Tragic Tales Of Everest Guide Enthralls School Kids With Account Of Deadly Climb

He stands 5 feet 8 inches tall and has an extremely soft voice. But Jamling Tenzing Norgay has a presence that can quiet even a classroom full of elementary school students.

Norgay, a Sherpa guide who was part of a deadly expedition on Mount Everest in 1996, keeps kids captivated.

“I climbed my first mountain when I was 6,” Norgay said. “The mountain was 18,000 feet. Ever since then I wanted to be just like my father.”

His father, Tenzing Norgay, was the Sherpa guide who joined with Edmund Hillary to make the first ascent of Everest in 1953.

Since then, Everest has captured the world’s imagination. And has taken lives.

On Thursday, Norgay shared his climbing experiences with students at Garfield and Hutton elementary schools. Later Thursday, he spoke about climbing the world’s highest mountain to a sold-out audience at the IMAX Theater, where the documentary “Everest” aired.

Norgay was the Sherpa guide for the MacGillvary Freeman Everest expedition that filmed their climb with a 70mm IMAX camera.

The expedition took two months - one month going up, another getting down. All the while, Norgay had a 42-pound IMAX camera strapped on his back.

The expedition included 160 people and was broken down into numerous teams of climbers. No one in Norgay’s team died, but the entire expedition received worldwide attention after eight members of another team died near the 29,028-foot summit during a fierce storm. It was the most tragic single day in the history of Everest climbing.

“Their bodies are still there,” Norgay told the kids, who sat quietly fascinated by his tales.

Still, they were full of questions.

“Are there any animals up there?”

Not many, Norgay said.

“Can you see the stars?”

Probably 10 times as many, he responded.

“Did you touch the sky?”

Almost.

While some mountain climbers in the West tend to view mountain climbing as adventurous or exciting, the Sherpas in the East treat climbing in a more spiritual manner.

“I learned to respect the mountain,” Norgay said. “Climbing is a way of living.”

The Sherpas are an ethnic group that migrated centuries ago into the Himalayan Mountains from Tibet. Norgay was one of three in the 1996 expedition to reach the summit.

He also is one of 10 Norgay family members who have stood on the summit.

Norgay said his 2-year-old daughter has already taken to climbing the furniture in his Nepal home he shares with his wife.

Norgay also told the kids he has no intention of climbing Everest again because of the stress his wife felt when he climbed the mountain.

“I made a promise to my wife and daughter I wouldn’t do it again,” he said. “But I do get the urge to do it.”

Later, he was asked if he’d try to change his wife’s mind.

“She is not going to bend,” he said. “It would be very selfish for me to go up again. It’s two months of worries and sleepless nights. It’s not fair. Once is enough.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: MOVIE ON MOUNTAIN Regular public showings of “Everest” at the IMAX will begin April 4.