Nepali Sherpa aims low
Dachhiri Sherpa has run ultra-marathons in the Himalayas and climbed
Mount Everest but he was quite content to set himself a relatively small
mountain to scale at the Vancouver Winter Olympics.
Dachhiri, a rarity as a Nepali cross-country skier, will compete in
the men's 15km freestyle at Whistler Olympic Park on Monday when he
hopes simply to cross the finish line.
"I just want to participate and do my best, but I do not have any
objective in mind other than that," the 40-year-old former construction
worker told Reuters.
Dachhiri has already reached rarefied heights by qualifying to line
up in an event with the world's best racers.
Despite being born in the shadow of Mount Everest amid snow-capped
mountain peaks in Solukhumbu, he was never likely to stumble across
cross-country skiing.
The sport does not have a single venue in Nepal, where he grew up as
the son of yak and cow farmers and studied at a Buddhist monastery.
"Many people who don't know Nepal think it is a high country with big
mountains and lots of places for skiing," Dachhiri said with a smile.
"But people who really do know Nepal know there are no skiing facilities
there at all."
He was first introduced to cross country skiing in 2002 after gaining
a formidable reputation as a mountain runner who competed regularly in
the Himal race, an ultra-marathon that links Annapurna Base Camp to
Everest Base Camp.
"I win this race and after that the Nepal Olympic committee called me
to their office and asked me to start practising the cross-country
skiing," he said. "I had never been on skis before and it took me some
time to learn.
"I can ski now but not very well because everything is very difficult
to do in Nepal. Also being on my own makes it very, very difficult."
Asked what had been his biggest obstacle in cross-country skiing,
Dachhiri replied: "The technique.
"Also to get to know how to prepare the skis, and how to get good
skis. But my running has helped a lot. Because I used to run long
distance, 15km is very, very quick for me. The longest distance I have
run is 166km non-stop."
WHISTLER, Reuters |
