Nepal's Nima Rinji Sherpa becomes youngest to scale 14 tallest peaks

Kathmandu: Nepal's 18-year-old Nima Rinji Sherpa has become the youngest climber ever to scale each of the 14 tallest mountains (over 8,000 meters) in the world with his successful summit of Mt Shishapangma in China.

Nima and his partner Pasang Nurbu Sherpa reached the summit of the Shishapangma, which stands at 8,027 meters above sea level, shortly after 6:00am (China Standard Time), which is 3.30am in IST, on Wednesday, the youngster announced on his instagram page.

"Today, as I stand atop my 14th 8000-meter peak, I dedicate this world record to my project, #SherpaPower," he posted.

"This summit is not just the culmination of my personal journey, but a tribute to every Sherpa who has ever dared to dream beyond the traditional boundaries set for us. Mountaineering is more than labor; it is a testament to our strength, resilience, and passion.

Nima said he wants to show the younger generation of Sherpas that they can rise above the "stereotype of being only support climbers".

"We are not just guides; we are trailblazers. Let this be a call to every Sherpa to see the dignity in our work, the power in our heritage, and the limitless possibilities in our future," he said.

Hailing from a family of mountaineers, Nima began his quest to scale each of the 14 tallest peaks in the world at the age of 16 and 162 days when he reached the top of Mt Manaslu (8163m) in September 2022.

It was his passion for photography of the mountains that brought Nima into climbing but it soon turned out to be a passion for him to tell the story of the Sherpa community.

"Slowly, I realised, the Sherpas, my community, we have always been in the shadows and all the international athletes that you see, no one is from Sherpa community (in the front), but we are always the ones backing them up," he told PTI in an interview in May this year.

"We're always carrying their equipment, carrying their food, the load, fixing the ropes, looking after the weather condition, looking after their safety, looking for the rescue things.” "All those things are being looked after by us, but our names are always somewhere down the line. That's when I decided (that) I want to climb more for this, for my community more, rather than for myself," said Nima, who prefers to go without oxygen support for the first 7,000 metres.

Perhaps the biggest achievement for the young mountaineer came when he scaled Mt Everest (8848.86m) and Mt Lhotse (8516) in a span of a mere 10 hours when he was a little over 17 years, in May 2023.

Like he did when he scaled Mt Manaslu, Nima became the youngest to climb the Nanga Parbat (8125m) in June 2023.

In his bid to become the youngest ever, Nima went on to climb Mt Gasherbrum I (8068m), Mt Gasherbrum II (8035m), Mt Broad Peak (8047m) and Mt K2 (8,611m) in July 2023 while he reached the peak of Mt Cho-Oyu (8188m) in October 2023.

Nima had a successful year 2023 scaling the Mt Dhaulagiri (8167m) in September but took a break after four climbers died an avalanche at Shishapangma.

"One of them was very close to me, we had climbed five mountains together in Pakistan. He was like a hero to me and a very strong Sherpa. But to know that he got caught in the avalanche and passed away, that was very tough for me," he said.

Nima returned to scaling the peaks earlier this year reaching the top of Mt Annapurna I (8091m) in April and the top of Mt Makalu (8485m) in May 4.