Pasang Dawa Sherpa, who is highly enthusiastic and ambitious man originally hails from Lukla. He is one of our best and the most experienced guide that we have. Pasang has been working as a guide for almost 14 years now. He first started as a porter and after two years he became a guide.
Now he is a full-fledged, experienced and qualified guide. It has been four years since Pasang has worked with Ace and every time he is baffling us with his skills and knowledge. Every guide he does is liked by his clients.
In this mountain story session, we asked Pasang Dawa Sherpa about all his experience, his ups and downs while guiding and his memories. Let us see what he has to say to us.
What is a normal day like for you on a trek? “A day in the life of a guide”.
I always wake up at 6 am in the morning and do some small workouts to stretch my body and keep the blood pumping. I then go to wake my clients up. We all meet and have breakfast at around 7 am. There we discuss all our day programs and a short briefing about the weather, trails, and others.
While we are trekking, we try to do many fun activities as much as possible. Besides lots of walking, we do breaks quite often. We have short breaks for every 30 minutes or so. Lots of laughter and experienced are shared while we are on the break.
Taking lots and lots of photos are what we do along the trails. I try to be as careful as possible with my clients. I try to make them stay motivated for the whole day. I make sure that I give time to each and every one of my clients to help them with their problems.
This is how my day goes on.
What is your favorite trekking route?
My all-time favorite trekking route is Everest region. I know I have traveled there a lot but, each time I go, I can’t get enough of its beauty. I never get tired of going to the same road every time. I am not joking but, wherever I go, there is a small part of me that misses Everest. I am always baffled by its glory and its beauty. Everest Base Camp trek is also quite challenging and I love to face those type of challenges.
I really don’t know why but, every time I see the mountain, I feel very proud. I mean who wouldn’t? Everest is the tallest mountain of the world. Since I am a Sherpa myself, I love my traditions and culture. And in the Everest region, I can get to see that a lot.
What do you like the most about guiding?
I was always puzzled by the number of tourists that comes to see the Everest. I always wondered why they would come so far away just to see the mountains. But, I knew the answer right away. It is because , its Everest itself. I have never once been tired of seeing it so, how can they be?
I then decided to be a guide like my fathers and forefathers. I want to show our rich in nature country to many outsiders as much as possible. Seeing their happy face after exploring the beauty of our country makes me smile. This is why I chose to be a guide.
What has been the most challenging moment for you as a guide?
Trekking to base camps and other regions guiding the clients is always a challenging job. You never know what might happen next. Sometimes even when you think the trek is going smoothly, a certain problem is always occurring. It might snow or rain unexpectedly. The trails then get difficult to walk. Only the weather and the trails are not the problems, even the clients might get sick or it can happen to me as well.
Once, one of my clients got very sick. He had a pretty bad headache and he was suffering from a common cold. Plus, even the weather was bad. We also had very less time to trek. I had to take care of the client as well as go with the schedule of the trek. At last, all went smoothly and we finished our expedition. The client also recovered very soon from his sickness. That moment for me was a little bit hard.
What is it like working for Ace the Himalaya?
It has just been 4 years since I have worked with Ace the Himalaya. There is no problem so far and everything is going smoothly till now. The working environment is very good. All the staffs are hard workers and are very friendly. I feel very happy that I am a part of this company. Ace has been very kind to me and has given me many opportunities. I thank this company from my heart.
Did the Earthquake affect your work?
Well, the earthquake that hit us in 2015 was quite big. Due to it, almost all of the clients canceled their expedition. I did not work for almost two months. It really was not a big of a deal for me. It was like I was on a holiday. A scary one though because we were having many aftershocks of the earthquake.
Soon after some time, many numbers of tourists started to visit our country and I was back with my usual work again.
Tell us about your family and home.
I had spent my whole childhood in Lukla with my parents and my sister. Currently, I live with my sister in Gongabu, Kathmandu. My mother is in Lukla and my father is not with us. I am a single person.
We wish Pasang Dawa Sherpa to have a very good life ahead of him in his future. May he do his work like he is doing right now.
