The Business of the Roof of the World

Pero después del desastre, el número de expediciones no bajó.

But after the disaster, the number of expeditions did not go down.

Subió.

It went up.

Cada año hay más personas que quieren subir al Everest.

Every year more people want to climb Everest.

En 2019, había fotos de colas muy largas de alpinistas esperando para llegar a la cima.

In 2019, there were photos of very long queues of climbers waiting to reach the summit.

Era como una cola para el supermercado, pero a ocho mil metros de altura.

It was like a queue for the supermarket, but at eight thousand meters altitude.

That photo went everywhere.

A line of maybe two hundred people in down suits, stretched across the ridge at nearly twenty-nine thousand feet.

And the cruel irony is that the queue itself becomes a death trap: people standing in the death zone, burning through oxygen, waiting.

Nepal respondió con más permisos, no con menos.

Nepal responded with more permits, not fewer.

Porque el dinero es muy importante para el país.

Because the money is very important for the country.

El turismo de montaña es una parte esencial de la economía de Nepal.

Mountain tourism is an essential part of Nepal's economy.

Sin este dinero, muchas comunidades en las montañas no tienen ingresos.

Without this money, many communities in the mountains have no income.

That's the tension that I don't think gets enough attention.

It's easy to look at the crowding and say Nepal should cap the permits at, I don't know, a hundred per season.

But you're talking about a country where the average annual income is roughly twelve hundred dollars.

The calculus is different when the mountain is feeding families.

Sí, pero hay una diferencia grande entre lo que gana Nepal con los permisos y lo que ganan los sherpas directamente.

Yes, but there is a big difference between what Nepal earns from permits and what the Sherpas earn directly.

Un sherpa experto puede ganar entre cinco mil y ocho mil dólares en una temporada.

An experienced Sherpa can earn between five thousand and eight thousand dollars in a season.

Es mucho para Nepal, pero es poco comparado con lo que paga el cliente.

It's a lot for Nepal, but it's little compared to what the client pays.

So the client pays a hundred thousand dollars, maybe more, the Sherpa doing the dangerous work gets five to eight thousand for the season.

There's a structural inequality baked into the whole model that people in the adventure tourism industry have been arguing about for decades.

Es verdad, pero también es importante decir que, para muchos sherpas, este trabajo es una elección.

That's true, but it's also important to say that for many Sherpas, this work is a choice.

Kami Rita empezó a subir el Everest porque su familia era de la región de Khumbu, y el alpinismo era una oportunidad económica real.

Kami Rita started climbing Everest because his family was from the Khumbu region, and mountaineering was a real economic opportunity.

Él eligió esta vida.

He chose this life.

Choice within a constrained set of options, though.

Which is true of a lot of dangerous labor the world over.

That argument can justify almost anything if you're not careful.

Tienes razón.

You're right.

Y también hay otro problema: el medio ambiente.

And there is also another problem: the environment.

Cada año, los alpinistas dejan basura en la montaña.

Every year, climbers leave rubbish on the mountain.

Hay oxígeno vacío, tiendas rotas, residuos humanos.

There are empty oxygen canisters, broken tents, human waste.

El Everest tiene un problema de contaminación muy serio.

Everest has a very serious pollution problem.

The estimates on waste at Everest are staggering.

Somewhere in the range of fifty tons of garbage accumulated over decades, plus the matter of, let's say, human waste at altitude that freezes and doesn't biodegrade.

Nepal introduced deposit systems and garbage bonds years ago and it's helped, but it's an ongoing battle.

Y también el cambio climático afecta al Everest directamente.

And climate change also directly affects Everest.

El glaciar Khumbu, que los alpinistas tienen que cruzar, se reduce cada año.

The Khumbu Glacier, which climbers have to cross, shrinks every year.

Las condiciones son más peligrosas ahora que hace veinte años.

The conditions are more dangerous now than twenty years ago.

Esto es un problema para el negocio también.

This is a problem for the business too.

A shrinking product and a growing market.

That's not a sustainable business model regardless of how you feel about the ethics.

Bueno, pero también quiero hablar de Lhakpa Sherpa, porque su historia es diferente y muy interesante.

Well, but I also want to talk about Lhakpa Sherpa, because her story is different and very interesting.

Ella subió el Everest por undécima vez esta semana.

She climbed Everest for the eleventh time this week.

Pero cuando no está en Nepal, ella trabaja en un supermercado en Connecticut, en los Estados Unidos.

But when she's not in Nepal, she works in a supermarket in Connecticut, in the United States.

She works at a 7-Eleven.

The greatest female high-altitude climber in history, eleven times on the summit of Everest, and she stocks shelves at a convenience store in West Hartford to support her children.

That detail hits differently every time I read it.

Exactamente.

Exactly.

Y esto muestra el problema del sistema.

And this shows the problem with the system.

Lhakpa es famosa en el mundo del alpinismo, pero no puede vivir solo de eso.

Lhakpa is famous in the mountaineering world, but she cannot live from that alone.

Las mujeres sherpa ganan menos que los hombres en las expediciones.

Female Sherpas earn less than men on expeditions.

Y hay menos oportunidades para ellas en la industria.

And there are fewer opportunities for them in the industry.

The adventure tourism industry has a real gender gap at the guiding level.

Most clients request male guides, most operators default to male Sherpas for high-altitude work.

Lhakpa has spoken about this.

She basically has to build her own platform because the industry wasn't going to hand her one.

Y eso es un problema económico tanto como un problema social.

And that is an economic problem as much as a social one.

Hay mujeres sherpas muy capaces que no tienen acceso a los mismos trabajos o salarios.

There are very capable female Sherpas who do not have access to the same jobs or salaries.

El negocio del Everest no es justo para todos.

The Everest business is not fair to everyone.

So step back and look at the whole picture: Nepal depends on this mountain, the Sherpas depend on this mountain, the guiding companies depend on this mountain.

But the mountain is getting more dangerous, more crowded, more degraded.

And the people taking on the most risk are the ones seeing the least return.

That's the business story underneath the record.

Sí.

Yes.

Y hay otra pregunta importante: ¿puede Nepal diversificar su economía de montaña?

And there is another important question: can Nepal diversify its mountain economy?

El país tiene otras montañas fantásticas, el Kangchenjunga, el Lhotse, el Makalu.

The country has other fantastic mountains, Kangchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu.

Pero el Everest concentra casi todo el turismo de altitud.

But Everest concentrates almost all the altitude tourism.

It's a branding problem as much as anything.

Everest is the only mountain that most of the world can name.

You tell someone you summited Kangchenjunga and they nod politely.

You tell them you summited Everest and their eyes go wide.

The brand carries a premium that none of the other peaks can match.

Y ese es el punto más importante para mí.

And that is the most important point for me.

Nepal tiene que decidir qué tipo de turismo quiere.

Nepal has to decide what kind of tourism it wants.

Puede elegir calidad sobre cantidad, menos permisos pero más caros, más dinero para los sherpas, mejor protección del medio ambiente.

It can choose quality over quantity, fewer permits but more expensive, more money for the Sherpas, better environmental protection.

Pero eso requiere valentía política.

But that requires political courage.

Political courage and the willingness to absorb short-term revenue pain for long-term sustainability.

Which, genuinely, is hard for any government to do, let alone one where the communities in question have almost no economic alternatives.

Exacto.

Exactly.

Por eso el récord de Kami Rita no es solo una historia de deportes.

That's why Kami Rita's record is not just a sports story.

Es una historia sobre el trabajo, el dinero, el riesgo y el futuro de una región entera.

It is a story about work, money, risk, and the future of an entire region.

Thirty-two summits, and each one of those represents a transaction: a client's dream, a Sherpa's labor, Nepal's budget, a glacier's retreat.

All of it packed into one man carrying oxygen up a mountain in May.

Oye, Fletcher, una cosa.

Hey, Fletcher, one thing.

Antes dije 'ingresos' varias veces.

Earlier I said 'ingresos' several times.

¿Notaste esa palabra?

Did you notice that word?

I did.

I wasn't sure if it was income or revenue or earnings.

In English those three words mean slightly different things and I wasn't certain which one you were using.

Buena pregunta.

Good question.

'Ingresos' significa el dinero que entra, de cualquier fuente.

'Ingresos' means the money that comes in, from any source.

Puede ser el salario de una persona o el dinero total de una empresa o un gobierno.

It can be a person's salary or the total money of a company or government.

Es una palabra flexible.

It is a flexible word.

Por ejemplo: 'Los ingresos del gobierno de Nepal aumentaron con los permisos del Everest.'

For example: 'The revenue of the Nepalese government increased with Everest permits.'

So it covers both personal income and institutional revenue.

In English we'd usually separate those two, but in Spanish one word does the job of several.

Efficient.

Sí.

Yes.

Y si quieres ser más específico, puedes decir 'ingresos personales' para hablar de una persona, o 'ingresos del Estado' para el gobierno.

And if you want to be more specific, you can say 'ingresos personales' for a person, or 'ingresos del Estado' for the government.

Pero solo 'ingresos' normalmente es suficiente en la conversación.

But just 'ingresos' is usually enough in conversation.

Good to know.

I'll probably still find a way to use it wrong in a sentence somewhere, but I'll take that over confidently telling someone I'm pregnant again.

Eso nunca va a desaparecer, Fletcher.

That is never going to go away, Fletcher.

Nunca.

Never.