Uploaded May 2018 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Forget Xavier's School for the Gifted - marvel instead at the real life superheroes on the roof of the world.
For years anecdotes circulated amongst climbers, of the superhuman ability of the Sherpa to function at high altitude, when all others succumbed to mountain sickness - or worse. Now science has shown how they have evolved to live in one of the most inhospitable environments on Earth.
Thousands of years living in the thin air of the Himalayan plateau has given the Sherpa biology that differs from lowlanders from the very cellular level.
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More Medlife Crisis:
medlifecrisis.co.uk
twitter.com/medcrisis
facebook.com/Medlifecrisis
instagram.com/medcrisis
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Much of the Sherpa science in this video comes from the Xtreme Everest team who are doing great work at high altitude to help sick patients (in normal sea-level hospitals!) xtreme-everest.co.uk
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Tashi Sherpa kindly got in touch to tell me he is the superhuman carrying that massive load at 00:03:35. His channel is here: youtube.com/channel/UC5XyMzu6DCU4UAZDxMcareg
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It's hard to express how much I love Nepal, please consider visiting responsibly or donating. The 2015 Earthquake killed 9000 and displaced many more. Whilst climbing brings in a lot of money to the Nepalese economy, the government are complicit in the exploitation of Sherpa guides.
The Tenzing Norgay (co-1st to summit Everest) Foundation sherpatenzingnorgay.com/index-noflash.html
The Apa Sherpa (21 Everest summits) Foundation apasherpafoundation.org
Action Aid Nepal actionaid.org.uk/about-us/where-we-work/nepal
Community Action Nepal canepal.org.uk
Save the Children Nepal savethechildren.org/us/what-we-do/where-we-work/asia/nepal
Alpine Ascents (Sherpa Education Fund) alpineascentsfoundation.org
I'm also including a link to Maiti Nepal, for whom I raised money for on my first visit, as I think they're a brilliant charity that work to prevent violence towards and trafficking of Nepalese girls and women. maitinepal.org
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Clips credited with thanks. Special mention to two awesome films:
Sherpa by Jennifer Peedom sherpafilm.com
Short film from The Feed: youtube.com/watch?v=CtbQgLIuFyg
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The video about cycling and haematocrits: youtube.com/watch?v=hT8GZlBBv5k&t=1s
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Thumbnail image from Aaron Huey (featured at 00:04:27)
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Links to papers cited:
Main Sherpa physiology paper: pnas.org/content/114/24/6382
Evolutionary genetic history of the Sherpa: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5407610
More about Sherpa and Denisovans: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4134395
Comparisons between Andeans and Tibetans: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1876443 and also with Ethiopian academic.oup.com/icb/article/46/1/18/661204
Forget Xavier's School for the Gifted - marvel instead at the real life superheroes on the roof of the world.
For years anecdotes circulated amongst climbers, of the superhuman ability of the Sherpa to function at high altitude, when all others succumbed to mountain sickness - or worse. Now science has shown how they have evolved to live in one of the most inhospitable environments on Earth.
Thousands of years living in the thin air of the Himalayan plateau has given the Sherpa biology that differs from lowlanders from the very cellular level.
----------
More Medlife Crisis:
medlifecrisis.co.uk
twitter.com/medcrisis
facebook.com/Medlifecrisis
instagram.com/medcrisis
----------
Much of the Sherpa science in this video comes from the Xtreme Everest team who are doing great work at high altitude to help sick patients (in normal sea-level hospitals!) xtreme-everest.co.uk
----------
Tashi Sherpa kindly got in touch to tell me he is the superhuman carrying that massive load at 00:03:35. His channel is here: youtube.com/channel/UC5XyMzu6DCU4UAZDxMcareg
----------
It's hard to express how much I love Nepal, please consider visiting responsibly or donating. The 2015 Earthquake killed 9000 and displaced many more. Whilst climbing brings in a lot of money to the Nepalese economy, the government are complicit in the exploitation of Sherpa guides.
The Tenzing Norgay (co-1st to summit Everest) Foundation sherpatenzingnorgay.com/index-noflash.html
The Apa Sherpa (21 Everest summits) Foundation apasherpafoundation.org
Action Aid Nepal actionaid.org.uk/about-us/where-we-work/nepal
Community Action Nepal canepal.org.uk
Save the Children Nepal savethechildren.org/us/what-we-do/where-we-work/asia/nepal
Alpine Ascents (Sherpa Education Fund) alpineascentsfoundation.org
I'm also including a link to Maiti Nepal, for whom I raised money for on my first visit, as I think they're a brilliant charity that work to prevent violence towards and trafficking of Nepalese girls and women. maitinepal.org
----------
Clips credited with thanks. Special mention to two awesome films:
Sherpa by Jennifer Peedom sherpafilm.com
Short film from The Feed: youtube.com/watch?v=CtbQgLIuFyg
----------
The video about cycling and haematocrits: youtube.com/watch?v=hT8GZlBBv5k&t=1s
----------
Thumbnail image from Aaron Huey (featured at 00:04:27)
----------
Links to papers cited:
Main Sherpa physiology paper: pnas.org/content/114/24/6382
Evolutionary genetic history of the Sherpa: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5407610
More about Sherpa and Denisovans: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4134395
Comparisons between Andeans and Tibetans: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1876443 and also with Ethiopian academic.oup.com/icb/article/46/1/18/661204
