The "Snow Leopard" finally rests

In a community where legends are not hard to come by, Ang Rita, a legend in his lifetime, passed away at 10.40am, Nepal time, at Jorpati, Kathmandu on 21st September, 2020. He was 72 and his long illness had affected his brain and liver, said his grieving grandson Phurba Tshering. His mortal remains were cremated in Kathmandu according to the Sherpa tradition.

He is the holder of two Guinness World Records, awarded in 2017.

The "first" person to summit Everest in Winter without supplemental oxygen, shall always remain an unbeatable feat. Renowned Spanish alpinist, Alex Txikon, who also tried to achieve the same title for last few years, i.e., to summit Everest in Winter without supplemental oxygen, told Dream Wanderlust, "I knew him personally and he was the best! It's a very sad day today."

He is also the only person to have summited Everest 10 times*, all without supplemental oxygen, a lung-boggling feat, yet unbeaten.

Born in Solukhumbu, the land of Sherpa legends, he started his 8k climbing career as a high-altitude worker in 1979 with the Spanish expedition to Dhaulagiri, where he summited by the North-East Ridge without the use of supplemental oxygen. This was his first 8k summit. Eight years later, on 22nd December, 1987, his winter ascent of Everest, without supplemental oxygen, cemented his place in the legends and the lore of climbing history.

As a recognition and appreciation of his skills, the climbing Sherpa community honoured him with the title of "Snow Leopard". As a fitting final tribute, his mortal remains, in a casket draped with the traditional "khada", lay at the Sherpa Gompha Monastery, where the fraternity paid their last respect.

Dream Wanderlust too wishes his soul eternal peace in his land of the eternal snows he trod in his lifetime.

His summits as collated from Himalayan Database follows,

Photo Courtesy: BBC

* According to HDB, Ang Rita Sherpa used supplemental oxygen in 1983 Everest expedition.

This news was revised on 28-09-2020