Told at Last: Stories from Darjeeling’s High-Altitude Climbing Community

Nandini Purandare and Deepa Balsavar’s important new book, Headstrap: Legends and Lore from the Climbing Sherpas of Darjeeling, tells stories from the often-overlooked Sherpa and Bhutia communities whose members have played a crucial role in high-altitude Himalayan climbing since the 19th century.

In addition to an introduction by the authors, the following excerpt contains three short profiles. The first of these tells the story of one Wangdi Norbu, who participated in expeditions to Kangchenjunga (1930)...