Sirdar (mountaineering)
When mountaineering or trekking, the local porter guide is referred to as the Sirdar , who mediates between the mountaineers and the porters and locals. This term is mainly used for Sherpas in the Himalayas , and also for the Hunzukuc in the Karakoram .
The Sirdar is responsible for the porters, kitchen helpers and cooks on an expedition and regulates the transport of loads, payment and cooperation with local authorities. He is mostly fluent in English and is typically the most experienced of the group. The Sirdar is not a mountain guide in the true sense of the word. The tasks of the Sirdars include monitoring progress on the approach to the base camp and, on larger expeditions, monitoring the transport of loads to the high camps. The Sirdar himself usually only carries his own equipment.
The etymology of the word is closely related to the sardar .
literature
- Bernhard Rudolf Banzhaf: Are Sherpas mountain guides? . In: The Alps . 9/2002 ( Online ( Memento from September 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ))
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ed Viesturs, David Roberts: No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks . Broadway Books, 2007, ISBN 0-7679-2471-1 , page 354