Ang Rita Sherpa, world-record conqueror of Mount Everest, dies
KATHMANDU – Ang Rita Sherpa, a respected mountain guide best known for climbing Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen a record 10 times, has died, a Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) official said on Monday (21).
NMA President Santa Bir Lama said the 72-year-old veteran guide died at his daughter’s home in Kathmandu at around 10:00 a.m. (0415 GMT) on Monday. The reason behind his death was not immediately clear.
Sherpa had been in poor health since he suffered a brain haemorrhage in 2017.
Nicknamed ‘snow leopard’ for his climbing prowess, Sherpa holds the Guinness world record for climbing Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, ten times between 1983 to 1996, all without the use of bottled oxygen.
He also holds the world record for the first winter climb of Everest without supplementary oxygen.
-dpa