Dendi Sherpa is from the Okhaldhunga District of Eastern Nepal, just south of the SoluKhumbu. At 34, he has been in the trekking business for 22 years, and not coincidently, he is the nephew of our guide, Nawang Sherpa. The story of how he got into the business is amusing...

Dendi has lived in Kathmandu since the ripe old age of twelve. At that time in his life, he had grown weary of being a shepherd-boy and of repeatedly getting in trouble with his mother for letting the cows run amok while he played with his friends. He had heard about trekking jobs being available in the Big City so he packed his bags and ran away from home.

Young Dendi had no money but every day his food-&-bed bills added up at his hotel in Kathmandu. Fortunately, he managed to find work tagging along with expeditions as an assistant kitchen-boy/porter. He never had any cash for the next five years because each time he arrived back from a trek the hotel owner would demand his entire paycheck from the trekking company to pay his bills!

Dendi spent three full seasons as a trekking porter, five as a kitchen-boy, six years as an assistant cook, and finally, now four years as head cook for treks and expeditions. He also holds a licence for climbing trekking peaks from the Mountaineering Association of Nepal and has participated on a number of ascents.

Dendi was cook for a Dutch expedition to Dhauligiri (8167m) and so his favorite trek has come to be the 'Dhauligiri Round' -- because of "the adventure, difficulty, and fewer people go that way." Treks in the Annapurna region enjoy close-up views of this mountain.