The Porter Who Became a Peak Conqueror — Story of Mingma Gyabu Sherpa

by Mahender Khichar

Mingma Gyabu Sherpa was born in a small Nepali village where mountains were not seen as dreams, but as work. At 14, he started carrying 30–40 kg loads as a porter for trekkers — not because he loved climbing, but because his family needed money to eat. He watched rich foreign climbers chase summits while he slept in cold tents, earning barely enough to survive. But inside him, a quiet dream was growing: “One day I won’t carry loads to the mountain. I will climb the mountain.” When he turned 17, he trained himself using the only tools he had: discarded ropes, broken crampons, and homemade weights. Other climbers laughed — “You think you’ll become a mountaineer?” But he kept pushing. At 20, he became a high-altitude guide, and within a few years, he achieved something the world thought impossible: 👉 He became one of the youngest people to summit all 14 of the world’s highest 8,000-meter peaks — mountains where most climbers don’t survive. He climbed places where the air is so thin that even helicopters struggle. He rescued stranded climbers in storms, carried injured mountaineers on his back, and walked through the “death zone” more times than almost anyone alive. Today, climbers call him “The Mountain Ghost” because he moves with unbelievable calmness and courage.