News Mania / Piyal Chatterjee / 16th October 2024
The 18-year-old Nepalese mountaineer Nima Rinji Sherpa has broken the previous record by being the youngest person to reach all 14 of the world’s highest peaks. When Rinji reached the peak of Mount Shishapangma in Tibet on October 9 at approximately 6:05 AM local time, the BBC reported that his amazing journey was over.
With this achievement, he became one of the few mountaineers to have ascended all 14 of the world’s “eight-thousanders,” or mountains that the UIAA has recognized as being higher than 8,000 meters above sea level. In just 740 days, Rinji, who started his high-altitude climbing career at the age of 16, accomplished this feat.
Pictures and videos of Rinji went viral on the internet as soon as he achieved the incredible feat. On Reddit, one post in particular has gained a lot of popularity. The description reads, “Nima Rinji Sherpa: an 18-year-old Nepalese broke the world record to become the youngest mountaineer to summit Earth’s 14 highest peaks.” The photo was shared by user islander_guy on the r/Damnthatsinteresting page.
Many Redditors took to the comments section to applaud the feat. One user wrote, “Now THIS is interesting!! Shoutout all the Sherpas who deserve to be treated with dignity and reverence.” Another user wrote, “Is this like super expensive? Mt Everest alone generally costs $80,000+ (US) to climb in permits and gear, etc. But 14 peaks?? How much was all of that??” to which a third user responded saying, “This guy didn’t need 6 other sherpas to help him do this.”
According to Nepal’s Department of Tourism, Rinji’s adventure started on September 30, 2022, when he climbed 8,163-meter Mount Manaslu. On May 24, 2023, he proceeded to ascend Mount Everest (8,848.86 m) and Mount Lhotse (8,516 m) on the same day. On June 26, 2023, he reached Mount Nanga Parbat (8,126 m), followed on July 18, 2023, by Mount Gasherbrum I (8,068 m) and July 19, 2023, by Mount Gasherbrum II (8,035 m). On July 23, 2023, a few days later, he also reached the peak of Mount Broad Peak (8,047 m).
One of his most noteworthy accomplishments was climbing K2, the second-highest mountain in the world at 8,611 meters, on July 27, 2023. Rinji then went on to conquer further summits, such as Mount Dhaulagiri (8,167 m) on September 29, 2023, and Mount Cho-Oyu (8,188 m) on October 6, 2023.On April 12, 2024, he climbed Mount Annapurna (8,091 m) without the use of oxygen. Ascending Mount Makalu (8,485 m) on May 4, 2024, Mount Kanchenjunga (8,586 m) on June 8, 2024, and Mount Shishapangma (8,027 m) on October 9, 2024, marked the pinnacle of his quest.
