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Romance on Everest: The Highest Taboo
By Michael Benoist Published: 07/31/2010
"I regard her as a great protector," Tashi Tenzing, the grandson of Tenzing Norgay and a two-time Everest summiter, says of the mountain the Sherpa people call Chomolungma. "We believe that when you reach the summit and come back alive, you'll have a longer life." According to local Buddhist beliefs, though, Chomolungma is not particularly fond of being trod upon. Spirits dwell in her heights—evil forces and the ghosts of those lost on the peak. Any misstep on the mountain—slaughtering animals, drinking to excess, burning trash, sleeping with your feet toward the summit—can invite serious retribution.
"You don't want to ask for trouble," says Himalaya anthropologist Jim Fisher. "There is already enough trouble up there." Of all the Everest no-no's, though, perhaps the one that most exasperates climbers is the taboo against having sex—"making sauce," in Sherpa parlance. In the zero-privacy zone of Everest, the Sherpas aren't shy about reprimanding those who cross the line.
"Oh, I got reamed," says photographer Didrik Johnck, whose amorous escapades with his visiting girlfriend earned a rebuke from a disapproving Sherpa. "He says, 'I've got something serious to talk to you about. The weather is bad and I think you are adding to it. No taki-taki on the mountain.' "
"They'll come up and rattle your tent, 'You make sauce! Bring bad weather. No sauce-making!,' " says five-time summiter Ed Viesturs, who describes the scene at Base Camp as less than adult. ("Rumors get around; it's like high school.") Not that Sherpas don't let the occasional indiscretion slide, especially considering all the traffic on Everest these days. "They have a sense of humor about it," adds Viesturs, who notes that relationships between Sherpas and women from Western expeditions are fairly common. "They have to. They do it themselves."
But if something goes wrong, as it did in 1996, mountain love may come under closer scrutiny. "Some of the Sherpas were saying that Chomolungma was very angry" that season, says Tashi. "There were couples in the higher camps having sex, and those sorts of things can bring bad spirits or bad weather conditions." "I feel that I have to respect the gods there," concludes Kangshung climber Carlos Buhler. "But the gods are not unreasonable."Mt. Everest, Nepal
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