Sherpa Performance Guides co-founder Mike Salomon takes part in the early stages of the Sewangma Bridge Project.

The raging Dudh Kosi River separates the Sherpa village of Sewangma from the local school, food market, and medical clinic.

For years, villagers in Sewangma crossed the Dudh Kosi River on a makeshift bridge fashioned out of unanchored slats of wood stretched between the rocks in the river. The slats were regularly swept away in the current of the river, especially during the monsoon season. When this happened the villagers and children had to make a three-hour trek up the valley to cross on a sturdier bridge. Then they had to travel more than three hours back down the valley to reach the school, food market, and medical clinic.

In April 2000, with funding from former Sherpa board member and former Intel executive Ken Stober and our partners, the International Mountain Explorers Connection (IMEC), a three-hundred-foot suspension bridge and trail system was constructed to provide a permanent connection to the school, market, and medical clinic near Lukla.

Since the creation of the trail system and bridge, Sherpa Performance Guides has continued to look for ways to aid the community of Sewangma, and support the great work being done in the area by the Himalayan Explorers Connection. Our current projects are focused on building a sanitation system in Sewangma and working to deliver badly needed medications to the tiny health clinic in Lukla, the region's only source for medical care.

Bridge under construction		Completed Bridge with Yak train
Sherpa Performance Guides co-founder Mike Salomon crosses the completed Dudh Kosi River bridge.