The village of Phortse, as seen from Monjo with Ama Deblam in the background
An instructor passes a painted mani stone along the Dudh Kosi River on the approach to Phortse.
A local lama performing the puja ceremony at the beginning of the Khumbu Climbing Center course.
Instructor Heidi Wirtz getting a traditional flour face painting at the puja ceremony that begins each Khumbu Climbing Center course.
Instructor Eric Knoff outfitting Khumbu Climbing Center students with helmets, boots, and climbing gear for the school session.
Instructors of the Khumbu Climbing Center pass a prayer wheel.
An ice climber practicing new skills
An instructor speaks at an avalanche course for Nepali students at the Khumbu Climbing Center.
Instructors teaching knots on the first day of the basic climbing course at Khumbu Climbing Center.
Three students walk back from a training session at Khumbu Climbing Center in Nepal.
A porter rests while watching students of the Khumbu Climbing Center.
Program director Amy Bullard teaching a Nepali student how to rig a hauling system built off an ice anchor.
Phunuru Sherpa being lowered with patient Chandra Ale during an advanced rescue training at Khumbu Climbing Center.
Phortse community members attending the Khumbu Climbing Center closing ceremony.
A Sherpa instructor gives a prayer kata to the director of the Khumbu Climbing Center.
Students, instructors, and community members gathered for the closing ceremony at the end of the Khumbu Climbing Center program, including a traditional step dance.
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Phortse, NepalThe Khumbu Climbing Center is located in the remote village of Phortse, as seen from Monjo with Ama Deblam (6,812 meters or 22,349 feet) in the background. Instructors fly from Kathmandu to the town of Lukla, where they hike for three days to reach the school. <b>Read about how Sir Edmund Hillary started a tradition of climbers giving back &gt;&gt;</b>
Photograph by Lincoln Else

Khumbu Climbing Center Photos, Nepal

Located in Phortse, Nepal, a few days' trekking from Lukla, the Khumbu Climbing Center (KCC) provides Sherpas with top-notch mountaineering training. Their teachers are some of the world's most famous climbers—Conrad Anker, Pete Athans, Jon Krakauer, Jimmy Chin, Renan Ozturk, and Cory Richards. Since its first course of 34 students in 2003, more than 700 Sherpas have attended—and 26 are now qualified to teach. Read the story.

March 15, 2012
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