| From Nepal to Montrose ... The trek up Nepal's Mt. Everest is a long haul, but the trip from Nepal to Montrose is a bit further. A group of Sherpas recently made such a trip to visit with countrymen stateside, making a stop in Montrose earlier this week.
As it happens, the Western Slope has a healthy community of Sherpas. So named based on the Nepalese region from which they hail — Sherpa serves as a surname in the Mt. Everest region — the Sherpas migrated to this part of Colorado and have dug into their respective communities. Nima and Ang Danu Sherpa, for example, both work in the acute rehabilitation unit at Montrose Memorial Hospital, and Pemba Gyalzen Sherpa owns Sherpa Cafe establishments in both Gunnison and Crested Butte.
On Monday, these local Sherpas had an opportunity to visit with old friends from Nepal, who were hosted in town by the Western Colorado Friends of the Himalayas, a non-profit with longstanding relations with Nepal. Among the visiting contingent were three Nepalese public officials: Sonam Gyalzen Sherpa, member of the Upper House of Nepalese Parliament (equivalent of the Senate in the U.S.), along with Mingma Tshering Sherpa, mayor, and Tashi Lhamu Sherpa, deputy mayor, of the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu municipality in the Everest region of Nepal.
It was interesting observing the visiting Sherpas reunite with their stateside friends, and equally so talk shop with a political counterpart: state Rep. Marc Catlin. The public officials compared notes on their respective districts, as well as the similarities and differences of Nepal and the Western Slope.
One point touched on during this informal gathering in Montrose, was the aid — financial and otherwise — that the Western Colorado Friends of the Himalayas provides to the Sherpa region. The group has reportedly donated more than $150,000 over the past 26 years, with one of the heaviest periods of assistance coming in 2015, when the region suffered a devastating earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people.
To learn more about this organization, visit https://www.himalayanfriends.com/ and to read about the Sherpas visit to the Western Slope, read our account in the MDP.
Have a Good One,
Jeremy Morrison,
managing editor
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