Despite their usual attitude of ignoring controversy, at least in public, the Sherpa guides who work on Everest have responded vigorously to the sloppy headlines that denigrated their profession last week.
Last Thursday, worldwide media trumpeted sensational news about “Everest guides poisoning their clients” with baking soda (!) in order to trigger fake rescues. That day, we published a long piece explaining the origin of the story, what the facts were, and what was misleading — basically, everything to do with Everest. An ongoing investigation launched in 2018 revealed that some small trekking companies had built a complex scam involving helicopter pilots, trekking guides, and hospital personnel, targeting insurance companies and, occasionally, trekkers.
Some other mountaineering sites followed up on our initial story, but the large culpable media, including The Guardian, The Times, People magazine, etc. — never corrected their initial misunderstanding. The news spread further over the weekend, while Everest guides, mainly Sherpas, stood by in disbelief.
Gelje Sherpa carries a sick climber from Everest’s Balcony. Photo: Gelje Sherpa
We save, not harm!
“These allegations, circulated through international print and electronic media, are baseless and irresponsible,” wrote Nepal’s Mountaineering Association in a statement. The National Nepal Guides Association released a similar rebuttal. Even Nepal’s Police Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), which conducted the investigation, issued a press release stating, “During the investigation conducted so far, no facts have been found to support the claim that toxic substances were mixed in food.”
Note by Nepal Police’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB)
