Rob and Paula's trip to Mexico.

Nawang Pasang Sherpa on the summit of Mount Everest.

One of our climbing instructors last summer was Sherpa Nawang Pasang who lives in Nepal. He is a mountain guide who takes expeditions to the biggest mountains in the world in the Himalayas. Sometimes he reaches the summit with his climbers and sometimes the weather forces them to come down before they reach the top. The mountains are so high they have to carry oxygen cylinders with them so that they can breathe.

Nawang had just come back from Mount Everest …. a big achievement for him as it was the first time he reached the very top of the highest mountain in the world. Everest is about 5 miles high. If the weather is good and the skies are clear you can see over 180 miles in any direction from the summit …. That’s like being able to see London from Devon. It is so high you can see the also see curvature of the earth.

Nawang is very strong and fit even though he’s quite small, he is very agile and sure footed because he grew up in the mountains of Nepal. The capital of Nepal is Kathmandu and Nawang spends time there while he is waiting to arrange his next expedition. His home is in a remote mountain valley. If you ask him how far this is from Kathmandu he can only measure it by saying that it is two days walk !! 

Nawang first came to the uk in summer 2003 to work here as a climbing instructor. He could not speak a lot of English when he arrived but picked it up very quickly. He was totally amazed by the sea because he had never seen so much water before. Our roads and the speed we drive on them shocked him until he got used to it.

Nawang on the top of Everest with the first Greek team ever to reach the summit.