Night for Nepal to help local Sherpa family

VAIL — Ask Nima Sherpa how he’s doing, and he’ll softly smile and say “Good!”

He and his wife scrounged and saved every dime for the better part of 15 years — her doing anything she could, him working as a Sherpa guide on Mt. Everest and other Himalayan peaks. With that money, they built two houses, one for his family and one for his mother and father in the tiny Nepal village of Khumjung.

The earthquake on April 25 destroyed their houses, along with most of the other homes in the village. His family has no food, they live in tents, they get their water from a hose and Nepal’s monsoon season is closing in on them. Nima’s father is 84 and can’t walk. His mother is 78.

Still, ask Nima how his family is doing, and he smiles softly and says, “Good!”

You gotta help a guy like that — and you can.

Support Local Journalism

Donate

The folks at Vail’s Solaris are hosting a fundraiser at Bol to help Nima and his family. Unlike most fundraisers where the proceeds go to the cause, every dime goes to those who need it in Nepal. Various benefactors are picking up the tab.

Because you gotta help a guy like that. To help these people, you can send money, which is good. Or you can bowl, dine, drink and buy stuff at a silent auction, which is better.

They have slots for a few more bowling teams, and dinner will cost you around $10.

“There’s a big problem”

Nima doesn’t spend much time consuming mass media, so he didn’t know about the earthquake for a day or two. Finally, one of his friends called him to say, “There is a big problem in Nepal.”

He scrambled to make contact with his family, and learned they were mostly uninjured. Their homes, though, are destroyed.

To get to Khumjung from Kathmandu, you take a 45-minute plane ride, and then walk for two days. Help has been painfully slow to arrive.

To build those two houses, everything had to be carried — sherpaed — into Khumjung by Nima and his family.

“It is very difficult to collect materials,” Nima said.

When he had money, he’d hire some friends to help. But he did as much as he could himself, because to bring materials by plane or helicopter costs $1.50 per kilo — about 2.3 pounds.

“Rich people hire someone to carry things for them,” Nima said.

They collected material and money for years. It took two to three months to finally build the homes.

Three times atop Everest

Nima has summited Everest three times, and been on it countless times. Mostly he’s keeping clients from getting themselves killed. That means he hauls their stuff to Base Camp and sets everything up. Then it’s up and down several times between Camp 1 and Camp 2, while his clients slog up one time, trying to get used to the altitude.

“It’s not too easy to climb Everest,” he said.

He did that for 12 years, and saved every penny.

He ended up in Vail when one of his climbing clients, who is from here, sponsored him to immigrate to the U.S. That was in 2009.

He’d love to rush back to Nepal, but he’s pragmatic about it. It’ll cost around $35,000 to rebuild one house, Nima said.

“If I go now, there is no money. I can do nothing,” Nima said.

Staff Writer Randy Wyrick can be reached at 970-748-2935 or rwyrick@vaildaily.com.