Mingma Tenzi Sherpa, the director and leader at Elite Exped is a mountaineering expert and legend on the slopes of the 8000-ers. He has been recognized as the finest mountaineering guide of his generation in the Himalayan mountaineering community both domestically and on the international scale.
The legendary mountain guide has always been the most reliable expertise when it comes to leading expeditions on the tallest 8,000-meter massifs. Mingma Tenzi Sherpa is the top go-to man for his expertise in fixing ropes on the tallest 8,000-ers known for their challenging slopes.
This mountaineering legend, Tenzi Sherpa besides the First Winter Ascent of K2, has successfully completed 33 summits to the top of the 8,000-ers (11 out of 14) including the scaling of the tallest mountain in the world, Mt. Everest, 10 times.
Mountaineering Expert by Birth-right
Born in Sankhuwasabha in the Eastern part of the country, at the foothills of the fifth-tallest mountain in the world, Mt. Makalu (8,841 meters), Mingma Tenzi Sherpa grew up adoring the magnificence of the tallest snow peaked-wonders in the world.
Tenzi Sherpa’s father, Sumba Rinji Sherpa worked as a trekking guide to lead the expedition to the mountains. And, it was just about a matter of time before the young Mingma decided to follow in the footsteps of his father and choose a life dedicated to the glorious mountains.
By the age of 19, the rope-fixing expert had already joined the trekking expedition to the Himalayas. Continuing the legacy of his father, Mingma started traversing to the base camps of the Himalayan massifs in 2003. And, within the period of just two years, this legendary mountaineering guy started leading the expedition team as an assistant guide.
Mingma Tenzi Sherpa, who grew up under the reflection of the great mountain peaks, by birthright was a mountaineering expert. His understanding of the peaks in the Himalayas, adaption to high-altitude climate, and of course guidance from his guiding expert father made his journey an inevitable success story.
When he started working as an assistant guide to lead the trekking expedition in 2005, the mountaineering legend also didn’t waver from making another significant decision that would turn out to be an embarkment of a remarkable journey.
Mingma successfully conquered Mera Peak at the elevation of 6,476 meters, his first-ever scaling, the same year he started working as an assistant trekking guide. In the following year, the Elite Exped director conquered the summit of Island Peak (6,189 meters) two times and Mt Lobuche (6,119 meters) during the summer of 2006.
Although these three mountain peaks that Mingma conquered in his initial year are not considered significant peaks, they are still gigantic peaks, around a km higher than the European mountain peak Mont Blanc (4,809 meters). Even as a practice ground for the expedition of 8,000-ers these peaks provided significant challenge and demand a high level of fitness and endurance.
Still, it was an opening act for the legendary stories that were to unfold during the latter years of the legendary mountaineer’s journey.
Journey of Unparalleled Achievements
Besides his years of expertise on the slopes and practical experience, Mingma Tenzi Sherpa doesn’t fall short when it comes to the paper qualification as well. The Elite Exped leader has earned the ‘Advanced Mountaineering and Rescue’ qualifications from Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) and Nepal Mountaineering Instructors Association (NMIA), globally recognized organizations.
The legendary mountaineering guide also boasts an impeccable safety record while operating on the slopes of the tallest and most challenging mountains in the world. Besides his global recognition for mountaineering expertise and safety-record guiding experience, he is especially well-known for his familiarity with Nepal’s Himalayas and Pakistan’s Karakoram region.
Mingma himself holds the record as one of the first climbers to successfully summit the second-tallest mountain in the world, Mount K2 (8,611 meters) during a winter ascent on 16 January 2021.
A group of 10 climbers, including his Elite Exped founder Nimsdai Purja and Mingma David Sherpa, engraved their names in the mountaineering history as the first-ever climbers to conquer Mt. K2 during winter.
The expedition team met just 30 meters short of the summit of K2 and hurdled together to reach the summit as one. The Nepali National Anthem echoed on the top of the slopes of K2 as the expedition team made the final push to the summit together as a unit.
Mingma was chosen as the leading expert to fix the lines on the slopes of K2 during the winter expedition, (quote)
Before making history in the Karakoram region, Mingma Tenzi Sherpa made his first-ever ascent to the tallest mountain in the world, Mt. Everest (8,849 meters) in 2007, still working as an assistant guide. The rope-fixing expert then moved on to the conquest of Mt. Lhotse (8,516 meters), the fourth-tallest mountain in the world, just seven days after the successful Mt. Everest summit.
Bagging other mountain peaks to his conquest list, Mt. Makalu 8,485 meters), the fifth-highest mountain in the world, Mt. Dhaulagiri (8,167 meters), the seventh-tallest mountain in the world during the following seasons, Mingma started leading expeditions to the summit of Mt. Everest as a lead guide by 2010.
Following his full partnership and joining the Elite Expert as the director and founder in 2021, the legendary mountaineering guide successfully scaled Mt. Annapurna (8,091 meters), the tenth tallest mountain in the world, for the first time in the same year.
The Mt. Annapurna summit during the spring climbing season in Nepal on 16th April 2021 marked a great new feat in his journey for the successful conquest of the 14 peaks, the tallest mountains in the world above 8,000 meters.
Mingma Tenzi Sherpa, the mountaineering expert and director/leader at Elite Exped is currently pushing for the scaling of all 8,000-ers spread across the globe. And on his expedition of the tallest 14-peak conquest, Mingma has already successfully scaled 11 peaks. The rest of the three peaks’ ascent and Mingma’s other achievements in the upcoming days are certainly going to spike up the tales of his legendary life on the white slopes.
View this post on Instagram
You may also like:
