High altitude is no longer a problem for a teenager from Nepal who has recently been named the youngest of his profession by climbing the highest fourteen mountains in planet earth.
Nepali teenager Nima Rinji Sherpa
Nima Rinji Sherpa, 18, stood atop Tibet’s Mount Shishapangma at about 06:05 local time on Wednesday.
By doing so he joined a very exclusive club of fewer than a hundred climbers who have summitted all the ‘eight-thousanders,’ — the fourteen mountains rated as being more than 8,000 meters by the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA).
Sherpa who began to climb high altitude mountains at the age of 16 has reached top of all the eight thousanders in 740 days.
The young boy was successful in climbing the Manaslu, eight highest mountain in Nepal on 30 September, 2022 soon after completing his high school’s tenth standard examination.
During each of the treks the young athlete was joined by his climbing companion Pasang Nurbu Sherpa.
The record-shattering ascent on Wednesday could easily be just the tip of the iceberg for Nima Rinji who has already been recognised as the youngest climber to scale Himalayan mountains G1 and G2, the youngest climber to scale the heights of Kashmir’s Nanga Parbat and the youngest ever to conquer both Mount Everest and Lhotse in a single day, let alone within the space of ten hours.
Standing atop Mount Shishapangma on Wednesday morning, though, another life ambition was front of mind for the 18-year-old: for the purpose of overcoming stereotype depiction of Sherpas as helpers who help foreign climbers on their climbs.
“This is not just the culmination of Nima Rinji but the culmination of every Sherpa who ever dreamed a dream beyond the shackles that they were put into,” Nima said after climbing Mount Shishapangma.
In other words, mountaineering is not only work, because it is a demonstration of our ability, endurance and desire.
The word Sherpa is, however, not just a loose term for anyone, who works as a mountain guide or a porter in the region of the Everest; it is the name of an ethnic group of people, inhabiting mountains of Nepal.
Nima Rinji said he aims to show the new generation of Sherpas that they can break free “from the concept that they are the supporting climbers alone, and explore more of the possibilities of being among the best athletes, explorers and innovators”.
“We are not guides; we are trailblazers,” he said on Wednesday. ‘Let this be a wake up call to every Sherpa to look at our work, our history, and our future as a rich power source.’
Nima Rinji comes from a family of record-holding mountaineers, who now run Seven Summit Treks: The largest mountaineering Expedition Company of Nepal and the group who accompanied him in the Mount Shishapangma Expedition.
Interviewed by the BBC shortly after the record had been set, Tashi Lakpa Sherpa, his father described the physical and emotional moment he relays the news by satellite phone.
“He told me, ‘Dad, I reached the summit at 6:05 Chinese time. ‘My colleague Pasang Norbu and I have just come,’ said Tashi Lakpa.
It was impossible, for example, to get him to get even remotely excited, for he was a man who was professional and highly trained. I said ‘I had faith in you. Return safely’.”
Nima Rinji sets new record ‘Indeed on positive note speaking to the BBC Rakesh Gurung, Director of Adventure Tourism and Mountaineering Branch under Nepal’s Department of Tourism also confirmed the record set by Nima Rinji.
The highest point has been established this morning.” This is now clear to me that there is always a matter of awarding a certificate after getting back to the base camp,” he said.
Another Nepali climber also held the previous record for the youngest climber to reach the summits of all eight thousanders before he did it at the age of 30 in 2019.
‘This record is hard to achieve let alone beat now,’ pointed out Gurung.
They include all the fourteen eight thousanders and are found in the Himalayas and the Karakoram mountain ranges.
This cheered many Redditors as reflected in comments on the post as shown next. And one of them I came across said: “Now THIS is interesting!!” Yak to all the Sherpas out there and they should all be given a lot of respect and honor!!!
Also, one user commented, “Is this like super expensive?” Excluding the cost of equipment and travel Simply climbing Mount Everest is approximately eighty thousand five hundred US dollars and above in permits alone. But 14 peaks?? Many of you must be wondering “How much was all of that??” to which a third user concurred by saying “This guy didn’t need 6 other sherpas to help him do this.”
According to the Department of Tourism of Nepal, Rinji attempted the world’s eighth tallest mountain called Mount Manaslu which is 8163m high on September 30, 2022.
He then at the same year specifically on May 24th of 2023 summited Mount Everest which was 8,848.86m and followed it with Mount Lhotse at 8,516m at the same day. His spree went on during the scaling of Mount Nanga Parbat (8,126 m) on June 26, 2023, Mount Gasherbrum I (8,068 m) on July 18, 2023, and Mount Gasherbrum II (8,035 m) on July 19, 2023. He also successfully climbed the highest Mountain Broad Peak (8,047 m) next day that is on July 23 in 2023.
