KATHMANDU: There are 8 billion people in the world, but only 6,664 people successfully reached the top of Mt. Everest.
Who are the individuals responsible for making the route possible at the beginning of the expedition? They are known as the Khumbu icefall doctors. These brave individuals are the ones who put the fixed ropes all the way up to the summit, ensuring the safety of climbers. They also work in the middle of the night to place ladders all over the treacherous Khumbu icefall. These doctors risk their lives and leave their families behind to help others achieve their goals. They do all this without receiving any salary or benefits. While others may achieve their goal and leave the base camp, these doctors remain there every year to support climbers all over the world.
The 7 Summits Foundation has offered an insurance package to all icefall doctors who are instrumental in making the summit of Mt Everest a success every climbing season. An understanding between the 7SF and Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee has been reached to this effect during a virtual meeting last evening.
SPCC mobilizes icefall doctors to build a climbing route along the treacherous section of the Icefall during the climbing season. The 7 Summits Foundation's chairman, AC Sherpa, offered the life insurance package to the icefall doctors as they risk their lives in making the dream of hundreds of climbers to reach the Everest summit a reality.
"7SF will provide life insurance to each icefall doctor as they are the backbone of Everest climbing," Sherpa, who also climbed Mt Everest in 2011, said after reaching the agreement with the SPCC. According to him, he will also reach out to western outfitters to encourage them to provide an additional periodic insurance package to the icefall doctors for the climbing season.
AC Sherpa, Honorary Consul General for Seattle in Washington State, who has also served as NRN ICC member, NRN ICC deputy regional Coordination to three terms of NRN ICC Advisor for the national, International Coordination committee, said that the foundation's effort to cover their life insurance would benefit the climbing industry. Tshering Sherpa, Chief Executive at the SPCC, confirmed that the 7SF has agreed to provide an insurance package to the icefall doctors.
Earlier 2017, the foundation had offered Rs 100,000 each to the families of 17 Sherpa climbers who died in an avalanche on Mt Everest in 2015, as the massive earthquake shook the nation. The Foundation had also provided financial assistance to the Nepal Mountaineering Association immediately after the Everest avalanche.
"As a climber myself, it's my responsibility to give back to the community," said Sherpa, who has climbed mountains across all seven continents of the world. Sherpa has founded the Foundation with the aim of supporting the climbing community, women, and children in need.
A resident of Solukhumbu district, Sherpa said that the foundation was also planning to run projects that could reduce the effects of global warming in the Himalayan region. The foundation had already supported the reconstruction of a building for Tapting secondary school, which was destroyed in the earthquake, in Solukhumbu district. The foundation also provided educational and livelihood support to Solsing, a remote village of Sindhupalchok district. Sherpa, who also served as the chair of the NRNA's Tourism Task Force Committee, shared.
In July 2023, 7SF also helped build a women's birthing center in Solu Dudkundha 10 Khamding. Since its establishment, more than 50 babies have been born at the center.
