2 Stories, 1 Mission…
We love to travel, so much so, it is all we think about.....! Thirty years ago we traveled to Nepal, trekking in the mountains and fell in love with it. Five years later we returned and swore we would visit as often as we could. Fast forward twenty five years, 3 kids, 2 careers, 4 dogs and a yearning to get back to Nepal.
In the spring of 2019 we took our sons with us as we had dreamed of doing for years, to show them the most beautiful place with the most humble people we had ever met in all of our travels. We fell in love all over again with the people of the Khumbu (Everest) region and realized quickly how over time, tourism, trekking and mountaineering expeditions specifically, had dramatically changed the region and had led to positive life changes for most of the citizens that live there. Unfortunately, there are those that are not so lucky…. There are those Elders, many of whom are 70+ years or older, that have been left to fend for themselves either due to families leaving the valley to live in a more modern society, inability to work, health issues, and outliving their family members. These Elders remain in the region to care for themselves as best they can, sometimes with no income, no housing or any means to put food on the table.
Meet Tashi Sherpa. Tashi grew up in Khumjung, sister city to Winter Park, CO. Khumjung is a small village just South of Mt. Everest, a place with no roads or cars within 100 miles. She grew up hiking and walking the many trails and paths that are used for transporting supplies. Tashi’s grandfather was Sirdar for Sir Edmund Hilary on his famed ascent of Mt Everest with Tenzing Norgay in 1953. Her Husband, Lahkpa Sherpa, was with Reinhold Meisner on his Everest summit, climbed Ama Dablam and developed a three day trek for Prince Charles at his request.
Together, Tashi and Lahkpa are well-known in Khumjung, their home and the surrounding Khumbu region, for their generosity and dedication to those less fortunate. They have traveled to Winter Park, Colorado every summer for 20+ years, selling Nepali goods to earn money for those back home. With Tashi’s inspiration and after witnessing the generosity and kindness that her soul offers to others, we wanted to create something larger than ourselves; something that would help better the lives of the elder people of the Khumbu region of Nepal…..KhumbuConnection!