Sherpas

Westerners have "viewed Sherpas as strong and faithful load carriers, the backbone to any climb, but not as true summit contenders." - ERIK WEIHENMAYER

(Erik Weihenmayer, the first visually challenged mountain climber to reach the summit of Everest, is the author of Touch the Top of the World.)

Sherpas are the mountain guides from India and Nepal who have led summiteers to the top of the Everest. Seldom in limelight, they are the people who enable others to capture headlines. Without them, not many would have made it to the top of the world. Media has not focused on them - yet there are among them many who are a class apart, who hold world records that few can dream of breaking. Of the 1500 Everest summiteers, more than 500 are Sherpas. Sherpa Appa holds the record of 12 Everest ascents. Messner made headlines when he climbed Everest without oxygen in 1978. Sherpa Ang Rita has done so 10 times and he is also the only person to have climbed the Everest without oxygen in winter.

Sherpa Appa – completed 12 ascents to Mt Everest in May 2002 – the first ascent being in 1989. He climbed the highest peak on earth 12 times in 13 years! It is not surprising he holds the record for the most Everest ascents. However, after his successful 12^th attempt, Sherpa Appa, under pressure from his family, decided to resign from further attempts to climb the mountain. On his 12^th ascent in May 2002, Appa was the first to reach the summit – on a day when 54 other climbers also scaled the peak – setting yet another Everest record. Appa earns his living by guiding expeditions to Mt. Everest.t

Sherpa Babu Chhiri - the Nepalese mountaineer and 10 times Everest summiteer set two Everest records - one for scaling Mount Everest in the fastest recorded time (17 hours), and the other for spending 21 hours at the summit – the longest stay atop the peak without oxygen. Babu died in April 2001 when he fell into a snow crevasse. His last desire was to build a school in his native village in Nepal.

Sherpa Ang Rita retired in 1999, after more than 20 years as a mountain guide in Nepal. Known as "King of Sherpas" Ang Rita climbed Mount Everest 10 times without oxygen - once during winter - the only person in the world to have done so. He has also climbed other 8,000 metre peaks.

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