Sherpa history

Havryk, A. P., Gilbert, M., and Burgess, K. R. (2002). Spirometry values in Himalayan high altitude residents (Sherpas). Respir.

Moore, L. G. (2003). Fetal growth restriction and maternal oxygen transport during high altitude pregnancy.

Gelfi, C., De Palma, S., Ripamonti, M., Eberini, I., Wait, R., Bajracharya, A., et al. (2004). New aspects of altitude adaptation in Tibetans: a proteomic approach.

Leon-Velarde, F., Maggiorini, M., Reeves, J. T., Aldashev, A., Asmus, I., Bernardi, L., et al. (2005). Consensus statement on chronic and subacute high altitude diseases.

In April 2006, Nima Lhamu was six months pregnant with her and husband Dawa Temba’s first child when he died in the Icefall along with two other Sherpas.

Shortly after Ang Temba returned from the mountain in 2007, Furba found him unconscious on the couch.

Barak, Y., Sadovsky, Y., and Shalom-Barak, T. (2008). PPAR signaling in placental development and function.

Grocott, M. P., Martin, D. S., Levett, D. Z., Mcmorrow, R., Windsor, J., and Montgomery, H. E. (2009). Arterial blood gases and oxygen content in climbers on Mount Everest.

Arnot was fully capable of leading on Baruntse in 2010 but chose not to.

And Thame’s Apa, the Super Sherpa, now 53, made his record 21st Everest ascent in 2011.

But in April 2013, at a ceremony in Chamonix, the two won a coveted Piolet d’Or (golden ice ax), the highest award in climbing.

In a 2015 study of 582 Sherpa individuals (277 males) from China and Nepal, haplogroup D-M174 was found most frequently, followed by Haplogroup O-M175, Haplogroup F-M89 and Haplogroup K-M9.

Lu, D., Lou, H., Yuan, K., Wang, X., Wang, Y., Zhang, C., et al. (2016). Ancestral origins and genetic history of Tibetan highlanders.

Zhang, X., Ha, B., Wang, S., Chen, Z., Ge, J., Long, H., et al. (2018). The earliest human occupation of the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau 40 thousand to 30 thousand years ago.