Ang Tharkay

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Biografie:
geboren in Khunde Village (Nepal)
gestorben in Kathmandu (Nepal)
Nepalesischer Sherpa

ANG THABKAY SHERPA (1909-1982)

I HAD chosen Ang Tharkay (Nanda Devi 1934) for his remarkably fine performance in weathering the storm at Camp V and then volunteering to carry to Camp VI (Everest 1933). Beyond that I knew nothing about him. He was small even for a Sherpa, but very well built. We soon learned to value his rare qualities which made him outstandingly the best of all the Sherpas I have known. He had a .shrewd judgement both of men and of situations, and was absolutely steady in any crisis. He was a most lovable person, modest, unselfish and completely sincere, with an infectious gaiety of spirit, He has been with me on all my subsequent journeys to the Himalaya, and to him I owe a large measure of their success and much of my enjoyment.
So wrote Eric Shipton, in Upon That Mountain
I KNEW Ang Tharkay after he had reached the peak of his career as a Sherpa Sirdar, mountaineer and organizer of expeditions. He was, I think, the most distinguished of a distinguished few Sherpa Sirdars whose services were much in demand at the start of the 1950s, when the great resurgence began of post-war expeditions to the Himalaya. The previous decade had been a difficult one for him, living in Darjeeling, bringing up a young family, and often in search of employment. His natural qualities of leadership soon led him into a more lucrative field managing labour teams on contract to the gov­ernment for road construction and repairs. When he finally retired, he was able to spend his last 12-15 years living quietly on his farm south of Daman to which he had grown very attached, His sons have all made their way in life, and are doing well in their chosen pro­fessions. His third son, Sonam Tharkay, has followed in his father's footsteps as a Sherpa Sirdar.
Ang Tharkay accompanied me on two of my journeys in Sikkim over 30 years ago. We traversed an unexplored glacier plateau in the NE, crossing over a high pass south of Pauhunri. We made a winter attempt on Kangchenjau. We climbed two small peaks on the Tibetan border, and attempted two others in very poor weather. On these journeys I was mostly alone with him and a small team of Sherpas hand-picked by him. It was his enthusiasm and ability that provided the main driving force. And I learnt much about human relation­ships by watching the way in which he treated his men, and witnessing their respect and affection for him. He was a man of the highest integrity.
Perhaps one of my fondest recollections of him was during a visit to Darjeeling in December 1959 when he and 1 walked tip Tiger Hill after a night spent at Senchal In the cloudless and freezing pre­dawn atmosphere the two of us stood there alone, spellbound by the scene spread out before our eyes.' After the early morning gold had spread across the ranges, we raced down to the rest-house where he proceeded to prepare a gigantic breakfast.
His passing marks the end of an era.
Trevor Braham

THE MOST prominent climbing Sherpa of an era, Ang Tharkay, died of cancer on the 27th July 1981 in Kathmandu. He was 74 years old. Born and brought up in the Khunde village in the Sherpa high­lands of Nepal, he later migrated to Darjeeling, the take-off point of pre-war Himalayan expeditions.
Although the first mention of Ang Tharkay's participation in an expedition is in 1931, the Bavarian expedition to Kangchenjunga, he seems to have come to Darjeeling in the late thirties and had been on the climbing scene since.
In 1933 Ang Tharkay was in the team of Sherpas/Bhutias of the British expedition led by Hugh Ruttledge who commended him as 'the great-hearted little Ang Tharkay'.
In 1934 Ang Tharkay was with Shipton and Tilman when they first forced a way through the formidable Kishi gorge into the virgin sanctuary of Nanda Devi. His services were most appreciated by these prominent pioneers of Himalayan exploration and climbing.
In 1935 Ang Tharkay served in two major expeditions. In the summer, he was selected as one of the Sherpas of the Everest expedi­tion led by Shipton. In autumn he was with C. R. Cooke on Kabru North during its first ascent.
In 1936 Ang Tharkay was with Hugh Ruttledge who again led the British on Everest. Then Ruttledge praised Ang Tharkay as 'probably the best mountaineer in the Sherpa community'. In the same year Ang Tharkay climbed with Shipton in. Garhwal Himalaya. This expe­dition had made a serious attempt to climb Dunagiri. He then served Osmaston in the survey of that region.
In, 1937 Ang Tharkay was again with Shipton, climbing, exploring and surveying in the Karakoram range.
The last major expedition on Everest until the early sixties from, the Tibetan side took place in 1938 and Ang Tharkay was a very prominent member of this expedition as the Sirdar of a thirty-one Sherpa team.
Ang Tharkay, registered as No. 19 in the roll of the Sherpa Bhutia porters of the Himalayan. Club, was now an established Sirdar and one of the first recipients of the coveted, Tiger Medal. He had already emerged as an outstanding mountaineer and he was only thirty-one years old.
During the second World War and in the subsequent years there were very few or no mountaineering expeditions in the Himalaya. So, like most Sherpas and Bhutias, Ang Tharkay looked, towards other fields for a livelihood.
However by 1949, after the historic events around the world, far- reaching political changes had taken place in Asia, and Nepal also had opened its doors to foreigners to climb. So, Ang Tharkay again found himself in his element when he joined the French expedition to Annapurna led by Maurice Herzog. This expedition distinguished itself by reaching the summit of Annapurna and setting the record of the highest summit, over 8000 m, then reached. Ang Tharkay was subsequently awarded, the Legion of Honour by the French Govern­ment for his valuable services. He was known to be the first Sherpa to travel to Paris and also see the Folies Bergeres.
In 1951 he was the Sirdar of the Sherpas of the British reconnaissance expedition which pioneered the conventional route to Everest from the Nepalese side and tried to force a way through the Khumbu icefall. The expedition was led by Eric Shipton.
In the spring of 1953 Ang Tharkay went as a Sirdar with another reconnaissance expedition to Bhaulagiri, led by the Swiss Bernard Lautenberg. He then' joined the French expedition to Nun, which made the first ascent of the mountain. The summit was reached by Madame Claude Cogan and Pierre Vittoz and the expedition was led by Bernard Pierre.
In the following year, 1954, Ang Tharkay was on Makalu as the head of the Sherpas in the American expedition led by Dr William Siri.
By 1954, within a short time, much had changed for the Sherpas of Darjeeling as many big mountains had been climbed, and the biggest of all, Everest. When the H. M. I. was born in the same year, Ang Tharkay was deservingly among the chosen seven Sherpas as an instructor under Tenzing, the Everest hero. The Sherpa team was formally trained in Switzerland by the famous Swiss Guide, Arnold Glallhard, in methods of instruction. Ang Tharkay served the H.M.I, for just over two years and then left to follow his instinct and spirit to move on to fresher air and greener pastures.
He worked as a road-building contractor in Western Sikkim for five years and in 1962 he migrated to Nepal. The same year he took the Sirdarship of the second Indian Everest' expedition led by Major' John Bias, and himself reached the height of 27,650 ft. He was' 55 years old then and this was probably his last active climbing venture.
In 1966 he acquired a sizeable tract of farmland close to Kathmandu and spent most of his time on that farm tending the vegetable fields and the animals he kept. His family lived in the heart of Kathmandu in the beautiful mansion he built for them to look after his other enterprise. He later started the travel agency, Nepal Trekking.
When I last met him a few days before he passed away, he held my hand and said, 'Give my greetings to all my friends in Darjeeling'. He is survived by his widow, Ang Yangjin, one 'daughter and four sons.
Dorjee Lhatoo
Quelle: The Himalaya Journal 191-82,Volume 39, Seite

Geboren am:
1900
Gestorben am:
1982