Dramatis Personae

Alan “Big Al” Reid English climber on guide Neil Quinn’s commercial expedition to climb the mountain of Shishapangma

Anthony Green, the Honorable New ambassador-in-waiting to Nepal for Her Majesty’s Government, replacing the longstanding incumbent, Sir Jack Graham

Balkumar Venerable Kathmandu newsagent

Christopher Anderson Pioneering American climber who pushed the use of the “alpine style” in the Himalayas in the 1970s and ’80s and also the partner of Henrietta Richards

Elizabeth Waterman American freelance journalist

Gedhun Choekyi Nyima The rightful eleventh Panchen Lama as chosen by the Dalai Lama in May 1995 when aged six, but missing within Chinese territory ever since

Gelu Sherpa Senior climbing Sherpa (sirdar) to the 2014 Snowdonia Ascents commercial expedition to the mountain of Shishapangma

Geshe Lhalu Scholarly monk at the monastery of Amling in the 1950s

Geshe Shep Senior monk and Chinese Communist Party member who advises the Chinese State on religious matters within the current Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR)

Gyaltsen Norbu The official eleventh Panchen Lama appointed by the Chinese State following the disappearance of Gedhun Choekyi
Nyima

Haiyang Senior general in the People’s Liberation Army

Hao Ping Elderly Chinese trader in the Tibetan village of Amling in the 1950s

Henrietta Richards, OBE Retired senior staff member of the British embassy who has lived in Kathmandu for over forty years becoming the preeminent historian and record keeper of Himalayan climbing

Huang Hsu Accomplished and aggressive mountaineer from Taiwan seeking to become the first female climber to summit all fourteen eight-thousand-meter peaks in the Himalayas

Hsiao Teng Business manager, sponsor, and the lover of Taiwanese mountaineer “Lady” Huang Hsu

Inaka “Fuji” Sakata Japanese climber who went missing while climbing the mountain of Annapurna in 1985, the last summit in his quest to solo climb all fourteen eight-thousand-meter peaks in the Himalayas

Jack Graham, Sir, KCVO CMG Longstanding friend of Henrietta Richards and soon-to-retire ambassador for Her Majesty’s Government to Nepal

Jin Yui Governor of the TAR

Jitendra Thanel Senior detective in the Kathmandu Metropolitan Police

Kami Sherpa Climbing Sherpa and manager of the Sunrise Café owned by Temba Chering and located in the Thamel tourist district of Kathmandu

Mao Tse-tung Founder and supreme leader of the People’s Republic of China and Chairman of the Communist Party of China who died in 1976

Neil Quinn Professional mountain guide from England who has officially summited Mount Everest twelve times and unofficially once

Nima Sherpa Junior climbing Sherpa on the 2014 Snowdonia Ascents commercial expedition to the mountain of Shishapangma

Pashi Bol Sole proprietor of the famous Pashi’s Barbershop in the Thamel tourist district of Kathmandu and longstanding friend of Henrietta Richards

Paul van der Mark Dutch professor of Chinese and Tibetan studies at Nijmegen University who also guides high-end tours of China and the TAR for wealthy Europeans

Pema Chering A doctor and surgeon, oldest son of Tibetan exile and successful Kathmandu businessman Temba Chering

Pema Chöje Tibetan who grew up in the village of Amling in the 1950s

Pertemba Chering Flies H125 rescue helicopters out of Lukla airport in the Khumbu Everest region, youngest son of Tibetan exile and successful Kathmandu businessman Temba Chering

Rambhadur Gurkha sergeant seconded to the British embassy in Kathmandu as head of security and logistics

Sangeev Gupta Indian born clerical assistant and secretary to Henrietta Richards

Tenjin Sherpa Senior climbing Sherpa on the 2014 Snowdonia Ascents commercial expedition to the mountain of Shishapangma

Tenzin Gyatso The fourteenth and current Dalai Lama who resides in exile in the suburb of Mcleod Ganj, situated above the hill town of Dharamsala in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh

Temba Chering Tibetan who grew up in the village of Amling in the 1950s with Pema Chöje and, in subsequent exile, worked as a porter and “sherpa” in the mountains but would become a successful businessman in Kathmandu

Thubten Norgyu Tibetan laborer within Community Work Group 57, once the village of Amling in the region of Gyaca

Tommy Rowe One of many noms de guerre adopted by a former US Marine and CIA agent who specialized in training indigenous tribes to fight against Communism during the Cold War

Tore Rasmussen Norwegian client climber on the 2014 Snowdonia Ascents commercial expedition to the mountain of Shishapangma in Tibet led by mountain guide Neil Quinn

Wang Maozhen Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference with specific responsibility for religious affairs within the TAR

Wangdu Palsang Second-generation Tibetan refugee based in Dharamsala who works for the Central Tibetan Administration (the Tibetan Government in Exile)

Xi, Captain Officer in charge of the People’s Liberation Army that came to Amling in 1950

Yama, also known as Lieutenant Yen-Tsun Lai Officer in the Chinese Ministry of State Security Police, Xizang division, active throughout the TAR and enforcer for Governor Jin Yui

Zhang, Captain Kathmandu chief of station for the Chinese Ministry of State Security

Zhang Li Designated Chinese Travel Agency assistant to Professor Paul van der Mark

Zhao, Lieutenant Officer in the People’s Liberation Army stationed in Amling in the 1950s

Zou Xiaopeng Communist Party secretary for the TAR

A glossary of terms is included at the end of the book.