Mountaineer Mingma Tsering Sherpa, 48, hails from the small village of Phortse, tucked away off the main route to Everest Base Camp in Khumbu region. His life has been a series of climbs — literal and metaphorical — shaped by hardship, resilience, and a steadfast sense of duty.

“My childhood was not easy,” he says. At 10, just starting second grade, Mingma lost his mother. With schooling no longer an option, he was sent to Khumjung village to work as a yak herder, spending three years caring for the animals that sustained his family.

At 13, Mingma returned home and soon crossed the Cho La Pass for the first time, carrying loads as a porter alongside his elder brother, his first ever trekking experience in life.

At home, the family owned two yaks, which Mingma used to transport supplies to Everest Base Camp during trekking and expedition seasons. In the quieter months, he apprenticed as a carpenter with his uncle for nearly a decade, working with wood when the mountains were closed by snow.

His path into guiding came not through ambition but opportunity. Another uncle, a climbing guide, took him on as an assistant trekking guide. After three years, Mingma stepped into the role himself. His first summits — Island Peak and Lobuche Peak — marked the start of a mountaineering career that would quietly become formidable.

Since beginning high-altitude expeditions in 2010, Mingma has built a record that places him among the most experienced climbers in the Himalayas: 10 Everest summits, alongside multiple ascents of Cho Oyu, Manaslu, Ama Dablam, Baruntse and Himlung Himal, plus countless peaks across Khumbu.

Yet outside mountaineering circles, his name is little known.

That began to change in 2023, on Everest, during an expedition led by Hari Budha Magar, the former British Gurkha who would go on to attempt the Seven Summits as the world’s first double above-knee amputee.

The Seven Summits Challenge is a coveted mountaineering feat that requires climbers to reach the highest peak on each of the seven continents.

Team HBM : Mingma Tsering Sherpa, HBM, Jangbu Sherpa and Abiral Rai

“The first time I met Mingma, I thought he was too quiet, too old to carry much weight,” Hari recalls. “But when my young, experienced guides turned back below the Balcony, Mingma carried me to the summit. On the descent, when my oxygen ran out, he gave me his. He risked his life to save mine.”

That year, Hari set a world record by becoming the first double above-knee amputee to summit the world’s highest peak.

Since then, Mingma has become a partner in Hari’s “Conquering Dreams – Seven Summits Project,” travelling far beyond Nepal for the first time in his life. Together, they have summited Denali in North America (June 2024), Aconcagua in South America (February 2025), and Carstensz Pyramid in Oceania (October 2025). They have just reached Union Glacier in Antarctica to summit Mount Vinson.

For Mingma, it is also a personal quest: to become the first person from Phortse to complete all Seven Summits. "I only recently began dreaming big. I didn’t have much ambition in life before, but all of this has become possible thanks to HBM," says Mingma.

After summiting Mount Vinson, he now has only Mount Elbrus in Europe and Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa remaining, which he plans to attempt on his own in the near future.

Beyond the mountains, Mingma has been introduced to the world: planes, oceans, beaches, cuisines, and cultures he had never experienced before. Yet despite the novelty, he remains the same quiet, loyal, and courageous man who guided climbers across the treacherous Khumbu landscape.

“On a mountain, it’s like going to war,” Hari says. “You need someone you can trust with your life. Mingma is that person. Honest, hardworking, loyal — he embodies the true spirit of a Sherpa, a Gurkha, a Nepalese man. I am grateful to call him a friend.”

Mingma’s story is not just one of summits or records. It is a testament to resilience, humility, and the extraordinary courage of a man whose greatest legacy is the lives he lifts — and the dreams he helps others reach.