A world record has been broken by a Nepalese teenager who is now the youngest mountaineer to summit the 14 highest peaks on Earth successfully. At approximately 06:05 local time on Wednesday, 18-year-old Nima Rinji Sherpa reached the peak of Tibet’s Mount Shishapangma.
This achievement places him among the few dozen individuals who have conquered the world’s “eight-thousanders,” which are mountains recognised by the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) as being over 8,000 metres above sea level.
Sherpa began climbing high-altitude mountains at the age of 16 and completed all eight thousand in 740 days.
After completing his 10th-grade high school exams, he scaled Nepal’s Manaslu, the world’s eighth-highest mountain, on September 30, 2022.
Throughout his treks, Sherpa was accompanied by his climbing partner, Pasang Nurbu Sherpa.
In addition to this recent accomplishment, Nima Rinji holds several other accolades, including being the youngest climber to have scaled Himalayan mountains G1 and G2, Kashmir’s Nanga Parbat, and both Mount Everest and nearby Lhotse within 10 hours.
While standing atop Mount Shishapangma, Nima Rinji expressed his desire to challenge the perception of Sherpas as sole helpers for foreign climbers and to inspire the younger generation of Sherpas to pursue their potential as top-tier athletes, adventurers, and creators.
The term ‘Sherpa’ is commonly used to refer to mountain guides or porters in the Everest region, but it actually denotes an ethnic group of people residing in the mountains of Nepal.
Nima Rinji aims to alter the perception of Sherpas and encourage them to embrace their potential as pioneers rather than just supporting climbers.
He hails from a family of record-holding mountaineers who operate Seven Summit Treks, Nepal’s largest mountaineering expedition company, with whom he completed the Mount Shishapangma climb.
Following the record-setting ascent, Nima Rinji’s father, Tashi Lakpa Sherpa, shared the news of the summit via satellite phone.
Rakesh Gurung, Director of Adventure Tourism and Mountaineering Branch under Nepal’s Department of Tourism, confirmed that Nima Rinji had set the record, noting that the certification process would take place upon his return to the base camp.
The previous record holder for the youngest mountaineer to scale all eight-thousanders was a Nepali climber, Mingma Gyabu ‘David’ Sherpa, who achieved it at 30 in 2019.
