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-How many times will the helicopter come up today?
-Today four hours, at least.
-Four hours, how many bags? -Almost seventy-five.
-And each bag is one ton, or how much?
-Each bag is one ton, at least one ton.
-Seventy tons of stones? -Yes.
-Yes, this is just great, it must be the project of the century.
-It is, what it is!
-Hurry, you have to work, they don't know where to fly.
-We live in the eastern part of Nepal, in Solo Khumbu.
Solu Khumbu is in the district of the Everest Region.
We live at 3840 meters altitude, in Khunde.
-In how many places in Norway have you been working like this?
-Oh, this is my fourteenth time in Norway. Many places, many, many.
-I was in 1986 in Norway, and from 2001 I continue in Norway.
-Down there is where the Sherpa are working.
They have been at it all summer, and will continue next year in order to finish.
And these stairs lead up the old drift path,
where they led the cows and sheep across the mountains in the old days.
They took them up here and passed over to the other side, where it again gets to be steep.
Over there, the Sherpa are building the descending track.
They have big plans here, and one guy that really has stars in his eyes, is Per.
He has taken time off in order to work full time with the old drifting road.
-Yes, the thing is, that three years ago,
a value enhancement program was initiated for Folgefonna National Park.
it was given the name "From Fjord to Glacier".
We're a group that has been talking about this for some time,
about improving the path across the mountain.
So we applied to be included in the project,
and the day after we sent the email, we got a positive answer.
All authorities involved agreed that we would have to pave with stones to ensure a durable path.
If the usage increases, as in similar projects where it has simply exploded,
then with stone paving, it will not be worn down,
while it will be very muddy if visitors walk in the terrain as it is.
In the region of Telemark they experienced that, and had to pave with stones anyway.
-This other day I met a local woman on the path,
she was quite a grouch, and claimed the track is put at the wrong place.
If it had only been placed where people has always been hiking, then it would have taken less time.
-You can say that, but it was changed because of the snow avalances coming down here.
The moneyproviders were not interested in
making a track that expensive in an high risk area.
That is why the route was changed.
Not because we wanted to, but to secure the track in the future.
Of course it has made the work more expensive and long lasting,
but if you look 100 years ahead, this is a good investment.
-At that time it will still be there? -Yes, absolutely!
As it is no longer in an area subject to avalanches.
-It is more or less dug into the side of the slope.
-Yes, they build it into the terrain, for avalanches not to get a grip on it at all.
-And I happen to know that there's now a huge rock ready to be made into a bridge up there.
-Yes, we have to see. -Yep, we can't miss that one.
-They are raving mad. Completely insane.
-How much did that stone weigh? -180.
-180 kilo on his back. -What does your back feel like now?
-Good. -Very good.
-This is good medicine.
-When you feel pain in your back, you've got to carry this, it recovers you.
-And this is a drain for the water, that is what you are making now?
To have the water going nicely between the steps.
-Between two stones, for the water not to destroy, not to damage the system.
-In a jiffy they have now split a slate rock in a number of parts,
put a drain for the water to pass on slate under the bridge,
as there are times when a lot of water force it's way here.
That will happen in style in the future.
-You're just standing here smiling ...
-Yes, this is well thought through and well done, no doubt about that.
-And this was not even the stairs themselves, only the drainage below the bridge.
Do you have a dream?
-Just to make my mother happy, that is my biggest dream.
-What you miss, is your mother and your yak-meat.
-And the hot chili and the hot women.
-Our village is quite good to live in, you know.
-During the season, we are guides for tourists.
-So you all do that? That is like your main occupation? -Most of the Sherpa do that.
-Have you been guiding Norwegians there?
-I had in the beginning the expedition in 1985, with Arne Næss.
And even in 2005.
They were Vegard Ulvang, Odd Eliassen and Stein P. Aasheim.
-What was the weight of this stone?
-1150 kilos.
-Now it is ready, you may go now.
-Thank you, thank you. So, this is a small step for one man, but a big step for Norwegians.
I am the first to cross the bridge.
Very good work. I am so impressed. Hug!
-Like a stone. -Like a stone, exactly - that's the way we like it.
-With this replanting technique, they take the soil from above the path,
where they make a gutter, and remodel it on the downside,
and stuff it with moss to grow over in a way that will make the track green and nice in a years time.
It will seem as if it has always been here. Most impressive.
-Yes, you can't spot the path from down below.
You have to move up above to see anything, so it is a fabulous job these people do.
-It would not have been possible without these guys?
-No, no, that is totally impossible. There are no one who would have made it.
-They are getting to be famous around the country.
-Yes, and they most certainly deserve it, that is for sure.
I have worked with them for six weeks, much of it in the mountains,
I have lived with their company, which is a great inspiration.
I am deeply moved by the ways of the Sherpa.
I'd love to work like this always.
I am highly motivated for next year!