National 4 (Spotlight Weekly)

'Tourism Will Rebound When Violence Stops'

— ELIZABETH HAWLEY

MISS ELIZABETH HAWLEY has never climbed a mountain in her life, but she has developed a keen interest in the Nepalese Himalayan climbing scene and gotten to know the many skilled and famous mountaineers who have come to the Nepalese Himalayas. When she took up residence in Kathmandu in September 1960, she was accredited as Time-Life's part-time correspondent in Nepal, and two years later began reporting to Reuters News Agency. After 39 years, she has kept records of all these climbs and now has especially detailed statistics about Everest climbs. Although an American citizen, she is honorary consul for New Zealand. Besides her mountaineering record-keeping and recording, she has other responsibilities in Nepal: she is executive officer of Sir Edmund Hillary's small aid organization, the Himalayan Trust, which provides important assistance to the people of the Everest region. From first general election 1959 to the last elections of 1998, Hawley has observed democracy from close quarters. She spoke to KESHAB POUDEL at her office-cum-residence on Wednesday about the changes she has seen in Nepal in the last 42 years Excerpts:

As long-time Nepal resident, how do you see the country's development? Can you recall your earlier memories of Kathmandu?

Oh! Kathmandu of the early 1960s was completely different than what it is today. There were no pitch roads. All the roads were narrow or gravel. There were no taxis and rented cars. The American Embassy staff had pool cars. Women were seldom seen in the streets and men wore traditional Nepali clothes, not western.

How do you see the changes brought by the development in communication? Can you compare it with communication then?

There were no fax and telex here. Until 1964, the only telegraph office was in the Indian Embassy which was opened from about 8 in the morning to 6 in the evening. We had to go into the Indian Embassy and to hand over the written telegram. There was bookie, a little man, who walked from a booking room to another room of a different building right to next of his room to send it to Calcutta. It was in 1964 that a central telegraph office was built through American aid. In the due course, telex came and then fax. Now you have mobile telephone and other means of communication. So that is a big difference. Telephone service, I never considered making trunk calls, no matter you could, except going to the telephone office until it was properly came into existence here. Many letters, which I received, gave addressed Nepal via India. Some letters even addressed to Khartoum because nobody outside had ever heard about Nepal. Nepal did not join Universal Postal Union until 1959. So that is a big development.

Over the years, mountaineering techniques and styles have changed. Can you compare modern climbing with what it was 50 year ago?

I am sure they will continue to change. Mountaineering in Nepal followed a very similar pattern to that in the Alps. Many years ago, the easiest and possible routes were climbed first and then climbers went to start looking for more difficult routes in more difficult ways, for example, climbing in winter. Climbing without a lot of fixed camps, without a lot of fixed ropes and climbing hardware pitone and local ankles, ice crew and all that. So it developed with a different way.

What changes did Reinhold Messner bring in his expeditions?

A noted change was brought by Reinhold Messner. He introduced a style, which he called it climbing by fair means with minimum of fixed ropes and minimum of other hardware including no artificial oxygen. That was a big change. Messner and his Austrian team in 1978 first climbed Mt. Everest without any artificial oxygen. That was in the springtime, but even in autumn a fair number of teams started to climb without oxygen. They might bring them in for emergency medical purposes. The style changed and then solo expedition came in, as Messner again pioneered that Nagapadak in Karakoram, then Everest itself in 1980. Totally solo, completely alone, nobody else from the mountain, no teammates, no rescue teams to come up and search for him. He went to base camp on his own. So that is a big change.

What are the new trends?

A major change in recent years is climbing great faces and walls. That is one of the most difficult ways of climbing any mountain. There was a very notable climb of South face of Dhaulagiri I in recent years. Solo, entirely without oxygen. The Slovenian climber Tomas Humar did not get all the way to the summit but he got the 7,900 m. Actually, it was 8,167 m high and when he told me when he came back after that climb that he knew and he continued on above 7,900m. So he reached over to the normal route and came down through the normal route. This was the first attempt by anybody, big team or little team, to climb that great south face of Dhaulagiri I.

What is the ecology of the mountains like? Are the growing numbers of expeditions a threat to the ecology? What should Nepal do to promote mountaineering and preserve the ecology at the same time?

You have growing number of expeditions who are posing a threat to the ecology in terms of rubbish left behind. But His Majesty's Government is trying to curb that and there have been expeditions to Everest and Lhotse from the Nepalese side and Everest from Tibetan side to clean up the rubbish left by previous expeditions. This team brought down tons of rubbish. One Japanese expedition leader, Ken Noguchi has come to clean up expedition twice to north side of the Everest and once to south side. He went one step ahead when he was here on south side of Everest with Japanese members with him and one South Korean team. They separated the Japanese rubbish and the South Korean rubbish. The Japanese team put their rubbish in plastic bags and took it back to Japan. They put the rubbish on display in four different places to show their people what the climbers of their countries were doing in the magnificent mountains. One Korean member also took back the rubbish to South Korea and put it on display in Seoul.

How do you see the efforts of the government?

HMG's Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee collects garbage deposits, which is refundable when the team returns and can show that they have left nothing behind the mountain. So that is the attempt to minimize the garbage effects. Over the years, mountaineers become very much aware of not polluting the mountains. A slogan has been going for a decade ago in the west. "Leave nothing but foot prints take nothing but photos." That is the motto for every expedition. East Europeans tend to be not so conscious and this is a Western concept. It is catching on in East Asian but not very rapidly.

What are the highlights of Japanese clean-up team?

The leader of the Japanese team Ken Noguchi took it away. There had been also an American expedition to clean up rubbish. In the case of Ken Noguchi, he hired Sherpas to go up with his team just to bring down rubbish. In the case of American leader Bob Hoffman, who has came twice so far from California in a clean up expedition, did not pay Sherpas to go up and bring down rubbish. He thinks that may be endangering Sherpa lives unnecessarily. What he does is he offers a bonus to Sherpas who are going to the for example highest camp on the South Col going with others or with his own expedition. Bonus is distributed to all who bring down the rubbish from the South Col. So they don't go on to fetch the rubbish but they get extra money doing removal. These are big efforts to check pollution on the mountains.

How does the celebration of the golden jubilee of Everest ascent highlight Nepal's mountains in the world? Do you think the event has been adequately publicized?

I am sure there are going to be quite a lot of expeditions in to Everest both the south and north side on the occasion of this golden jubilee. When many expeditions come and go back home, they will give publicity to this mountain. It does not only highlight Nepalese but the mountain has two sides as it is between the borders to two countries. I don't know how it has been publicized as I am not in the receiving end of the publicity. HMG, Nepal Mountaineering Association and others are doing a good job. Certainly, the expedition itself is obviously publicizing to get money to support their efforts.

As a witness to Nepal's isolation, then opening up to the world and finally battling all vices of modern development, do you think Nepal can live up to its image?

Well I don't know what is the image is. It used to have an image of a very peace-loving people but now some people are not so peace loving. So that is, I am sure, a serious problem for Nepal's image. Because the Maoist insurgents get quite a lot of publicity in overseas press as well as in the Nepalese press. So there is a bad mark on Nepalese tourism, including mountaineering. A few expeditions are going to the far west of Nepal because of threat of Maoists as they have begun meeting expeditions. Some of them are actually Maoists and some of them are probably not. Some of them probably taking advantage of the insecure situation and maybe just plain robbers. But any way, they stop mountaineers, demand money and in some cases camera as well. Mountain climbers do not greet that very enthusiastically. When they get these cases back in their own country, that is a blot on the Nepalese image, I am afraid. Tourism will rebound when the violence stop and Nepal becomes a secure and peaceful land.

In terms of education and other development activities, how do you see the transformation of Nepal?

Oh! It was completely different when I arrived in Nepal in 1959, as there were few schools, bridges and roads. To go to from here to airport, there was a one-way bridge. There was a one-way bridge to go to Patan from here. I still remember vividly that a man at Kathmandu end of the bridge and a man at the Patan end of bridge would have flags and, they waved to each other. There has been enormous change in the last forty years. Again, the Maoists have been destroying lot of infrastructures which have been built up over these many years. Schools obviously have been affected, the bridges, even footbridges, which are vital to the local people in remote areas, are destroyed. The airports towers are being destroyed and that is not good for tourism and for expeditions as well. Night buses and buses are attacked in the highways. It is just retrospection in modern development.

How do you see Nepal's exposure to western development?

The immediate effect of the exposure to the western development is the introduction of hard drugs. That is unfortunately a worldwide phenomenon. No one can do anything about it except to try to educate about abuse and catch drug dealers. Catching drug dealers is a problem. There was widespread publicity overseas about hippies when they came here, and the country was known as hippies' paradise. Unfortunately, a few of them did introduce hard drugs in Nepal. That was not good for the image of Nepal at that time, but it was good for the image of hippies. For them, it was attractive to come over land through Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan to Nepal. It gave publicity to Nepal in that way, which was good for some people. Modern development has brought many things - television, mobile phone and radio. When I came here, there was no question of television. It has bought a more competitive journalism, private radios, private television, modern medicines.

How was the hospital service?

I remember Bir Hospital in the early 1960s when there was the old building and big ward on the ground floor which had no effective wire netting. It was dirty and dogs roamed on the floor at the operating theater, eating what was left in the tray of the ground floor. The operating theater, which was visited by an American doctor who was here for USAID, was rather apoplectic to the condition. So that of course has drastically changed. Both Bir Hospital and construction of other hospitals, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital and Patan Hospital, have made a big difference over the years. It was Shanta Bhawan hospital at that time, which merged with the new buildings. Modern development has lot of good things. There are always pluses and minuses. It changed a lot of people who migrated at the hill settled in Kathmandu producing a lot of crowding and a lot of problems in Kathmandu like rapid urban expansion all over the world. Among the good things are better health service, good education and better communication and better access to a remote and exotic land.

Are the Himalayas an asset to Nepal or a liability?

These are an asset to Nepal in terms of attracting visitors like trekkers and climbers, since Mt. Everest is here along with a lot of other mountains. The liability is pollution.

Why have you made Nepal your home? What are its attractions?

Well, it is a kind of an accident that Nepal has become my home country. I came here to live in September 1960. I first visited here in February/March 1959. I found it very interesting. I thought this would be a very nice place to live because of lovely scene and much better climate than New York City where I was living. Friendly people and interesting political development obviously starting up. When I was here in 1959, there was a first general election. It was interesting to see how Nepal did change and try to cope in with the 20th century. I stayed because I didn't have any incentive to leave. I have plenty of the reasons to stay on. There were various works to do here as I accumulated various jobs over the years. So I can support myself to live reasonably comfortable. So I can stay. But, I never took a decision to spend the rest of my life in Nepal. That decision I never took. I have just taken a decision to live.

How do you see the functioning of modern political system in Nepal?

Developing a functional democratic government is not easy, the government and society have to understand civil society, which is responsible for the government they have, and they have to organize to do something about it. Look, how long Britain, France and United States took to develop their modern political systems and institutions. They are not perfect systems even now. In the first general elections in 1959, it was totally different, as the country had virtually no institutions. However, King Mahendra put an end to that experiment of constitutional monarchical democracy in December 1960. King Birendra restored it in April 1990. So, there is has been a very short time and the speed picked up. The B.P. Koirala government lasted for just over one year and one could not imagine change in such a short period. The present arrangement has been just 12 years. The development of a really operational and a very effective democratic system, whether it is constitutional monarchy or republic, is a long process.

People in Nepal, however, are not satisfied with the functioning of democratic government and many are frustrated and angry. How do you look at it?

It is an expression of educated elite of Kathmandu. They are not talking about 22 million Nepalese people who live in far away and remote parts of the country with many hardships. We must see how the people in general respond. Their frustration cannot reflect the country as a whole.

What are your observations on Nepal?

As the honorary consul for New Zealand, I am sorry to see the number of people coming here to ask about visa to immigrate to New Zealand. That is very frustrating. We call it a brain drain.

How many districts have you traveled to?

My first trek was to Helambu in November 1960. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued trekking permits but in my case it refused to issue one for Helambu. One American woman and two Nepalese friends secured the permission. At that time Prime Minister B.P. Koirala who also held the foreign affairs portfolio, helped me to secure the permit. He said I could go to Helambu. I had been to Solukhumbu four times. I was in Pokhara several times and went up to Kali Gandaki River by helicopter looking for somebody.

Have you ever visited Nepal with dignitaries?

Yes. I was allowed to go on a tour with late King Mahendra in the early 1960s. We flied to Nepalgunj and went to Surkhet by helicopter for a few days, as Surkhet valley in those days had malaria. Then by horseback, I went to Surkhet to Dailekh. King Mahendra went on to Rara Lake and I came back to Kathmandu. It was a very interesting trip in my life. I was also in a tiger hunt in the terai and on elephants.