Tenzing Dawa

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Biografie:
Dawa Tenzing d.1985
I first met Dawa Tenzing in Darjeeling in 1955 when he was our Sirdar on the Kangchenjunga expedition. He was already a close friend of Charles Evans, having been with him on Himalayan trips for the previous three years. In 1952 and 1953 he was his personal Sherpa and then in 1954 he was Sirdar to the New Zealand Barun Expedition. On Everest in 1953 he had twice carried loads to the South Col without oxygen and, from the South Col, had been fit and ready to go further if need be. He was tall for a Sherpa and had a more serious expression than most. In spite of his long service with climbing expeditions he had insisted on retaining the old traditions and still wore the pigtail and ear-ring.
When he joined us it was difficult to judge his age but he was thought to be between 45 and 50. We all took to him immediately and it was clear to us that here was an exceptional person.
Weeks later when Norman Hardie and I returned from the summit of Kangch to Camp 5 in a state of extreme exhaustion, it was those two great mountaineers Charles Evans and Dawa Tenzing who came up to meet us, sustain us and help us down. Although Dawa was putting on a brave face it was clear that he was preoccupied. We were soon to learn that news had just been passed up by radio from Base Camp that one of our young Sherpas, Pemi Dorje, had died. He had literally worked himself to death by exhausting himself on a carry to Camp 5 a few days earlier. He had never recovered from this. For Dawa Tenzing his death was a great grief for he was Pemi Dorje's brother-in-law. The loss of other close relatives on the mountains was something that was to dog Dawa over the years.
After the 1955 expedition Dawa came over to England for a while and many will remember the impact he and his young companion Chanjup made as they travelled around staying and climbing with their many friends – Dawa dignified and slightly aloof. He went on to be Sirdar of many expeditions after that, rapidly becoming one of the greatest Sirdars of all time. He was made an Honorary Member of the Club in 1970.
I next saw Dawa in 1976 when I passed through Duweche on the way to Everest Base Camp. I was very shocked at the state in which I found him. He had just lost his second wife and a son had been killed in a climbing accident and on top of this he had been accused of stealing items from a Monastery something that was quite unthinkable to anyone who knew Dawa. It was later established that this was a false accusation resulting from a family feud but it had been taken very seriously by Dawa with the result that he had given all his money to the Monks in the hope that this would help him. He was drinking heavily. He was living in very poor conditions, and was being looked after, as best she could, by Nisha Llamu, his second daughter. He was convinced he had only months to live and wanted me to take his medals, including his Tiger Badge, and his papers and hand them to the Alpine Club. This would clearly have been an admission of defeat and so I persuaded him that he should hold on to his valuables and said that the Club would be honoured to have them in due course. His court case came up while we were there. I had in my team a very well connected Major of the Royal Nepalese Army who could see at once that such accusations against Dawa were clearly false and he insisted on remaining in the valley and going to court to speak for him. They both came up to Base Camp some days later with the good news that Dawa had been acquitted of the false accusations. This was to be a turning point for him. He flatly refused to accept charity but we did persuade him that he was more than deserving of a small pension after all he had done for so many expeditions and this we started to pay him straight away. Many of his friends contributed to this and it enabled him to live his last years free of financial worry. It was paid to him monthly through the Doctor at Kunde Hospital to ensure that he went there for regular medical checks.
I next saw him two years later. He had regained his strength and was much more his old self. He was married again, to a fine old lady who was the sister of Tashi, another of our Kangchenjunga Sherpas and an old friend of Dawa. Tashi had later gained fame by being the first to the summit of Nuptse with Dennis Davis. I stayed a few days with Dawa that year and late one evening, as he was reminiscing about his early expeditions, he said how he remembered as a boy being with a British Expedition to Everest which went into Tibet via Darjeeling and then two Sahibs disappeared high on the mountain. He was of course talking about Mallory and Irvine in 1924. Had he been even 17 then, Charles Evans' estimate that he was between 45 and 50 at the time of Kangchenjunga would have been correct and he would now be in his early 70s - very old for a Sherpa. But he now went from strength to strength. He moved house because he was convinced that the old one had brought him bad luck and settled down with his third wife to enjoy his late years. Those who met him during this time found again the same old Dawa - full of fun and always ready for a chat about the past and a drink or two.
Tragedy struck in February 1983 when he was on a pilgrimage to india with his wife and a large party of Sherpas from Solo Kumbu. The bus in which they were returning to Kathmandu left the road and plunged into a ravine. Thirty rwo people were killed and 20 others, including Dawa and his wife, were badly injured and admitted to hospital in Kathmandu. Another of his sons was killed in the accident. Dawa and his wife recovered sufficiently to be flown back to
Solo Khumbu but Dawa was never to recover fully. He also lost all his valuables in the accident.
He spent his last years in Thyangboche, sometimes in the Monastery or with his daughter Nisha Llamu who was now married and ran a tea house just opposite. His right arm was paralysed and he seldom got up from his bed. He died peacefully in his sleep on 3 February 1985. He must then have been about 78. His wife had been to visit him a few days before.
And so we mourn the loss of a distinguished Honorary Member who had been a close friend to many of us. Dawa Tenzing will be long remembered as the great Sherpa personality of his era. With the changing times in which we live, there can never be another like him.
H R A Streather
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 91, 1986, Seite 270-272



Gestorben am:
1985