There was his father, Tashi Lakpa Sherpa, who at 19 summited Mount Everest without any additional oxygen, becoming the youngest to do so. Then there were his uncles, the first brothers to scale the world's 14 highest peaks together.
But at 18, he has already outpaced them all. Last month, he became the youngest person to summit the world's 14 highest mountains - spread across Nepal, Pakistan, China and India - a mission he began aged just 16.
When he set out to climb his first of the 14 peaks - Mount Manaslu in Nepal, which at 8,100m is the world's eighth highest mountain - it was not to break any records or to hunt for glory.
"To begin with, I was just curious about the experience, but every step felt so natural," said Sherpa. "I loved the rawness of the mountains and how your thought process changes when everything is just about life or death."
This story is from the November 01, 2024 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
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This story is from the November 01, 2024 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
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