Mt. Everest and the Philippines

Historian Ambeth Ocampo wrote today on one interesting trivia about Mt. Everest and the Philippines in the Inquirer. The daughter of Tenzing Norgay, Nima, married a Filipino, the late renowned graphic designer Emmanuel "Noli" Galang.

The other interesting observation is the difference in how Hillary and Norgay celebrated their summit. Hillary was victorious and planted his country's flag. When Norgay died in 1986, he announced that he was the first to reach the Everest and even claimed that Norgay was a weak climber during his sixth or seventh attempt to summit Everest.

Norgay in his memoirs offered a ceremonial sacrifice to Chomalungma including an ordinary pen from his daughter Nima. Being a devout Buddhist, he wanted to pay his respects to the mountain and his surroundings. He was humble and acknowledged that summiting Everest was and still remains a team effort.

Someone raised the fact that all the foreigners that summit Everest are celebrated, but the Sherpas remained anonymous. I know this isn't entirely true, since Boy recently put out a link of the famous Sherpa climber Babu Chiri Sherpa and there are many articles on the Sherpas. Still, I hope the Pinoy climbers provide us with the names of their guides so we can honor them as well.

Afterall, Nima Norgay-Galang is also a Filipina.

Check out the links:

http://news.inq7.net/opinion/index.php?index=2&story_id=76243&col=80

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1030607/asp/opinion/story_2039176.asp

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