KATHMANDU : Angrita Sherpa, a record holder mountaineer known as the ‘snow leopard’ for climbing the world’s highest peak of Mt Everest ten times without the use of supplemental oxygen, has passed away today morning at his daughter’s residence in Jorpati, Kathmandu.
According to his relative Nurtshepal Sherpa, who was 72 years old, the legendary mountaineer passed away at 10 am. Preparations are being made to take his mortal remains to the Sherpa Monastery while his final rites will be performed on Wednesday as per Buddhist rituals.
Ascent of Angrita Born in 1948 at Thame, Solukhumbu district to a family of yak herders, Angrita forayed into mountaineering at the tender age of 15. He was only 20 years old when he made it to the top of Mt Cho Oyu.
Sherpa forayed into climbing the highest mountain in the world in 1983. He first scaled the 8,848-metre mountain without using bottled oxygen in 1983 up until 1996, which was his last feat without supplemental oxygen.
Apart from scaling Sagarmatha (popularly known as Everest), the Sherpa had also ascended the second highest mountain in the world, Mount K2 in Pakistan, as well as reached the summit of Manaslu, Lhotse, Annapurna and Dhawalagiri, among other mountains in Nepal measuring 8,000 metres in height.
Angrita’s mountaineering journey had been halted after he fell sick during an expedition. The then king Birendra had sent his son, Crown Prince Dipendra, to Sherpa’s rented room in local Gopikrishna to visit him when he was ill to send the message: “My father has suggested you to take retirement from mountaineering.”
According to Sherpa’s family sources, he did not set out for mountaineering from then onwards. At that time, Angrita had told journalists that when King Birendra asked him about his wish and needs, he did not express his wish. Around 1996, then Crown Prince Dipendra invited Angrita to “come to the royal palace,” but he did not go. However, he was decorated with the Trishaktipatta, the Gorkha Dakshinbahu state decorations.
No other mountaineer has broken Angrita’s world record of 10 successful ascents of Mt Everest. Sherpa had shared with journalists that the Indian government had proposed to him to arrange for his stay in India, which he said he refused. His daughter Doma said that no significant support had been received from the Nepal Government.
However, Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) had been regularly supporting him citing his poor economic condition. According to Doma, NMA had been providing Rs 15 thousand monthly to Angrita.
Angrita is survived by his three sons and one daughter. While his eldest son Karsang is also into mountaineering, his middle son Chhewang Dorje is in the USA and his youngest son Phura Nuru Sherpa is a yak herder in Khumbu. His daughter, with whom he had been living with, lives in Jorpati, Kathmandu. His spouse had passed away seven years ago.
