Pemba Dorje Sherpa, a Nepalese Sherpa who holds the record for the fastest ascent ofEverest (eight hours and ten minutesin 2004) is hoping to take a local child to the summit after 13-year-old American became the youngest person to climb the mountain last month.
“Nepalis a small country and we do not get much good publicity,” Dorje Sherpa told . “I want totake an 11- or 12-year-old to the summit because I think all theEverest records should be held by Nepalese people.”
Dorje Sherpa, wholives in Kathmandu and was born in a small village high in theHimalayas, traveled to his home district this week to try to find achild to take to the summit during the 2011 climbing season. He is now considering taking his ownson, Tseten Sherpa, who will turn ten later this year.
Nepal usually does not grant Everest permits to anyone under 16.Romero, accompanied by his father, Paul, climbed the mountain from thenorthern side in Tibet. But Sherpa said thetourism ministry had agreed to make an exception for a Nepalese childseeking to break the American's record.
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–Stayton Bonner