The Current - The teen who conquered the world’s 14 tallest mountains

Episode Date: October 18, 2024

At 18 years old, Nima Rinji Sherpa has become the youngest person to climb the world’s 14 tallest mountains, including Everest. He joins us from his home in Kathmandu to share what he saw at the top of the world.

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On Drugs is available now wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC Podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway and this is The Current Podcast. Imagine returning home and hearing this. that is the welcome nima ringi sherpa received a few days ago by his community in katmandu nepal he is 18 years old and he has climbed not just one of the world's tallest mountains not just some but all 14 peaks in the world that tower above 8,000 meters, including, of course, Everest. Now, very few people have scaled all the so-called 8,000ers. And all that cheering, it's because Nima is now the youngest person ever to do so. Here's part of his Instagram

post from the top of Mount Shishapagma in Tibet, his 14th peak. Finally, after almost three years, I finished my project under Sherpa Pao of becoming the youngest person in the world to climb all the 14 highest peaks. I want to thank for support to my parents, my mom for always praying for me and my dad and his company. always bring for me and my dad and his company. Nima Rinji Sherpa is on the line with me from Kathmandu. Hello, Nima. Hi, Rebecca. You know, that woohoo at the end there, you sounded exhausted almost.

What was it like, those final moments when you made it to the very top of that final peak? Yeah, so personally for me it was a lot of joy and also like realizing that you know what i've been through the past two and a half years because i'm still in my teenage so my body is not fully developed my muscles the lungs the heart so i had a lot of problems while climbing a lot of muscle cramps and you know a lot of injuries but somehow i went through all of that and you know somebody all the mountains so just me realizing at the summit that what I went through and it was just so happy for me and also at the same time you know even my parents I was so happy

for them I know how relief they felt because even if they are not climbing with me it was like climbing for them as well mentally you know they were not sleeping whenever I was going for my summit push. So my mom and my dad, you know, they're always checking on me, the weather and all that. And it was just me just being so happy and just having that relief. You called your parents from a satellite phone, I understand, at the summit. What did you say to them? Yeah, I just told them, you know, look, hey, I summited and, you know, it's all good.

The weather is good. I'm feeling strong and just making them sure, like, I just told them, you know, look, hey, I saw me dead and, you know, it's all good. The weather is good. I'm feeling strong and just making them sure, like, I'm safe and all, yeah. I understand above 8,000 meters, they call that area the death zone. What was it like the first time you were that high? Yeah, so it's called the death zone because before, scientifically, the human body was not supposed to function well in that altitude. And my first mountain was Mount Manaslu. So I was not, you know, scared or anything like that. I was just curious to see what's going to be there.

You know, so when I went there, you know, I could see the curvature of the earth and the thin air there. You know, all you can see is like the mountains and big hills around. air there, you know, all you can see is like the mountains and big hills around. So it was just so magnificently, you know, amusing for my brain to just comprehend how big the landscape of the mountains and the earth are. For those of us who aren't familiar with going up a mountain that high, how long does it take? How difficult is it? Just give us a quick sense of what it takes. And you've done it so many times yeah normally a cumbersome expedition might take anywhere from one month to like 60 days depending upon how well your body can adapt to the altitude or to the water around to the

environment you know and it takes a lot of time because you need a lot of blood when you you need a lot of red blood cells when you go to the altitude so you know normally your body will take certain times to just adapt to the altitude and it just so that it can you know function well in the altitude and for me uh talking about personally i was already well enough fit fit enough so that you know every time that i do i take less time than others you know so like the climb that I did in Everest and Lhotse, I was like 15 days. I climbed 5,000 together in Pakistan in like a month. That was really hard. So yeah, it's just all about the mindset and the altitude, yeah. Yeah, I understand it was not your first attempt at this final mountain. You were set to climb it

last fall when an avalanche killed four people climbing that mountain, two American women and two Nepalese guides. One of them was your friend and mentor Tenzin Lama Sherpa. What was it like then to return and get to the summit knowing that your friend lost his life there? Yeah, so last time when we were there, when we lost him, my friend Tenzin, it was very surreal in a moment. We couldn't believe something would happen to him because he just seemed so invincible you know he seemed so strong and so fast so that was a realization for me like anything can happen to anyone no matter how strong you are you know the mountains are always gonna be there and so it was just after that experience I was so sad and just I didn't

climb for two three months I didn't want it to go back to the mountains to be honest but this time I just had a sense of realizing that he wouldn't want me to feel that way. You know, he always wished well for me. He always mentored me well to be a strong Sherpa. And he was a big motivation. So going into this final climb, I was more than sad. I was motivated to prove what he thought of me. You know, every time, sometimes if I feel low, I just think about him, how strong he was. Are you ever scared, though? I mean, it's dangerous. To be honest, I'm never scared.

And I'll tell you why. It's a very logical answer. Because, see, the things we are scared in the mountains are like the avalanches or whatever. You know, those things are not in our control. Even if an avalanche comes, it's not going to stop when I say stop. So it's going to happen anyways. And there are only so many things that I can control. know one of them is my health my safety and when I control these things I'm not scared you know I'm just curious about nature and nothing more yeah

you talk about Sherpa power and you know Sherpas have long been seen as assistants to foreign climbers what does it mean to you to do this at such a young age and representing Sherpas out there? Yeah, you know, so ever since the first ascent of Mount Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, the Sherpa became a brand after Tenzing Norgay, you know. People think of it as very strong, but very humble. But if you be honest, you never see a Sherpa athlete being represented or being supported by any foreign brands you know it's always the western climbers getting all the privilege and i'm not complaining about it you know everybody works hard for it whether it's a

westerner whether the sherpa but i'm just saying if we're all equal why aren't we getting the same privilege why are we getting the same sponsors so i just thought you know i can speak well i've come from a family background of mountaineers so I'm just using my way of speaking my voice my platform to just show these brands hey you know there are some really fabulous athletes like not just me but many others like me and you know we should give them the opportunity to be athletes not just supporting climbers and there is nothing wrong in supporting climbers being a guide but, but if you bring diversity and give them a chance to be an athlete, it's better for everyone, I feel like. Do you resent foreign climbers at all about the sponsorships they receive, about the notoriety they receive when they scale a mountain that you assist them to do?

Yeah, so many climbers that I climb with, many of my friends, they always tell me, you know, I'm being sponsored by this. I'm being sponsored by that. And it's only me who is not being sponsored. To be honest, the whole 14 weeks, I didn't have any sponsors. Still now I have zero sponsors.

You know, I'm just being very honest with you. And all my fundings were done because like my, my family is from mountaineers and they have logistical support for me. And that's how I did it. You know, I didn't have any sponsors paying money for me and nothing like that, to be honest, still today.

So I don't know why it's happening, but anyways, I'm doing good. As you mentioned, you come from a family of record breakers, a family that runs one of the best known mountaineering expedition companies in Nepal. And so while you may not have sponsorships, you do come from a long line of this sort of brand of climbers. And I wonder, you know, if there are others out there who are Nepalese who want to do this,

but don't have the same sort of resources or support you do, how do they or can they achieve the kind of things you have? There are very few of us and I'm so happy that my family works so hard, to be from a normal supporting guide to a successful entrepreneur in mountaineering. And, you know, that's how they supported me. And now I feel like my responsibility is because I have so much privilege and I have so much support from them. I want to use the same thing that I have. And I want to be the bridge between, you know, there are many others, like you said, shepherds and climbers in Nepal who needs this. And so soon I'm working with UN and others, and I'm trying to get these brands involved

so that many of them get the same opportunity that me are getting or others are getting. So that's the whole idea behind the Sherpa Power thing. You're only 18 years old. What's next for you? Yeah, so climbing, of course, is a sport, but there's not a retirement age. You know, there are some climbers who are 80 plus and they're still climbing till today. It's just like how hard you can climb and the best age for climbers are from mid-30s. So, yeah, I'm still looking forward. I'm not in my prime age still, but still I'm like breaking records. And my next climbing expedition is after like two weeks of rest and I'm heading to Mount Manaslu.

And we're climbing the first winter ascent of Manaslu or any 8,000 meter in Alpine style. So meaning no rope, no oxygen, no support. So just me and my climbing partner from Italy, Simone Moto, who's a legendary climber. And, you know, even in this history, my next project is so big project. It has never been done before in the mountain history and my climbing partner is being sponsored by north face and here's you know again me having no sponsor but it's yeah it's also being managed wow nima it sounds like an impossible feat but we wish you well thank you so much for speaking with us and congratulations

yeah thank you so much thank you so much for having me us and congratulations. Yeah, thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me. Nima Ranjishirpa is a record-breaking mountain climber. At 18, he just became the youngest person to summit the world's 14 highest mountains. He was in Kathmandu.