Nepal is open to the outside world, and many people came to conquer the mountains. They returned home and said they did it. It's still happening that way. But because of being the son of Tenzing Norgay and being educated in the US and working here for nine years, it's been a totally different learning experience for me. I have had the best of both worlds. I'm in the position now to be a spokesperson for the Sherpa people. It feels good to educate people.

Last couple of years, Everest has become a big name because of the disaster in '96. People hear about it and they read the book about it, but they don't know where Nepal is. I talk about how Sherpas are the ones carrying the gear and fixing the routes. Also many people don't know that the mountains are religious, sacred.

Too much of something and you lose something. There's a tremendous increase in tourism, which means waste problems and deforestation. There's a way to bring it down to a minimum by using biodegradable soap, using plastics instead of bottles that need to be flown out. The government has taken up issues by not allowing the cutting down of trees, and banning campfires telling people instead to cook meals by propane and kerosene. They do checks; they check canned goods to make sure everything brought in comes out. You have to learn to respect, treat it like your own house. On the mountain it is difficult sometimes in a life and death situation. Something like that is understandable. But deliberate laziness is not acceptable. There is progress. Lots of reforestation for example by the Hillary Trust and the American Himalayan foundation.

A lot of teams are making an effort to bring back more than they left. This is good to know.

It is similar to outdoor retail shows, but this is more personalized, more of a family thing. It's a place where people come to meet people to hang out and talk to them. Gives people a place to get out and do something instead of going from booth to booth. It's really diverse.

Nothing right now. I haven't climbed since 1996. I still do rock climbing and ice climbing. I'm tempted to climb again but I promised my family I wouldn't climb again out of respect to them, but I'm still battling with them. I really enjoy rock climbing and climb mainly in Darjeeling. I live there and when I'm around I climb there. I opened the Tenzing Norgay Climbing Club to keep kids off the streets. I teach them climbing, keep them busy and send them out to competitions.

It's a good feeling. I feel blessed to be in my family. Maybe I did something right in another life. But it is not easy to live up to his life. In Nepal we have a saying "To cut someone's nose off" meaning you must live up to the name and not shame it by getting involved with something bad. And so you work with respect.

A lot of trekking when he was training in Darjeeling. He was centered in India and worked at bringing up newcomers to climbing. Latch on with him is what I did.

Putting the Tibetan flag was an honor. No better place to put it than up there. I was born in Darjeeling. But Sherpas are all Tibetans. All Sherpas migrated from Tibet. There were no Sherpas until the first Tibetans migrated to Nepal and were called Sherpas. There's no written text, Sherpa written text is Tibetan characters. The flag was something that needed to be done.

I'm working on a book now. It's the story about my climb. More about the Sherpas, the religion, the culture and about my father. It's more like a Sherpa's point of view of climbing. Working title is "Touching my Father's Soul" due in May, Father's Day. There is also Tenzing Norgay Adventures and a web site, tenzing-norgay.com. On this site you can get history about my dad, myself, Nepal, trekking information, help with equipment selection, or you can design your own trek.

I have a five-year-old daughter and twin girls. My younger daughter is already making an effort to climb up grills and things. I have already taken her to Tengboche monastery to look at Everest.

— Krista Crabtree, MountainZone.com Correspondent