Following your father’s footsteps is not easy but Jamling Norgay Tenzing has done it — all the way to Mount Everest, says Purabi Shridhar

``I haven’t even stepped out,” he says with a smile that crinkles up his face. Smart move! The heat outside is dazzling. Besides, despite the cool environs of the five-star lobby, it’s obvious that Jamling Norgay Tenzing would rather be far away among his beloved mountains.

He is, after all, a true-blue Everester.Maybe it’s his Sherpa blood. His father, Tenzing Norgay, conquered Mount Everest in 1953. Jamling, 38, followed his father’s footsteps 43 years later. In between, nine other Norgays scaled Mount Everest! And though he has promised his wife Soyang, not to climb again, Jamling says if any of his three daughters wants to climb Mount Everest and needs his support “I’ll go back on my promise to my wife!”

Scaling Heights
Imagine telling your friends in school that your Dad climbs mountains and that he was the first Indian to scale Mount Everest. And imagine the very same Dad discouraging you from climbing mountains: “He (Tenzing Norgay) did not want us to climb for work and that is why he discouraged us. He thought it was a dangerous profession - he would tell us ‘I climbed so that you need not do so,’” he recalls. Instead, Jamling’s father wanted his children to have the best of education. So Jamling went to St. Paul’s in Darjeeling and then moved to the US to attend Northland College, Wisconsin University, where he studied business administration. While there, he also worked as a black belt instructor in Karate and Tae Kwon Do. “After nine years in the US, I came back home to Darjeeling. I was fortunate to have the best of both worlds. But all along I had this desire to climb mountains,” he smiles. “My father enjoyed taking us rock climbing. I used to be a fairly good climber. Whenever I did well, he’d smile,” recollects Jamling.

Touching The Soul
And all along, even as a young boy, Jamling knew that he’d one day climb Mount Everest. “After I returned from the States I knew that it was the right time and I did just that. It was my destiny to do so,” he says quietly. He recounts his 1996 scaling of Mount Everest in the profoundly moving book, ‘Touch My Father’s Soul.’ Just two weeks before Jamling reached the top, nine people had died tragically in the mountains in the most deadly storm ever recorded. “Climbing Everest was a great learning experience for me; I reconnected with my father, with Buddhism. And fulfilled something that I’ve always wanted to. People might see it as a big challenge, a big boost to the ego but for me it was something that totally changed my life and changed it for the better. I used to be quite impatient, it taught me patience,” explains Jamling. Incidentally, Jamling also helped capture his ascent on film. The David Breashears directed Imax film ‘Everest’ highlights not only the physical challenges but also the mental and spiritual hurdles faced by the climbers. He recounts a sweet experience at the top: “I took a picture of me, with my hand raised in greeting, exactly like my father had done. But only on returning did I realise I had lifted the wrong hand. I am not going back to correct it,” he says ruefully. He also talks about placing a toy from his daughter at the top. “I had to steal it from her,” he laughs.

The Everest ascent also rooted him with his people — the Sherpas. “After the expedition I knew it was time to move on in life, time to give back,” says Jamling who works with the American Himalayan Foundation to help Sherpas all along the Himalayas. “It’s a non-profit organisation based in San Francisco and there are over hundred projects from building schools to clinics. Recently two Sherpa boys trained as dentists have gone back and opened dental clinics,” the elation is obvious in his voice.

A Clean Himalayas
An active man, Jamling is also involved in the Everest clean-up process. “I was in two cleaning up expeditions. We brought back tonnes of garbage. When we climbed in 1996 there were tonnes and tonnes of garbage at 26,000 ft at South Col, now there’s less than one-third of that.” The mountains, especially the Himalayas, Jamling accepts, present not only a challenge to a daring spirit but are also a source of revenue. He would like the commercial teams, especially those from the US and Europe, to be selective in choosing the climbers.

“You can pay 65,000 dollars and up you go. The nine who died in 1996 were inexperienced climbers, some don’t even know how to put on crampons,” he says sadly an adds, “I hope they’ve all learnt a good lesson from the tragedy.” Jamling, who runs the family venture ‘Tenzing Norgay Adventures’, is involved with the National Geographic and Indian army ‘Mission Everest’ project. “I’ll accompany the TV crew and the five selected to climb the peak with the Indian army team, till the base camp.

It will promote adventure sport and also give people something very few can dream of. It is also a way to commemorate my father,” he adds gently.