefall Doctors are selected and paid by the SPCC, an organization that was originally only concerned with environmental protection in the Everest National Park. Since 1997, the SPCC has also been responsible for the route through the Khumbu Icefall on behalf of the government of Nepal. Each expedition member has to pay 600 dollar for the work of the Icefall Doctors.
Legendary Icefall Doctors
Only a few Icefall Doctors became famous beyond Nepal. Among them was Ang Nima Sherpa, who passed away in 2013. For 37 years, he made his living in the Khumbu Icefall. In 2021, US adventurer and filmmaker Sean Bench dedicated his documentary “The Icefall Doctor” to him.
Ang Kami Sherpa climbed into the Khumbu Icefall for the first time in 1975. Hundreds more ascents followed before he retired in 2019. According to his own words, he climbed to an altitude of 8,500 meters five times, but never stood on the summit of Everest at 8,849 meters. When asked how he was able to do the job for so long, Ang Kami, now over 70 years old, replied with a grin on his face: “My wife says: no money, no honey.”
One of the current stars of the Nepalese mountaineering scene also began his career as an Icefall Doctor. Gelje Sherpa worked in the job for five years. He has summited all 14 eight-thousanders. Gelje was also one of the ten Nepalese climbers who succeeded in making the first winter ascent of K2 in 2021. Last year, Gelje opened a challenging new route on Cho Oyu, via the Nepalese south side of the sixth-highest mountain on earth.
