{"id":"apa-sherpa","type":"person","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/apa-sherpa","language":"en","name":"Apa Sherpa","name_en":"Apa Sherpa","name_ne":"आप्पा शेर्पा","description":"Nepalese mountain climber","headline":"Nepalese mountain climber","also_known_as":[],"summary":"Apa Sherpa (born 20 January 1960), is a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer who, until 2017, jointly with Phurba Tashi held the record for reaching the summit of Mount Everest more times than any other climber. As part of The Eco Everest Expedition 2011, Apa made his 21st Mount Everest summit in May 2011 then retired after a promise to his wife to stop climbing after 21 ascents. He first summited Everest in 1990 and his last time to the summit was in 2011.","summary_more":["Apa met Edmund Hillary many times, and was on the Expedition with his son Peter Hillary in 1990, which was the first summit for both of them. Apa estimates he has been through the Khumbu Icefall about 1000 times and almost went with Rob Hall's ill-fated 1996 expedition.","When questioned about stopping at 21, Apa stated: \"Everyone says 21 is a good number. I have to make my family happy. Every time I go, they worry because Everest is very risky.\" He was still the joint holder of the world record of Mount Everest summits as of 2017, with Phurba Tashi and Kami Rita Sherpa, but the record was broken in 2018 by Kami Rita Sherpa."],"facts":[{"key":"born","label":"Born","values":[{"text":"20 January 1960","date":"1960-01-20"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q455447#P569"}},{"key":"birthplace","label":"Place of birth","values":[{"text":"Thame","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7709836","page":"https://diginpl.com/places/thame-nepal"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q455447#P19"}},{"key":"citizenship","label":"Citizenship","values":[{"text":"Nepal","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q837"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q455447#P27"}},{"key":"occupation","label":"Occupation","values":[{"text":"mountain guide","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q819677"},{"text":"himalayist","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9292301"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q455447#P106"}}],"office":null,"sections":[],"cited":[{"id":"early_life","title":"Early life and education","items":[{"text":"His climbing career began in 1985, and he worked as a kitchen boy and porter for various groups but was not given the opportunity to reach the summit until 1990.","sources":[{"url":"http://www.everesthistory.com/sherpas/apa.htm","title":"The Sherpas of Everest Series: Apa Sherpa","publisher":"EverestHistory.com","date":null}]},{"text":"A fourth child died in 2004.","sources":[{"url":"https://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/outdoors/ci_5043049","title":"Utah's own sherpa to set record on Everest","publisher":"The Salt Lake Tribune","date":"2007-01-19"}]},{"text":"They live in Draper, Utah.","sources":[{"url":"http://www.sltrib.com/search/ci_4870469","title":"Climber from Nepal reaches for personal summit in SLC","publisher":"The Salt Lake Tribune","date":null}]},{"text":"In April 2009, Apa founded the Apa Sherpa Foundation, dedicated to the improvement of education and economic development in Nepal.","sources":[{"url":"http://www.ApaSherpaFoundation.org/","title":"World record holder Apa Sherpa to create new foundation","publisher":null,"date":null}]},{"text":"Our goal is to give the younger generation a chance to go to school so they don't have to climb.\"","sources":[{"url":"https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=57877542&itype=CMSID","title":"Apa Sherpa: After deadly avalanche, 'leave Everest alone'","publisher":null,"date":null}]},{"text":"When not on expeditions, Apa works for Diamond Mold, a precision machining and injection molding company in Salt Lake City, Utah that has also supported his foundation.","sources":[{"url":"http://www.apasherpa.com/everest/new-world-record-apa-sherpa-summits-mount-everest-for-the-20th-time","title":null,"publisher":null,"date":null},{"url":"http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2351876/","title":null,"publisher":null,"date":null},{"url":"http://www.backpacker.com/may_2008_feature_sherpa_salt_lake_city/articles/12367","title":"The Porters' Progress","publisher":"Backpacker","date":null}]}]},{"id":"statements","title":"Notable statements","items":[{"text":"On his 19th expedition, the team spent half an hour at the top of the mountain, unfurling a banner that said \"Stop Climate Change\".","sources":[{"url":"http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12416228","title":"Utahn Apa Sherpa tops Everest for the 19th time","publisher":"The Salt Lake Tribune","date":null}]}]}],"cited_from":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Apa_Sherpa&oldid=1354647770","videos":[],"last_reviewed":null,"organizations":[],"same_as":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apa_Sherpa","https://ne.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%86%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%BE_%E0%A4%B6%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%BE","https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q455447"],"faq":[{"q":"When was Apa Sherpa born?","a":"Apa Sherpa was born on 20 January 1960 in Thame."}],"related":[{"name":"Tenzing Norgay","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/tenzing-norgay"},{"name":"Suman Pokhrel","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/suman-pokhrel"},{"name":"Manisha Koirala","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/manisha-koirala"},{"name":"Gyanendra of Nepal","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/gyanendra-of-nepal"},{"name":"Birendra of Nepal","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/birendra-of-nepal"},{"name":"Nirmal Purja","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/nirmal-purja"},{"name":"Dipendra of Nepal","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/dipendra-of-nepal"},{"name":"Udit Narayan","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/udit-narayan"},{"name":"Śuddhodana","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/suddhodana"},{"name":"Mahendra of Nepal","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/mahendra-of-nepal"},{"name":"Chandra Bahadur Dangi","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/chandra-bahadur-dangi"},{"name":"Tribhuvan of Nepal","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/tribhuvan-of-nepal"}],"places_in":[],"nearby":[],"image":{"url":"https://diginpl.com/kb-img/apa-sherpa-cc07589311.jpg","width":500,"height":342,"license":"CC BY-SA 3.0","credit":"Mogens Engelund","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apa_Sherpa.jpg"},"sources":[{"label":"Wikipedia (English): Apa Sherpa","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apa_Sherpa","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"},{"label":"Wikipedia (Nepali): आप्पा शेर्पा","url":"https://ne.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%86%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%BE_%E0%A4%B6%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%BE","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"},{"label":"Wikidata item Q455447","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q455447","license":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},{"label":"Image: Apa Sherpa.jpg by Mogens Engelund (CC BY-SA 3.0)","url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apa_Sherpa.jpg","license":null},{"label":"Wikipedia (English), revision used for cited facts: Apa Sherpa","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Apa_Sherpa&oldid=1354647770","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"},{"label":"EverestHistory.com: The Sherpas of Everest Series: Apa Sherpa","url":"http://www.everesthistory.com/sherpas/apa.htm","license":null},{"label":"The Salt Lake Tribune: Utah's own sherpa to set record on Everest (2007-01-19)","url":"https://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/outdoors/ci_5043049","license":null},{"label":"The Salt Lake Tribune: Climber from Nepal reaches for personal summit in SLC","url":"http://www.sltrib.com/search/ci_4870469","license":null},{"label":"ApaSherpaFoundation.org: World record holder Apa Sherpa to create new foundation","url":"http://www.ApaSherpaFoundation.org/","license":null},{"label":"archive.sltrib.com: Apa Sherpa: After deadly avalanche, 'leave Everest alone'","url":"https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=57877542&itype=CMSID","license":null},{"label":"apasherpa.com","url":"http://www.apasherpa.com/everest/new-world-record-apa-sherpa-summits-mount-everest-for-the-20th-time","license":null},{"label":"tradingmarkets.com","url":"http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2351876/","license":null},{"label":"Backpacker: The Porters' Progress","url":"http://www.backpacker.com/may_2008_feature_sherpa_salt_lake_city/articles/12367","license":null},{"label":"The Salt Lake Tribune: Utahn Apa Sherpa tops Everest for the 19th time","url":"http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12416228","license":null}],"license":{"text":"CC BY-SA 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","facts":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},"attribution":"Text from the Wikipedia article Apa Sherpa, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Apa Sherpa.jpg — Mogens Engelund, CC BY-SA 3.0.","cite":"\"Apa Sherpa\". DigiNepal. Last updated 31 October 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/apa-sherpa. Retrieved 3 November 2026.","date_modified":"2026-10-31T10:00:46Z","facts_checked":"2026-11-03","alternates":{"html":"https://diginpl.com/people/apa-sherpa","en":"https://diginpl.com/people/apa-sherpa","ne":"https://diginpl.com/people/apa-sherpa?lang=ne"}}