By Sajid Ali TWA ______ At just 18, Nepali mountaineer Nima Rinji Sherpa is on the verge of a remarkable achievement. With 13 of the world’s highest peaks already conquered, he is now one peak away from becoming the youngest person to climb all 14 mountains that rise above 8,000 meters (26,247 ft). The Sherpa, who already holds several records from his ascents of dozens of peaks, said he was on a mission to “inspire a new generation and redefine mountaineering”. His latest challenge, Shishapangma in Tibet, awaits him next month – if China gives the go-ahead. The peak of all 14 “8-thousanders” is considered the embodiment of mountaineering aspirations. Italian climber Reinhold Messner first completed the feat in 1986, and only about 40 climbers have successfully followed in his footsteps. Many other elite climbers died in the pursuit. All the mountains are in the Himalayas and the neighboring Karakoram Mountains, which are spread over Nepal, China, India and Pakistan. Reaching each peak requires entering the thin air of the “death zone”, where there is not enough oxygen to sustain life for long periods of time. “When I’m in the mountains, I can die at any time,” said the Sherpa. “You have to realize how important your life is. The young man says the mountains taught him to stay calm. “I’ve convinced myself mentally… when I see an avalanche, bad weather, an accident in the mountains, I don’t rush anywhere, I don’t get nervous,” he added. “I convinced myself, that’s normal in the mountains. I think it helped me a lot.” A teenage mountaineer from the Sherpa ethnic group, renowned for his climbing skills, he is no stranger to treacherous terrain. His uncle, Mingma Gyabu ‘David’ Sherpa, currently holds the record for the youngest person to summit all 14 peaks. He achieved this in 2019, at the age of 30. His father, Tashi Sherpa, grew up in the remote district of Sankhuwasabha, herding yaks before taking up mountain climbing with his siblings as a teenager. The enterprising brothers now run Nepal’s largest mountain expedition company, Seven Summit Treks, and its sister company, 14 Peaks Expedition. “I come from a privileged family,” said the teenage climber. “But the trip to the mountains taught me what hardship is and the true value of life. Brought up in the bustling capital of Kathmandu, Sherpa initially preferred football. More than following in his father’s footsteps, he was also interested in filming and photography. “My whole family is from mountaineering. I’ve always been close to mountaineering and expeditions,” he said. “But I never wanted to be myself in climbing. Instead, he took his camera to the mountains during the school holidays. But two years ago he put down his camera to take up mountain climbing and has been breaking records ever since. In August 2022, Sherpa climbed his first of 14 summits, reaching the summit of the world’s eighth highest mountain, Manaslu (8,163 meters), at the age of 16, the first teenager to do so. The last mountain he climbed was Kanchenjunga in June, once again setting the record for the youngest to climb the world’s third-highest mountain. “I learned so many things about nature, the human body, human psychology,” he said. “I learned everything in the world from the mountain.” When the student is not in the mountains, he runs every day on the exercise bike and avoids unhealthy food. “You have to be very fit physically and mentally to climb big mountains,” said his father Tashi Sherpa, adding that he had helped him prepare for the challenge for years. “He will inspire the newcomers,” he added. Nepali guides – usually ethnic Sherpas from the valleys around Everest – are considered the backbone of the Himalayan climbing industry. They carry most of the equipment and food, fix ropes and repair ladders. Long overshadowed by their paying foreign customers—Everest costs more than $45,000 to climb—Nepalese climbers are slowly gaining recognition in their own right. The teenager envisions a future where climbing will be recognized as a challenging sport even for Nepali climbers. “My goal will be to make climbing a professional sport,” he said. His hero is Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, the first person to climb the world’s highest mountain, Everest, together with New Zealander Edmund Hillary. Sherpa considers his football climbing idol to be as big as Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. “Norgay is someone who is in this league,” he said. But having seen the effects of climate change and commercial mountaineering, he is interested in a sustainable approach to mountaineering and intends to study environmental science. “It’s a bigger purpose for what I’m doing,” he said. “When I first started climbing, it was purely for me,” he added. “But then I realized that there is a lot we can do in the sport of climbing and there are many ways to help the community.”