‘The Endless Knot’ follows hardship of Mount Everest’s sherpas
Despite a travel schedule allowing Jenni Lowe-Anker only two weeks to regroup at her home in Bozeman, Mont., she still managed to attend the premiere of “The Endless Knot” at the Boulder Theater on Saturday.
The film follows Conrad Anker and Jenni Lowe-Anker in their formation of the Khumbu Climbing School, located in the Everest region of Nepal.
Anker survived the avalanche that killed his best friend and climbing partner, Alex Lowe.
“The film is about accepting life’s tragedies,” Lowe-Anker said.
Losing her husband, and more recently her mother and sister, showed Lowe it is more important to look around and not focus on tragedy in an internal way.
Enter the idea for the Khumbu Climbing School.
“It started as a grassroots thing and took off,” Lowe-Anker said about the school.
Sherpas who lead Westerners up Mount Everest often lack basic knowledge such as avalanche forecasting, crevasse rescue and even proper rope-tying. Too many sherpas die in preventable accidents, wrote Conrad Anker in a December 2005 issue of “Outside” magazine.
“There is a misconception that sherphas are more knowledgeable. What they are is strong mountain people,” Lowe-Anker said.
Funding for Khumbu Climbing School is provided by scholarship, but is reasonably priced. The 10-day seminar only costs the price of insurance – about $15 a day – plus food and lodging.
Sherpas, who make a range of $15 to $35 a day, can afford this school as an alternative to other high-priced training schools in India.
The Khumbu Climbing School also provides an opportunity for the sherpas to work on their grasp of English.
Lila Bishop has headed the English program for five years. She has started handing over responsibility to local residents to bring the language into the community.
Lowe-Anker just spent a month in Nepal overseeing teaching at the Khumbu Climbing School and saw improvements in student’s knowledge.
The premiere of “The Endless Knot” proved to be a more personal experience than Lowe first expected.
“It’s a little scary and embarrassing,” Lowe-Anker said. “When we first started making it, it wasn’t this personal. It is not easy to throw it all out there.”
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Kathleen Straney at Kathleen.Straney@thecampuspress.com.
