Apa Sherpa

Sport
Mountaineer

Apa was born with the name Lhakpa Tenzing Sherpa in Thame, a village in the Everest region of Nepal. He was renamed “Apa” which means "much loved“ at three months old after surviving an avalanche.

Apa always wanted to be a doctor but after his father’s death at the age of 12, Apa dropped out of school to support his family and started working as a porter for mountaineering groups.

His climbing career began in 1985, but he was not given the opportunity to reach the summit until 1990. He continued to climb and summited Everest 21 times which gave him the world record for most summits. He held the world record until 2018. 


Today Apa is retired and is focused on giving back to his homeland. In 2012 he started The Apa Sherpa Foundation with a focus on educating young Sherpa children so that they have a choice for their future endeavors. In Apa's famous words, "Without an education, we have no choice."

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