The Humblest Giant: Apa Sherpa's Historic 21st Summit of Mount Everest and the Eco Cleanup Crusade

In the global climbing pantheon, records are often pursued for personal glory, media fanfare, or corporate sponsorship. But for Lhakpa Tenzing Sherpa—known across the continents simply as Apa Sherpa or “Super Sherpa”—climbing the highest mountain in the world was never an exercise in ego. It was an act of profound dedication to his family, his people, and the sacred peaks of the Khumbu.

Born around 1960 in the tiny village of Thame, Apa had dreamt as a boy of becoming a medical doctor. That dream died when his father passed away suddenly when Apa was only twelve years old. Left as the eldest son, Apa dropped out of school to carry heavy expedition loads up glaciated trails to feed his mother and five younger siblings.

Between 1990 and 2011, Apa accomplished what no human in history had ever done: he climbed Mount Everest 21 times, maintaining a flawless safety record and never losing a single client.

The Rise of the Super Sherpa

Apa’s first summit came on May 10, 1990, on an expedition alongside Peter Hillary, son of Sir Edmund Hillary. Over the ensuing two decades, Apa became the most sought-after climbing leader on Everest. Quiet, intensely observant, and deeply devout in his Buddhist faith, Apa climbed with a rhythmic grace that foreign climbers marveled at. He never ran, he never panicked, and he possessed an instinct for reading snow conditions, crevasse bridges, and weather fronts that seemed almost supernatural.

Yet as the years progressed, Apa noticed disturbing changes in the high Himalayas. The glaciers were thinning at alarming rates. Rock buttresses that had been frozen solid for millennia were melting and tumbling down onto the climbing routes. Discarded oxygen cylinders, shredded tents, and expedition refuse from decades of commercial climbing were littering the high camps.

Apa decided that if the world was going to watch him set records, he would give them a message they could not ignore.

The Eco Everest Crusade

From 2008 onward, Apa teamed up with Dawa Steven Sherpa to lead the Eco Everest Expeditions. The mission was revolutionary: to use climbing permits not merely to reach the top, but to restore the mountain.

The team carried specialized canvas cleanup sacks and offered financial bonuses to high-altitude Sherpas to collect and carry down debris from the South Col (7,920m). Over four years, the Eco Everest team hauled down over fourteen tons of historical rubbish, abandoned batteries, and crumpled metal, transporting it out of the Khumbu for proper recycling.

On May 11, 2011, at 9:15 AM, 51-year-old Apa Sherpa crested the Hillary Step and stepped onto the summit of Mount Everest for the twenty-first time. Unfurling a banner urging global action on climate change, Apa dedicated his milestone to the survival of Himalayan glaciers and the educational future of young Sherpas.

Following his descent, Apa made a historic announcement: he was hanging up his crampons. He would never climb Everest again.

He devoted his retirement to the Apa Sherpa Foundation, building schools and providing educational scholarships in Thame and across Nepal, ensuring that future generations of Sherpa children would have the choice to pursue their dreams through education, rather than having to risk their lives on the frozen flanks of the world’s highest mountains.