Back in September I sat besides a Petzl employee on a flight into Kathmandu. Petzl had tasked him with teaching snow safety and mountain skills to Nepalis who would otherwise not have access to this instruction.
My guess is that they were training folks on the safety equipment and procedures that Western mountaineers use, so the Nepalese guides and outfitters don't have a culture clash in an emergency situation. The truth is, modern mountaineering equipment and procedure is really good, even if some aspects the traditional mountain knowledge and ways are timeless and extremely valuable too.
Not everyone in Nepal is a guide. All the guys up there are tough as nails, but there isn't much education about safety or equipment. The most advanced tool in a porter's repertoire is a t-shaped walking stick.
Even the Sherpa are relatively recent migrants to the region (~400 years), and the Rai people have only moved into the highlands with the modern demand for labor. By and large they're coming from a tradition of subsistence farming.
As an example, a friend was traveling in the Khumbu last year and his party came across a deceased porter around 6000m. He had presumably been paid off after getting sick and sent down on his own. All they could do was build a cairn over his body.
You seem to be advocating the meme of old wives tales. The idea that things back in the past were very knowledgeable, and that all of modern society with their modern methods aren't nearly as good as ancient traditional folk tales. That's silly, the scientific method, empiricalism, and modern material science has lots to teach traditionalists.
Plus their gear is great.