This teenage mountain climber is leading his Nepali community to new heights
| Kathmandu, Nepal
On a bright afternoon, Nima Rinji Sherpa鈥檚 stroll down a crowded Kathmandu street is frequently interrupted by people coming to greet him. Some give him a warm pat on the back. As he joins friends for lunch at a pizzeria, its owner rushes to embrace him, gushing, 鈥淵ou are making us proud, Nima.鈥澛�
Everyone in Nepal, a small nation in the Himalayas tucked in between India and China, seems to know who he is. In October 2024, at age 18, he became the youngest person to summit the world鈥檚 14 mountains higher than 8,000 meters (26,247 feet). Apart from Nepal, these mountains are in Pakistan, China, and India.聽
Mr. Rinji hails from a family of Sherpas, an ethnic Tibetan tribe living in Nepal whose people are pioneers in mountaineering. For generations, they have been highly sought-after guides and porters for international clients making the world鈥檚 most difficult climbs.聽
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onFor generations, Sherpas have been highly sought-after guides and porters for international clients making the world鈥檚 most difficult climbs. This trailblazing role model aims to inspire young people to become athletes in their own right.
While the climbing community around the globe has lauded Mr. Rinji鈥檚 record-breaking accomplishment, back home there is more to it. He is seen as a trailblazer who is pursuing climbing as a professional mountaineering athlete and who aims to inspire more young people to break away from the Sherpa tradition of serving only as helpers on expeditions.
鈥淸Sherpas] are well qualified to be the best climbing athletes, too,鈥� Mr. Rinji says. 鈥淭hey just need some guidance and inspiration.鈥澛�
Born into a clan of climbers聽
Mr. Rinji鈥檚 father, Tashi Lakpa Sherpa, has summited Mount Everest nine times; at age 19, he became the youngest person to summit Everest without additional oxygen. In 2011, Mr. Rinji鈥檚 uncle Mingma Sherpa became the first South Asian climber to summit the 14 peaks.聽
Mr. Rinji nevertheless showed no interest in climbing in his early teenage days. But in 2020, during the lockdown imposed for the COVID-19 pandemic, he developed an interest in photography and eventually followed his father up mountains with the hope of capturing scenic photos and videos.聽
On the first trek, Mr. Rinji says, he surprised his father by matching his pace and kept following him in the coming weeks on more trails, awestruck by the 鈥渂eautiful and overwhelming鈥� mountains. Soon, Mr. Rinji was part of his father鈥檚 training sessions for professional climbers and was determined to summit the Himalayas.聽
In September 2022, a few months after Mr. Rinji turned 16 鈥� Nepal鈥檚 legal age for climbing 鈥� he was part of an expedition to Mount Manaslu, the world鈥檚 eighth-highest mountain at 8,163 meters. There Mr. Rinji had firsthand experience of the challenges climbers face and of how tirelessly Sherpas work for their clients.
Out of 500 people who were at the base camp preparing to summit that season, he says, only about 100 achieved the feat. Twenty people were caught in avalanches and had to be rescued. At least one climber died. (Hilaree Nelson, a top American ski mountaineer, fell while descending.) 聽
鈥淪ome got in danger; some got afraid,鈥� Mr. Rinji says. 鈥淏ut me and my dad knew for sure that we are not quitting, no matter what.
鈥淚 think I was one of the last people to summit. Then it clicked,鈥� he says with a smile and some pride showing on his face.聽
After that, he kept summiting one after another 鈥渆ight-thousanders.鈥� When he reached the top of Everest, it was night, but he continued on, stopping only at the summit of an adjacent peak, Lhotse. 鈥淭hat entire expedition was 15 days of extreme climbing,鈥� he explains.
鈥淎 middle path鈥�
It was during his 14-peaks expedition spread over the span of two years that Mr. Rinji realized the extraordinary, underrecognized work of Sherpas.
In 1953, Edmund Hillary, a New Zealand climber on a British expedition, and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first people confirmed to have summited Mount Everest.聽
鈥淭he only reason [Norgay] got invited to be part of that climbing experience was because of the merit,鈥� Mr. Rinji says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 our duty to vocalize ourselves, to take credit for who we are.鈥澛�
Making his own case as an example, he says he didn鈥檛 receive support from any major sponsors for his 14-peaks expedition and had to rely on the resources of his family. Had he been a Western climber, he says, big names would have rushed to sponsor him.
Mr. Rinji has been meeting with young Sherpas who work as guides 鈥� or aspire to be guides 鈥� to motivate them to see themselves as athletes. He visits schools, addresses public events, and posts on social media about the need for young Nepalese to be 鈥渓eaders鈥� in climbing.聽
With the help of his father鈥檚 expedition company, he provides free courses, or charges a nominal fee, to train young people who want to become athletes. Such a course, he says, can cost around $10,000 in Western countries.
Mr. Lakpa is proud of his son not only for what he has achieved but also because 鈥淗e is working for himself.鈥澛�
Lakpa Temba, a Sherpa who works for an expedition company in Kathmandu, says Mr. Rinji is broadening the employment horizons for Sherpas. 鈥淣ima is showing us a middle path,鈥� he says, 鈥渨here you are climbing mountains for yourself, on your own terms.鈥澛�
Veteran Sherpas also believe that having more people from Nepal become athletes in climbing will bring new attention and opportunities for Sherpas. And it could attract more people to Nepal, a poor country that relies on tourism.
鈥淥ur young generation is moving forward from traditional climbing practices,鈥� said Nima Nuru Sherpa, the president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association. 鈥淲hat [Mr. Rinji] has done is inspiring.鈥�
