I'm Jeff Clapp creator of Bells From Everest and The Everest Ornament, just an ordinary guy living in Maine. A few years ago, I had a life-changing experience watching a National Geographic Documentary about Mount Everest and the piles of oxygen cylinders and other debris left on Mount Everest over the past 50 years.
I was shocked and delighted - shocked by the thought of people trashing such a gorgeous place and delighted because I suddenly realized I had a use for those oxygen cylinders: To create something beautiful and unique from the top of the world.
I'd traveled in third world countries for most of my life and learned you never throw anything away. I knew those oxygen cylinders would still be somewhere in Nepal - built into a wall as cinder blocks or piled in a corner, waiting for some crazy American with more money than sense to come get them. I turned out to be that American.
Today, I'm a metal turner and sculptor. I make bells, bowls and inspirational art from oxygen cylinders recovered from Mount Everest - It has been an amazing adventure which has become my passion. I have poured my heart, soul and money into developing what seemed like a crazy idea into a viable enterprise.
I'm creating beautiful art out of materials that literally come from the top of the world.
I'm contributing to world clean-up in a small but symbolically significant way. The Nepal Mountaineering Association officially thanked me for supporting the 2002 Everest Clean-Up Campaign and buying their garbage
I'm contributing to Sherpa income - again, in a small but symbolically significant way - as guides, collectors, purchasers and transporters of cast-off cylinders
Here at home, I'm contributing to environmental awareness for people who have the resources to care, help and make a difference
My new goal is to return to Nepal in order to teach Sherpas how to make cylinder bells and bowls for themselves. This would give them a new, sustainable economic enterprise and an art form that builds on their throw nothing away ethic. Sherpas are natural artists and good salespeople. They will generate a self-sufficient profit while ridding themselves of climber's trash.
I'm excited when I get up in the morning. Thanks to Bells From Everest, we're building a successful meeting ground for some of the key issues of the new century - including the mystery and sacredness of our last remaining wildernesses, making fair exchanges with our neighbors in the third world, promoting world clean-up for a healthier environment, the age-old importance of art and handiwork (technology on a human scale), and the small is beautiful challenge of doing it all at a fair profit.
I hope you'll be excited, too - and contact me at
jeff@bellsfromeverest.com
Below is some photography taken on my trip to Nepal.
Training session with Sparky. Bradbury Mountain
Hong Kong
Thailand
Kumbu Valley
Along the Trail
Pre Kumbu
Post Kumbu
New Friends
Hidden Treasure
Realization of a Crazy Goal
Jeff at the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA)
NMA Offices
Shipping the Cylinders
From Everest to Maine
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THE EVEREST ORNAMENT ®
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