In the summer of 2019, I embarked on an expedition across Nepal to study the people, geography, and socioeconomic conditions of the Himalayas. My goal was to understand the impact of mountaineering and adventure tourism on Nepal’s people to help me in my pursuit of founding a more sustainable and service-oriented exploration organization. Generously funded by the Lumos Foundation in partnership with Belmont University, I traveled to the other side of the world to encounter diverse people, experience their culture, and traverse their landscape. I interviewed Sherpa guides, community members, refugees, conservationists, healthcare workers, and everyday Nepali people. The journey was instrumental in shaping the way I approach exploration today and left me with a longing to use adventure as a force for good.
I designed the expedition in three phases: the Mountains, the Foothills, and the City. First I trekked across the Everest region to immerse myself in the heart of the mountaineering world. Then, I served in environmental conservation in the Annapurna region to understand its geographic and ecological challenges. Finally, I worked at a hospital in the capital city of Kathmandu to see firsthand the lives of the Nepali people. Each phase revealed something unique, from the positive economic growth of the adventure industry to the socioeconomic struggles within Nepal’s society.
Through my journey, I saw alpine guides proud to have summited towering peaks, while visibly worn from the toil of shifting between mountaineering
and farming just to provide for their families. I witnessed porters carrying packs as heavy as 100lbs as they marched across difficult terrain and into thin air,
in hopes of saving money for school or opening their own tea house one day. I learned that Nepali mountain guides made a tenth of what their Western counterparts
were paid, while living in villages where the cost of goods was ten-fold that of lower elevation towns. And I walked by abandoned farms that families had left as soon as they
earned enough money to flee the scarcely resourced mountains for the city or another country.
I observed men and women fighting against their circumstances—isolation,
economics, terrain, and weather—to achieve a better future for themselves and their families. And despite their difficult circumstances, I saw smiles, shared laughs, was
treated generously, felt humbly served, and built friendships. The challenge, and in some cases the suffering, was purifying.
It was a reminder that one’s fullest potential is not decided by the conditions they are in, but by their ambition to chart a course in life and the tenacity to pursue it.
This was the way of the Nepali people, inspired by snow-capped peaks to continually stive for something higher in themslves and their communities. Such an attitude is palpable
in the indomnidable mountaineer’s spirit, the national Ghurka legend, and the contageous spark in every explorer who crosses their land.