Since I was little, I have been interested in mountaineering, and Everest in particular–thanks Reader’s Digest, one of the few “international” news sources available in South Africa under sanctions. Louis and I hiked to Annapurna’s base camp in 2002 (world’s 10th highest peak), a spiritual journey for me, and I have a deep love for that part of the world.
The documentary SHERPA is definitely worth a watch. It’s like “Arab Spring” at the base of Everest, mixed with people power, passion, capitalism, danger, corrupt government, a simpler time/desires, and greed. It strikes me the lack of clear property rights is what is causing the problems.
Who wants to buy Everest with me (this is probably super insulting to Nepalis, sorry!), and let the Sherpas decide how many people and at what price should climb their god annually? It won’t be cheap… Going rate per climb season is $360 million in total, of which a third goes to the government, Sherpas (about 300-400) receive $5,000-ish each, and the rest, I assume, goes to the western expedition leaders. I say we can do better than that! 
(Pic is Mount Annapurna, and I took it.)
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