Adventurers' desire to stand on top of the world transforms Himalayan region
The fascination that the world's highest mountain holds for foreign visitors has transformed Nepal's Everest region from a potato-eating backwater into the country's richest area.
Before the foreigners started coming half a century ago, the local Sherpa people had no idea that the mountain they call Chomolungma, sacred abode of a wealth-giving goddess, was the highest in the world.
'We did not know what a westerner was. There was nothing here,' said Killi Pala Sherpa, 66, recalling the arrival in 1949 of Toni Hagen, the Swiss geologist who was probably the first European to enter the area.
'We wanted to see how a foreigner goes to toilet,' he said, describing how the adventurer was obliged to chase away crowds of small boys to create a brief moment of privacy. 'Wherever he walked, we used to worship his steps because we wanted to wear boots like him.'
In those days, the typical footwear was a leather sock stuffed with hay. Now, Mr Killi Pala's son runs a major expedition company and regularly flies to Seattle, business class.
