Avalanche and earthquake inspires rebuilding effort
Mount Everest
“It was very moving, because although I didn’t know the 16 people who were killed, their bodies were carried down the mountains and climbing stopped on Everest so the whole community could mourn, and that really stuck with me.
“I met Tashi Lama and he told me he had a dream of having a local climbing agency that created employment for locals, where all the profits went to the families affected.
“Naively I come home to Scotland and that stuck with me.
“My wife and I then spent six months setting up the business in Nepal.”
James and Tashi set up Tengboche Trekking, which gave employment to a number of people in the local Sherpa community, and raised money for their charity, The Little Sherpa Foundation.
However, only a year later the Gorkha earthquake hit Nepal in 2015 - and again, James witnessed it first hand as he was in the country at the time.
The earthquake killed 9000 people and injured another 20,000.
Hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed, and the damage caused was estimated to be $10 billion - around 50 per cent of Nepal’s GDP.
James continued:“I was caught up in the earthquake as well, and it was even more devastating.
“All in all 9000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands were left without a home.
“We were about to leave on a plane when the earthquake hit, and a big gap appeared on the tarmac and got wider and wider.
“I was on the steps and when I looked back, everyone else was back down on the runway.
“Cars were disappearing down these big cracks.
“When it hit, you could see the