Organization: Your expedition is organized by Jon Christian Otto, fluent Chinese speaker, Tibet and China expert with ten years experience in organizing expeditions in Tibet. Jon is an excellent communicator, an international diplomat, extremely well organized, with superb attention to each and every detail. Jon is our China/Tibet programme director, heading our Chinese office. For more about Jon, please "click" on the Leadership link above.

Sherpas: We hire Sherpas and high altitude porters in a support capacity, and now have 23 of these very experienced, friendly, strong, helpful, and loyal people on our staff, including some of Nepal and Tibet's best climbers and some of Nepal's only women Sherpas. Some of our Sherpas have been to the summit of Shishapangma more than 5 times. One of our lady sherpas just became the first Nepalese woman to reach the summit of Ama Dablam, Pumori, and Cho Oyu. Many of our sherpas have personally assisted foreign climbers to the summits of more than ten of the highest peaks in the Himalaya.

Note: We strive to provide one group sherpa for each 3-4 members. The group sherpa's duty is to carry group equipment such as tents, rope, food, and gas up and down the mountain. Group sherpas help to setup and take down camps. They are also there to try to assist in any rescues, so the other members may not have to give up their summit attempt to rescue a sick member. They may not be available to climb with members and in some instances, you may be called upon to help carry group equipment and help with group work. If you need more sherpa assistance, we encourage you to hire a personal sherpa.

For a minimal expense, we can also provide personal sherpas and climbing-guides to individual members who wish to have their own private sherpa or personal climbing-guide. We now encourage members to hire a 1/4 of a sherpa, to help with high altitude equipment transport, both up and down the mountain. For more information about hiring a personal sherpa, please click here to learn more.

Tibetan Mountain School-We have been working with the Tibetan Mountain School to educate and train extremely strong and helpful Tibetan climbers, staff, and cooks. They have climbed Everest Tibet, Cho Oyu, Shishapangma , Mustagata , Nojin Tangla and many other summits together with us. They are not only adept and fearless climbers, but they are also learning to cook and their English is getting better. They were born and raised in Shegar, Tibet, a town which lies above 4000 metres/13,100 feet.

Our awesome Tibetan Sherpa team at Cho Oyu ABC at 5600 metres/18,400 feet, with Tunc (pronounced "toonch"). He is a strong friendly climber from Ankara. Here is what SummitClimb leader Phil Crampton has to say about the photo: "The names are from left to right: Wangdu (from Lhatze, Tibet), Tsering Dorje (Nyalam), Tashi Tsering (Shigatse), Tunc Findik (Turkey) and Aden (Shegar). Tunc has climbed Lhotse , Pumori, Broad Peak, Cho Oyu, Everest from Tibet and guides on Elbrus. All the Tibetan climbers came from the Tibetan Mountain School in Lhasa and have climbed Everest from Tibet at least once with Tashi making the summit three times. SummitClimb have been supporting the school since day one.

Staff: Our staff, working together as "Everest Parivar Expeditions, Pvt. Ltd." in our busy agency office in Kathmandu is led by the experienced and influential Mr. Murari Sharma. They are hospitality experts and have, for the last 21 years, been arranging overland tours, safaris, raft trips, treks, mountain climbs, trek support staff, cooks, peak climbing permits, satellite phone permits, video and film-making permits, translators, liaison officers, climbing Sherpas, oxygen, helicopter flights, air tickets, equipment purchase/hire, storage, import/export, shipping, customs clearance, transport bookings, advance hotel bookings, visas, repatriations, rescues, and permits.

Our staff in Kathmandu are available to assist you 24 hours per day, seven days per week. It does not matter which day nor at what time you arrive or depart Kathmandu, they will meet your flight, take you to the hotel, help you find essential things like money changing, shopping, arrange tours of the city, etcetera.

Top row from Left: Murari K. Sharma - Everest Parivar Exp. Pvt. Ltd(MD), Arnold Coster - Expedition Leader, Jangbu Sherpa - Climbing Sherpa, Pemba Sherpa - High Altitude Kitchen Boy, Dorjee Lama - High Altitude Kitchen Boy, Tempa Sherpa - Basecamp Kitchen Boy, Krishna Rana Marag - Trekking Guide, Deha K Shrestha - Manager. Bottom row from left; Jens Vogel, Kandu Sherpa - Lady Trekking Guide, Cho-Wang Sherpa - Friend, Maya Sherpa - Lady Climbing Sherpa.

Our leaders, staff, and sherpas look forward to serving you on our expeditions to form a successful team and create a rewarding experience.