Above 26,000 feet, at the top of the world’s highest mountains, is the “death zone”, where the air is so thin that climbers need extra oxygen to survive. This was news to Ang Rita Sherpa; he led 18 expeditions to the top of mountains over 26,000 feet and never felt the need for it.
For a time he held the record for the most ascents of Everest, having climbed it ten times, and his record for the most ascents without supplemental oxygen still stands. He did not intend to set the record, it just happened, as one mountaineering team after another sought the help of the man who they had heard was the strongest sherpa of his generation.
Born in Yillajung, a tiny village near Everest, in 1948, he became a sherpa at 15, after being orphaned, to supplement the meager income he earned from farming. His father and mother, Aayala and Chokki Sherpa, had reared yaks, and he had traveled with them to Tibet to trade. He received no education and struggled to write his name.
Ang Rita’s record for the most ascents without supplemental oxygen still stands.
He was first hired as a porter on an expedition to Dhaulagiri, a 70 mile-wide massif that culminates in the seventh-highest mountain in the world. Although he was employed as only a low-altitude porter, he carried the mountaineers’ baggage up to camp 3, at 24,000 feet. When they noticed that he had done so without mountaineering equipment or even shoes, they complained to his sirdar (boss) and gave him boots and warm clothing. None of it fitted, but it made him feel as though he had graduated to being a sherpa. It was already apparent to him that he had the potential to be a formidable mountain guide.
Climbing Everest first as a low-altitude porter, he reached its summit for the first time in 1983, on a German-American expedition. The next year he climbed it again with a Slovakian team, one member of which, Jozef Psotka, fell to his death on the descent. “On several occasions in my life I have felt very sad when there were moments of fatal accidents,” Ang Rita later said, “but I have always consoled myself that it is the way of a mountaineer’s life.”
Soon after he became a guide and expeditions would seek out his expertise. In 1987, on a Korean expedition, he became the first person to climb Everest in winter without oxygen. That time he and another climber lost their way in bad weather and spent an entire night doing aerobic exercises to stop themselves freezing to death. As well as Everest, he climbed many of the highest mountains in the world: K2, Annapurna and Manaslu, to name a few. A Buddhist, he would say a prayer before setting out on an expedition and would not let anyone talk him into beginning an ascent until he felt the time was right.
In contrast with the spartan self-discipline required of him in the mountains, he was, down in the valleys, something of a bon viveur, who would start every day with a bowl of chang, a local spirit. “Foreigners never find my drinking a problem,” he said, “they know that when it is time to work, I work. Do you think I would be able to climb if I drank on the mountain? It is only Nepalis who turn up their noses and say ‘why do you drink all the time?’ ”
After his sixth ascent of Everest, he made contact with an entrepreneur from Kathmandu who wanted to turn his name into a brand. Together they courted advertising deals with Rolex, Dewar’s whisky, and several manufacturers of climbing gear. David Letterman expressed interest in bringing him on to his show. Yet none of this came to fruition because word got out that he was an alcoholic. It did not help the effort to monetize his reputation that he was habitually elusive. The Snow Leopard, as he was called by other sherpas, would slink off for days, regardless of whether he had meetings to attend. He would be assisted in his escape by the one company that did market itself as “Ang’s choice”, a Nepali private airline, which gave him a lifetime of free helicopter rides.
In contrast with the spartan self-discipline required of him in the mountains, he was, down in the valleys, something of a bon viveur, who would start every day with a bowl of chang, a local spirit.
Despite his failure as an entrepreneur, and his principled refusal to ask for a higher wage than the other sherpas he climbed alongside, his exploits did make him a wealthy man. After his ninth ascent of Everest the Nepalese government awarded him 500,000 Nepalese rupees ($6,800) and a procession carried him around Kathmandu. After his tenth he was awarded a lifelong monthly pension of $68.
Ang Rita stood atop Everest for the last time in 1996; that year he fell ill and suffered from brain and liver ailments. Though he ceased mountaineering he continued to lead treks at lower altitudes. He lived in the village in which he was born, with his wife Nima Chokki, and encouraged their sons, Karsang and Chhewang, to become mountain guides. Karsang died at Everest base camp in 2012 after climbing the mountain. The couple had a third son, Furunuru, and a daughter, Dolma.
Two hours’ walk away lived Apa Sherpa, also a contender for the record number of Everest ascents, with whom he enjoyed a friendly competition.
Ang Rita Sherpa, mountain guide, was born on July 27, 1948. He died after a long period of illness on September 21, 2020, aged 72