Apa Sherpa. How I got an interview

Picture of Apa Sherpa in Lednice castle in south Moravia, Czech republic.

Apa Sherpa is probably world famous sherpa. He climbed the Mount Everest more than twenty times!!! He is very bussy man. So I was lucky, when I met him in Czech republic in 2009. As a reporter for Czech geographic magazine Koktejl I had a task to do a short interview with him. Apa visited our country in Lednice because of support an exhibition about Himalayas prepared by one of czech business man, traveller and adventurer, let’s call him Rudolf.
I had promised ten minutes with Apa Sherpa after press conference, to ask him few question for a big article about Himalayas in Koktejl. But… After all journalists question,  Rudolf tole me, that they have not enough time and they have to continue to Bratislava to another meeting. But he promised me, if I send him my questions, he will ask Apa and record them for me.
So I send him several questions for Apa, but the answer was surprisingly. Rudolf told me, that the interview with the Apa Sherpa eventually he does. Sad story, but even sadder that such an interview for the magazine Koktejl ultimately never arose.

Let’s do your onw interview

So I decide to do the interview by myself. Even after a year, I wrote to Apa an e-mail, explained the situation and asked for answers to my questions.

No answer.

So I send him an e-mail again after few months. Nothing happened. The third e-mail in May 2011 make small success. Apa Sherpa’s son Tenzing answer me.

“Hello Thomas,
Apa is still in Nepal climbing Mt Everest and there is no Internet access to check his email. He will be back to the US on June 1st. I will have him send you the answers as soon as possible.  I apologize for not getting to you on time. He was gone for more than 2 months.”

Great! But nothing happened again. I just get new e-mail address of Apa Sherpa in october 2011. It changed from the apasherpa20 to apasherpa21. The reason? In that year he had climbed to Mount Everest after the twenty-first.
So I send him some more e-mails still with the same plea. Pleading for answers to my questions. A change occurred in 2015. Yes, six years after our meeting in Lednice, south Moravia. I received the following e-mail.

“Hello Tomas:
I sincerely apologize for not finding a time to respond to your questions.
Below are answers to your questions.”

And at the end of the e-mail short sentence.

“If you have more questions, feel free to write me again. Sorry for the delay of your questions.
Sincerely,
Apa”

I was so happy!!! So I sent him a few additional questions, after all the main questions I wrote six years ago and needs to be either slightly supplement. It was few days before his planed visit of Nepal at the end of April 2015.

Apa Sherpa survived Nepalese earthquake in April 2015

His Apa Sherpa Foundation was driving there to hand out school supplies, clothing, shoes, computers. But plan their trip suddenly changed when he is caught on April 25 an earthquake measuring nearly eight on the Richter scale. The entire team of four Apa Sherpa all survived in good health, although at the strongest tremors were all members of the expedition in the middle of the rope bridge on the road to the village of Namche.

Another post on the blog of Apa Sherpa Foundation on 27th of April was writen: ”Hello everyone, first I want to say thanks to our Sherpa friends we are safe!”

Post on Apa Sherpa Foundation blog two days after a huge earthquake looks like this.

A few days later, the Apa Sherpa Foundation has raised money to re-position one of the destroyed villages of Thame. Among other Nepalese village where she was a world-famous climber and most famous sherpa world was born.
That was when I was Apa Sherpa himself apologized for the nearly six years since I wrote to him repeatedly, asking for answers to my questions. In the six years Apa Sherpa last, after twenty-first reached the summit of Everest Mout, organized the cleaning of the highest mountain in the world from garbage and helped many Nepalese villages to the development of education. I recognize that our actions can not be compared.
The more you respect him for that, finally, with humility and apology to my questions answered. An interview will be published on my blog soon.