Tashi Gyalzen Sherpa on the summit of Everest (on 9 May)
The summit wave on Mount Everest is rolling. Several dozen climbers from commercial expedition teams reached the highest point on earth at 8,849 meters today. Among those standing on the summit was Tashi Gyalzen Sherpa, according to Pemba Sherpa, owner of the Nepalese expedition operator 8K Expeditions. It was Tashi’s second summit success this spring. The Sherpa had already been part of 8K Expeditions’ seven-man rope-fixing team, which had made the first Everest ascent of the season on 9 May.
Tashi Gyalzen Sherpa has set himself the goal of scaling the highest peak on earth four times this spring (with bottled oxygen). Last year, Dawa Finjhok Sherpa, Climbing Sherpa of the operator Seven Summit Treks, summited Everest three times in eight days. Nepalese journalist Purnima Shrestha also reached the summit three times during the season as a client of a commercial team – with breathing mask and Sherpa support.
From the climbers’ village of Phortse
Tashi is 29 years old and comes from the 3,840-meter-high “climbers’ village” of Phortse, which lies on the trekking route through the Khumbu region to Everest Base Camp. “In a population of 400, 70 of us in Phortse are climbers. Nearly every house in the village has a climber who has summited Everest,” Tashi answers my question about how he became a mountaineer.
“By the time I finished college, my father had grown old and I had to earn money. Becoming a Climbing Sherpa and guide was the best way for me to earn a living and support my family.” His father Ang Tshering Sherpa had also worked as a Climbing Sherpa, his mother Mingma Doma Sherpa was a farmer.
Tashi Sherpa: “I want to make my family and village proud”
Tashi is now married and has a son. Before this spring season, he had already scaled Mount Everest four times: from the Tibetan north side in 2019 and from the Nepalese south side in 2022 to 2024. His eight-thousander record also includes summit successes on Cho Oyu (in 2019), Manaslu (in 2022) and Shishapangma (in 2024). He has scaled the beautifully shaped, 6,812-meter-high Ama Dablam four times – a real eye-catcher viewed from Phortse.
Tashi is receiving financial support for his Everest project from the Little Sherpa Foundation, a Scottish aid organization that is active in Phortse.
And what motivates him to want to climb Everest four times in 20 days? “As a guide I climbed many mountains, and became inspired to set my own record” answers Tashi Gyalzen Sherpa. “I love climbing, and I would like to make my family and my village proud.”
Update 19 May: Tashi Gyalzen Sherpa reached the summit of Mount Everest today for the third time this season.
