In Highest Nepal: Our Life Among the Sherpas, by Norman Hardie. London: Allen and Unwin, 1957. 191 pages; ills.; maps. Price 21s.

This book is the account of living with Sherpas in the high Nepalese valleys of Solo Khumbu, just south of Mount Everest. The author, a New Zealander, is one of the four members of the British Kangchenjunga Expedition who reached the summit in May 1955. Afterwards he left the climbing party at Base Camp and walked with three Sherpa companions to the village of Khumjung, near Namche Bazar. Joined later by his wife, Enid, and by A. J. Macdonald, he spent five months among these remarkable Mongoloid people who have provided the sinews of transport for most of the great Himalayan climbs. He and Macdonald also conducted a survey to untangle the maze of ridges and valleys south of Mount Chamlang.

The book is a straightforward, readable, day-by-day account of the author’s experiences among the Sherpas, and he describes their customs, habits, beliefs, and economy. That he capitulated completely to his hosts and their way of life there isn’t a doubt. To them he attributes the high qualities of good nature, gentleness, generosity, loyalty, and independence, with hardly a mention of any human failings whatever. In fact, of his departure he wrote: “I was not quite sure why I was leaving Khumjung, and wondered if anywhere else in the world could ever be to me so much a home.”

However, such an admittedly simple, unadorned account tends to be two-dimensional. It seems to lack a depth and penetration that might have uncovered the inner spark which animates this interesting and unique segment of the human family. In other words, we hear the Sherpas tick, but the mechanism that makes them do so remains somewhat of a mystery. Still, Hardie’s enthusiasm is catching and his story is very much worthwhile for those who are interested in the human aspect of the world’s greatest mountain range.

The book is well illustrated by the author and his wife, and there are two diagrams, but the pair of outline maps are somewhat sketchy for those not generally familiar with the region.

Weldon F. Heald