The Most Famous
MOUNTAINEERS from Nepal
This page contains a list of the greatest Nepalese Mountaineers. The pantheon dataset contains 56 Mountaineers, 4 of which were born in Nepal. This makes Nepal the birth place of the 7th most number of Mountaineers behind France, and Switzerland.
Top 5
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Nepalese Mountaineers of all time. This list of famous Nepalese Mountaineers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Tenzing Norgay (1914 - 1986)
With an HPI of 70.90, Tenzing Norgay is the most famous Nepalese Mountaineer. His biography has been translated into 92 different languages on wikipedia.
Tenzing Norgay (; Sherpa: བསྟན་འཛིན་ནོར་རྒྱས tendzin norgyé; May 1914 – 9 May 1986), born Namgyal Wangdi, and also referred to as Sherpa Tenzing, was a Nepalese-Indian Sherpa mountaineer. On 29 May 1953, he and Edmund Hillary were the first confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest, as part of the 1953 British Mount Everest expedition. Time named Norgay one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.
2. Apa Sherpa (b. 1960)
With an HPI of 47.41, Apa Sherpa is the 2nd most famous Nepalese Mountaineer. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.
Apa (born Lhakpa Tenzing Sherpa; 20 January 1960), nicknamed "Super Sherpa", is a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer who, until 2017, jointly with Phurba Tashi held the record for reaching the summit of Mount Everest more times than any other climber. As part of The Eco Everest Expedition 2011, Apa made his 21st Mount Everest summit in May 2011 then retired after a promise to his wife to stop climbing after 21 ascents. He first summited Everest in 1990 and his last time to the summit was in 2011. Apa met Edmund Hillary many times, and was on the Expedition with his son Peter Hillary in 1990, which was the first summit for both of them. Apa estimates he has been through the Khumbu Icefall about 1000 times and almost went with Rob Hall's ill-fated 1996 expedition. When questioned about stopping at 21, Apa stated: "Everyone says 21 is a good number. I have to make my family happy. Every time I go, they worry because Everest is very risky." He was still the joint holder of the world record of Mount Everest summits as of 2017, with Phurba Tashi and Kami Rita Sherpa, but the record was broken in 2018 by Kami Rita Sherpa.
3. Ang Rita (1948 - 2020)
With an HPI of 43.18, Ang Rita is the 3rd most famous Nepalese Mountaineer. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.
Ang Rita Sherpa (Nepali: आङरिता शेर्पा; 27 July 1948 – 21 September 2020) was a Nepalese mountaineer who climbed Mount Everest ten times without using supplemental oxygen between 1983 and 1996. His sixth climb set the world record for the most successful ascents of Mount Everest, which he re-set on his tenth climb. Although others have since summitted Everest more, he still holds the record for most summits without supplemental oxygen. He was also the first, and to date only, person to climb Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen in winter. He was nicknamed the "Snow Leopard" by his peers.
4. Nirmal Purja (b. 1983)
With an HPI of 43.03, Nirmal Purja is the 4th most famous Nepalese Mountaineer. His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.
Nirmal Purja (known as Nims or Nimsdai) (Nepali: निर्मल पुर्जा; born 25 July 1983) is a Nepal-born naturalised British mountaineer. Prior to taking on a career in mountaineering, he served in the British Army with the Brigade of Gurkhas followed by the Special Boat Service (SBS), the special forces unit of the Royal Navy. Purja is notable for having climbed all 14 eight-thousanders (peaks above 8,000 metres or 26,000 feet) in a time of six months and six days with the aid of bottled oxygen between April and October 2019. This was a record at the time of climbing, although it was broken in 2023 by Kristin Harila and Tenjen Sherpa, who summitted all 14 eight-thousanders in 92 days. Purja was the first person to reach the summits of Mount Everest, Lhotse and Makalu within 48 hours. In 2021, Purja, along with a team of nine other Nepalese climbers, completed the first winter ascent of K2.
5. Lhakpa Sherpa (b. 1974)
With an HPI of 24.85, Lhakpa Sherpa is the 5th most famous Nepalese Mountaineer. Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.
Lhakpa Sherpa (Nepali: Lakhpa Sherpa; born 1973) is a Nepalese Sherpa mountain climber. She has climbed Mount Everest ten times, the most by any woman in the world. Her record-breaking tenth climb was on May 12, 2022, which she financed via a crowd-funding campaign. In 2000, she became the first Nepali woman to climb and descend Everest successfully. In 2016, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.
People
Pantheon has 5 people classified as Nepalese mountaineers born between 1914 and 1983. Of these 5, 3 (60.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Nepalese mountaineers include Apa Sherpa, Nirmal Purja, and Lhakpa Sherpa. The most famous deceased Nepalese mountaineers include Tenzing Norgay, and Ang Rita. As of April 2024, 1 new Nepalese mountaineers have been added to Pantheon including Lhakpa Sherpa.
Living Nepalese Mountaineers
Go to all Rankings
Apa Sherpa
1960 - Present
HPI: 47.41
Nirmal Purja
1983 - Present
HPI: 43.03
Lhakpa Sherpa
1974 - Present
HPI: 24.85
