KATHMANDU: Cheering crowds hailed an 18-year-old Nepali mountaineer as a hero as he returned home Monday after breaking the record for the youngest person to summit all 14 of the world’s 8,000-metre peaks.

Nima Rinji Sherpa reached the summit of Tibet’s 8,027-metre-high (26,335 feet) Shisha Pangma on October 9, completing his mission to stand on the world’s highest peaks. On Monday, he returned from China to Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, where scores waited to see him.

"I am feeling very happy,” he told AFP, draped in traditional Buddhist scarves and garlands of marigold flowers, as he emerged to loud cheers at the airport. "Thank you so much everyone”, he said to his supporters, beaming a wide grin.

Sherpa hugged his family while others rushed to offer him scarves and flowers. He later waved to the crowd out of a car sunroof, while proudly holding the national flag. Nepal’s climbing community also welcomed several others who returned after completing the summit of 14 peaks.

Summiting all 14 "eight-thousanders” is considered the zenith of mountaineering aspirations, with all the peaks located in the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges, straddling Nepal, Pakistan, Tibet and India.

Climbers cross "death zones” where there is not enough oxygen in the air to sustain human life for long periods. Sherpa is no stranger to the mountains, hailing from a family of record-holding mountaineers, who also now run Nepal’s largest mountaineering expedition company.

The record was previously held by another Nepali climber, Mingma Gyabu ‘David’ Sherpa. He achieved it in 2019, at the age of 30. Nima Rinji Sherpa, who already holds multiple records from his ascents of dozens of peaks, started high-altitude climbing at the age of 16, by climbing Mount Manaslu in August 2022.

Nepali climbers—usually ethnic Sherpas from the valleys around Everest—are considered the backbone of the climbing industry in the Himalayas. They carry the majority of equipment and food, fixing ropes and repairing ladders. Long in the shadows as supporters of foreign climbers, they are slowly being recognized in their own right. — AFP