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From ‘Native’ Alpine Guides to Foreign ‘Sahibs’ in the Himalayas

Swiss Identity Formation at the Moment of Decolonization

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Colonial Switzerland

Part of the book series: Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series ((CIPCSS))

Abstract

When Albert Eggler, who led the 1956 Swiss expedition team — the first to climb Lhotse and the second to reach the peak of neighbouring Mount Everest — describes his arrival in Nepal, he does so by way of a historical comparison: ‘When we entered the mountain fastnesses of Thyangboche we were perhaps in a comparable position to that of a party of climbers who in 1856 left Zerrnatt behind them and took up temporary quarters in the hamlet of Zinutt.’1 Evoking the ‘Golden Age of alpinism’, Eggler’s account of mountain climbing in the Himalayas is portrayed as a reenactment of an attempt to ascend the highest peaks of the Alps a hundred years prior. Mountains, landscapes and places converge: the Nepalese village of Thyangboche stands for the small hamlet of Zmutt, which the mountaineers reach after leaving Zermatt. Although he does not mention it by name, Namche Bazaar — the last sizeable town en route to the world’s highest mountain — appears to be Zermatt’s counterpart, thus prompting us to interpret the route to the Matterhorn as the ascent of Lhotse and Everest.

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  1. Patricia Purtschert
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  1. ETH Zurich, Switzerland

    Patricia Purtschert  & Harald Fischer-Tiné  & 

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© 2015 Patricia Purtschert

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Purtschert, P. (2015). From ‘Native’ Alpine Guides to Foreign ‘Sahibs’ in the Himalayas. In: Purtschert, P., Fischer-Tiné, H. (eds) Colonial Switzerland. Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137442741_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137442741_9

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-49520-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-44274-1

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)

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