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HIGH AMBITIONS. Nima Rinji Sherpa poses for a photograph on top of G2 mountain in Pakistan, in this July 19, 2023 file photo. A Sherpa teenager who’s won mountaineering celebrity as the youngest person ever to summit the world’s 14 highest peaks has called for Sherpas to be recognized as athletes and expedition leaders as well as porters and guides. (14Peakexpedition Via AP, File)

RECORD-SETTING SHERPA. Mingma Sherpa, left, the uncle of 18-year-old Nima Rinji Sherpa, top, the youngest person to scale all of the world’s 14 highest peaks, celebrates with his family upon Nima’s arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, last month. The Sherpa teenager who’s won mountaineering celebrity as the youngest person ever to summit the world’s 14 highest peaks has called for Sherpas to be recognized as athletes and expedition leaders as well as porters and guides. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Nepalese mountaineer Nima Rinji Sherpa, the youngest person to scale all the world’s 14 highest peaks, waves a Nepalese flag upon his arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, on October 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

From The Asian Reporter, V34, #11 (November 4, 2024), page 5.

By Binaj Gurubacharya

The Associated Press

KATHMANDU, Nepal — A Sherpa teenager who’s won mountaineering celebrity as the youngest person ever to summit the world’s 14 highest peaks has called for Sherpas to be recognized as athletes and expedition leaders as well as porters and guides.

"It’s always been that Sherpas were supporting climbers and we’re never seen as leaders of expeditions," Nima Rinji Sherpa told The Associated Press.

The 18-year-old is planning more, tougher climbs after completing a mission to scale all 14 mountains that rise above 26,247 feet earlier in October on China’s Mount Shishapangma.

The Sherpa community were mostly yak herders and traders living deep within the Himalayas until Nepal opened its borders in the 1950s. Their stamina and familiarity with the mountains quickly made them sought-after guides and porters, and eventually for them to dominate the Himalayan climbing business.

Tenzing Norgay conquered Everest with Edmund Hillary in 1953, establishing the community’s fame as climbing masters.

But since then, Nima Rinji said, Sherpas have rarely been seen as expedition leaders. He’s started a "Sherpa power" campaign to change that. "This generation does have the potential because we have the privileges that those before us didn’t have, like good education, speaking well, and we can understand what is happening regarding climate change, regarding the mountains," he said.

Now, Nima Rinji and two teammates are planning to go back to Nepal’s Mount Manaslu — the first of the 14 highest peaks he scaled — the hard way. He’s planning a challenging winter ascent in the Alpine style: no support staff, fixed ropes, or supplemental oxygen, carrying all their own gear and digging their own track to the top.

Before the winter climb, he’s climbing several small peaks.

Nima Rinji comes from a legendary mountaineering family. His father and two uncles run Nepal’s leading mountaineering expedition company, and his uncles were the first south Asians to complete the 14 highest peaks. His father has climbed Mount Everest eight times.

The previous youngest person to climb all 14 peaks was Mingma David Sherpa, who was 30 years old at the time.

* * *

From The Asian Reporter, V34, #11 (November 4, 2024), page 5.

By Binaj Gurubacharya

The Associated Press

KATHMANDU, Nepal — A British mountaineer who set the record as the youngest female to climb all the 14 tallest mountains in the world has said that inexperienced climbers should not be allowed to climb the highest peaks because they run the risk of endangering their lives and others.

Adriana Brownlee, 23, climbed Mount Everest at 20 in 2021 and last month climbed Mount Shishapangma in China, completing her endeavor to scale all 14 peaks over 26,247 feet high.

She said she has seen numerous climbers who lack training in basic skills and in coping with the unpredictable slopes of the high peaks.

"I have seen many examples of people in the mountains that should not really be there, that should have more training beforehand," Brownlee told The Associated Press in Nepal’s capital of Kathmandu. "We have had to support them and have had to help with like small things like how to put on crampons, how to put on harness."

She said mountaineering authorities should ensure that climbers attempting to scale the highest peaks have at least climbed smaller mountains to ensure they can handle the altitude and have the proper skills.

Brownlee flew to Nepal alongside other climbers from Tibet, including Nima Rinji Sherpa, who at age 18 is now the youngest person to climb the 14 peaks.

There are generally no rules besides age restrictions on people who want to climb mountains as long as they are able to pay their permit fees. In Nepal, climbers need to be at least 16 years old.

Brownlee said she was just 8 years old when she began dreaming of becoming a mountaineer like her father, who she said was her main inspiration.

She said she now wants to scale unclimbed peaks in Nepal and explore mountains in other parts of the world.

Brownlee and her partner have opened a mountaineering company in Nepal focusing on helping customers who are skilled and experienced enough to handle the harsh condition of the mountains.

She said she hopes to inspire other young people to pursue their dreams.

"For me the message is that in life ... you can take any path you like to reach your goal," she said. "That goal might be totally unique to you and it’s very important to keep at that and not to listen to the rest of society what they have to say."