'Super Sherpa' Apa Climbs Mount Everest For Record 21st Time

KATMANDU, Nepal -- A Nepalese Sherpa on Wednesday broke his own record for most climbs of Mount Everest by scaling the world's tallest peak for the 21st time.

Apa, who is leading an environmental expedition that plans to carry down tons of garbage left behind by past climbers, took advantage of good weather to reach the 29,035-foot (8,850-meter) summit with a group of other climbers, said Tilak Pandey, a government mountaineering official stationed at the base camp.

"They said they are enjoying the view and taking pictures on the summit," said Ang Tshering of Asian Trekking, which organized the expedition.

Apa, who like many in the Himalayas' Sherpa community uses only one name, grew up in the foothills of Everest and began carrying equipment and supplies for trekkers and mountaineers at age 12. He first climbed Everest in 1989 and has repeated the feat almost annually.

The 50-year-old Apa and his team climbed all night Tuesday and Wednesday morning before reaching the summit at 9:15 a.m. local time (0330 GMT).

Before leaving for the mountain in April, Apa had said his team planned to clear 8,800 pounds (4,000 kilograms) of garbage from the lower part of the mountain and another 2,200 pounds (1,000 kilograms) from near the summit.

Apa has long campaigned about the degradation he has seen on the Himalayan peaks due to global warming and other issues.

He said when he first began climbing Everest, the trail to the summit was covered with ice and snow. Now, it is dotted with bare rocks. The melting ice has also exposed deep crevasses, making expeditions more dangerous.

Apa moved to the United States in 2006 and lives in the Salt Lake City suburb of Draper.

Apa has been nicknamed the "Super Sherpa" for his apparent ease with climbing the world's tallest peak, according to AFP.

Comments

[Reno Fickler]

10:10 PM on 05/11/2011

On cable they showed the routes normally followed have many corpses near them. At a certain altitude, higher than the last place the climbers camp, it truly becomes "every man for himself". There was an excellent series on Discovery (?) Channnel. 'Summiting' is an astounding accomplishment. I wonder if they can recover some of the bodies? There is a huge reward for one of the failed Japanese men who perished a few hundred feet (vertically) from the summit. 100s have died attempting the ascent above the clouds.

[Patrick Stewart]

04:29 AM on 05/12/2011

It's actually not all that dangerous of a mountain, just tall. The only reason so many die here is because far more people climb it that any other major peak. And many who climb it are bored businessmen with far too much money. They train for 6 months, they pay Sherpas to carry everything to the summit. They don't respect the mountain and they die. It is no where near the most dangerous mountain (that would be the North Face of the Eiger) or even the most technical (this is obviously a widely debated one, but Annapurna is usually a front runner.)

[netzwerg]

06:52 AM on 05/12/2011

True, Annapurna is the most dangerous mountain. About 130 climbers have summited the avalanche-prone peak, but 53 have died trying — making Annapurna’s fatality rate of 41% the highest in the world.

[bleedingheartlibertarian]

03:43 PM on 05/12/2011

"far too much money" wonder what that looks like.

[Madhyamika]

02:23 PM on 05/11/2011

What happens to "Been there. Seen it. Done that." ?

[netzwerg]

03:20 PM on 05/11/2011

He is making really good money on bringing tourists to the summit. It's basically his job.

[Montcalms Revenge]

02:16 PM on 05/11/2011

You'd think he would learn to take the elevator by now... ;-)

Just joking. This is amazing! Good for him!

[victorsays]

02:12 PM on 05/11/2011

It just showed how arrogant white people are when they come on to Native Land all over the world. Not only do they neglect the native population, but tried to erase the native historical significant by renaming landmarks that is stark in history or just coopting Native America for mere mockery.


Yeah, whites are always talking about the need for minority to assimiliate to white society, when in the same vien they would never assimiliate to other culture.

Hats up to the Sherpas, who have been carrying Western tourist to Mt. Everest since 1953.

[victorsays]

02:07 PM on 05/11/2011

You know I kind of find it funny, how Western trekker and climber are always in the news for some amazing feat about climbing Chomolungma (Not Everest - have some respect for the Native name people), but I pretty damn sure that British didn't "discover" the mountain, when there were people living there and probably climbing it for ages, before the British came.

[Vajara]

02:06 PM on 05/11/2011

I didn't realize that Mt. Climbers would leave their garbage for others to take care of. So we can believe that all they care about is the challenge and making records rather than being responsible for their journey....also, demonstrates a disrespect for the Mountain and for Nature.

[Patrick Stewart]

04:23 AM on 05/12/2011

The majority of true climbers care very much about these issues. Everest is completely different. It has become a joke of a mountain. It is the tallest, but nowhere near the hardest, and it has come to be seen as a status symbol for the rich and the bored. They pay Sherpas like Apa to carry all of their gear and they camp their way up. Anyone with somewhat decent health and a few million dollars laying around can go home with a story to tell their friends. The only time true mountaineers leave anything is sometimes gear and ropes when they are fleeing a storm or sick or injured, and merely trying to save their own lives.

[DBSSURFERHASPER]

10:45 AM on 05/13/2011

Oh really Mr. Stewart? As if you had even reached the base camp of Everest.
Everest a joke? You are the best joker of this comment list. Hard or easy is merely a relative thing. For sherpas, no mountain has been hard. Of course everyone will try for the tallest. What a fool!. And you dare not call the sherpas as the whites or businessman etc's porters.. Apa is not a porter anymore. Its been years now, he climbs it for fun, takes his own group to everest.
Anyone with decent health....? hahahahah try it mate. you wont even survive the altitude of Kathmandu.

[nicesith]

11:54 AM on 05/11/2011

and yet, we usually only hear about the "white" climbers that go up there. sherpas have been doing this since day one.

[InYourWorld]

01:35 PM on 05/11/2011

'White' people summited first. The Sherpas only were on Everest to help support the Euros and Americans.

Also many Japanese and Koreans have been on Everest, they have been some very skilled mountaineers. I take it you know little about Himalayan climbing history....

[nicesith]

02:00 PM on 05/11/2011

yes, white people summited first, but could never have done so without the sherpas. that's the point!
the foreigners get the credit, while all the while it's the sherpas that do most of the work.

and i take it you know little about anything....

[dna user]

03:17 AM on 05/13/2011

Padma Bhushan, Supradipta-Manyabara-Nepal-Tara Tenzing Norgay, GM (late May 1914 – 9 May 1986) born Namgyal Wangdi and often referred to as Sherpa Tenzing, was a Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer. Among the most famous mountain climbers in history, he was one of the first two individuals known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest, which he accomplished with Edmund Hillary on 29 May 1953.[1] He was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenzing_Norgay

[PotholesInMyLawn]

11:49 AM on 05/11/2011

Awesome! These guys are super human!