Farewell to Yak and Yeti?

The Sherpas of Rolwaling facing a globalised world

«As small boys, we were very shy about meeting tourists crossing through our
valley,» expedition sardar Ngawang Yonden Sherpa recalls. «But at their heels,
we enjoyed walking in the footprints that their heavy mountain boots le in the
muddy ground, just to experience under our bare feet the feeling of the pro
les of their rubber soles and imagine walking in their sophisticated mountain
shoes.»

That was in the 1960s. e Sherpas of Rolwaling Valley in Eastern Nepal still
lived from breeding yaks and cultivating potatoes. ey followed a seasonal
cycle of transhumance from the winter settlement at 3,200 metres to the high
pastures above 5,000 metres. Today agro-pastoral livelihoods have given way to
a highly successful engagement in the globalised mountaineering tourism of the
Himalayas, organised from an urban base.

This is a fascinating account of the change in Rolwaling Sherpa society over
the past 40 years, e ectively covering three generations.

Baumgartner’s carefully chronicled life stories reveal radically di erent
roles and aspirations within each generation. Economic success in the second
generation has brought higher educational opportunities to the third –
particularly striking being how the horizons of young women of Rolwaling have
widened, compared to those of their grandmothers, whose lives were firmly
anchored in the valley. The question now is: who amongst the younger
generation – boys and girls – will continue the physically harsh but
culturally rich life of Rolwaling?

Content:
I e Sherpas of Rolwaling – Seen through Western Eyes
Rolwaling in the focus of changing percepti ons by mountaineers,
adventurers and researchers from 1952 onwards
II A long Journey – from Rags to Riches
The life story of a Sherpa woman refl ecti ng change of
livelihoods and women’s empowerment
III Making a Living in a Hidden Mountain Valley
Change and conti nuity of agro-pastoral transhumance of
yak herding and potato culti vati on in Rolwaling
IV Village Governance Past and Present
Evoluti on of local governance; from traditi onal village governance
to an innovati ve response to conditi ons of a fragile state
V Rolwaling Childhood between two Worlds
Childhood in transiti on; from the rural world of Rolwaling to
modern educati on and urban livelihood in Kathmandu
VI Risks and Rewards on Mount Everest:
Struggling for a place in the sun; the late but very successful
entry of Rolwaling Sherpas into the Mountaineering Trade
VII Epilogue: Rolwaling in Times of Global Warming
Local impact of global warming;