IFMGA mountain guide
SajjanGhale
Climb high. Come down together.
Ten minutes up there, then the whole way down. The summit is optional. Bringing everyone home is not.
Camp IVSouth Col
7,906 m27°58'28"N 86°55'55"E
Midnight on the South Col.
We leave the tents at eleven at night, headlamps on, oxygen hissing. For twelve hours I watch everyone’s feet, eyes and watch.
Guiding focus · Judgment
A shared pace. A clear decision to turn around.
Camp IIILhotse Face
7,200 m27°58'07"N 86°55'00"E
A ledge cut into blue ice.
Camp III hangs on the Lhotse Face at fifty degrees. We sleep clipped to the fixed line, and the wind decides who actually sleeps.
Guiding focus · Preparation
Practised movement gives attention back to the mountain.
Camp IIWestern Cwm
6,400 m27°58'46"N 86°54'11"E
The Valley of Silence.
The Cwm is a mirror: forty degrees in the tent at noon, minus twenty at night. This is where I really get to know my team.
Guiding focus · Teamwork
Listen, recover, and make the next plan together.
Camp IKhumbu Icefall
6,050 m27°59'15"N 86°52'45"E
Through the ladders.
Four in the morning in the Icefall: crampons on aluminium rungs, the glacier creaking underneath. Here, moving fast is what safety means.
Guiding focus · Awareness
Good timing begins with reading the conditions.
Base CampEverest Base Camp
5,364 m28°00'09"N 86°51'10"E
Everything starts here.
Two months a year I live on this moraine, among the yellow tents. Tell me your mountain, and I’ll tell you honestly whether this is your year.
This is where I started, as a porter. My path
Beyond the descent
Eight seasons in the high mountains.
- Guiding seasons
- 8+
- Years of Himalayan expeditions
- 7
- Highest summit, Everest
- 8,849 m
- Qualifications
- 5
Affiliations
Associated with
IFMGA · UIAGMInternational Federation of Mountain Guides Associations
NNMGANepal National Mountain Guide AssociationInstructor on guide training
NMANepal Mountaineering Association
The path
From porter to IFMGA mountain guide.
From the field
The days in between
Journal
Field notes
1 min read
Turning around at 8,500 metres
The hardest part of my job is not getting a client to the summit. It is telling them we are going down.
1 min read
The Icefall at four in the morning
Why every rotation through the Khumbu Icefall starts in the dark, and what the ladders really do under your crampons.
1 min read
The twelve months before Everest
An Everest expedition is decided long before base camp. This is how I prepare the year before it, with every client.
In one sentence
“The summit is optional. The descent is not. Every decision I make on a mountain is measured against that sentence.”
Sajjan Ghale · IFMGA mountain guide