Babu Chiri Sherpa (June 22, 1965 – April 29, 2001) was a

Sherpa Sherpa may refer to: Ethnography * Sherpa people, an ethnic group in north eastern Nepal * Sherpa language Organizations and companies * Sherpa (association), a French network of jurists dedicated to promoting corporate social responsibility * ...

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

from

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

. He reached the summit of

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...

ten times. He held two world records on Everest. He spent 21 hours on the summit of Everest without auxiliary oxygen, a record which still stands, and he made the fastest ascent of Everest in 16 hours and 56 minutes. An accomplished mountaineer, his life dream was to build schools in Nepal.

Early life

Babu Chiri Sherpa was born in Taksindu, a small Sherpa village near Salleri, the headquarters of

Solukhumbu District Solukhumbu District ( ne, सोलुखुम्बु जिल्ला , Sherpa: , Wylie: shar khum bu dzong) is one of 14 districts of Province No. 1 of eastern Nepal. As the name suggests, it consists of the subregions Solu and Khumbu. ...

. As a child he spent most of his time helping his parents on their farm. Babu Chiri received no formal education as no schools existed in his or surrounding villages. Babu had taught himself to read, and his life dream was to build a school. As a boy, Chiri was amazed by the mountains that surrounded his village. Many Sherpas support themselves by guiding and portering in the mountains. The legend of

Tenzing Norgay Tenzing Norgay (; ''tendzin norgyé''; perhaps 29 May 1914 – 9 May 1986), born Namgyal Wangdi, and also referred to as Sherpa Tenzing, was a Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer. He was one of the first two people known to reach the sum ...

, and Norgay himself, influenced Chiri.

Mountaineering

He began his career as a climber at the age of 16 when he procured a job as a trekking porter. On his first portering assignment he scaled the Ambhu Labtsa pass. He summited

Mera Peak Mera Peak is a mountain in the Mahalangur section, Barun sub-section of the Himalaya and administratively in Nepal's Sagarmatha Zone, Sankhuwasabha. At it is classified as a trekking peak. It contains three main summits: ''Mera North'', ; '' ...

(6472 m) in four hours in 1985. Chiri eventually found work portering for Everest expeditions, and eventually reached the summit of Everest ten times. In May 1999, he spent a record 21 hours on the summit without supplementary oxygen, and without sleeping. He also went on some expeditions to

Cho Oyu __NOTOC__ Cho Oyu (Nepali: चोयु; ; ) is the sixth-highest mountain in the world at above sea level. Cho Oyu means "Turquoise Goddess" in Tibetan. The mountain is the westernmost major peak of the ''Khumbu'' sub-section of the Mahalangur ...

Other

Babu Chiri spoke Sherpa, Nepali, English and Hindi. He traveled to Canada, China, Italy, Mexico, Pakistan and the United States.

Family

He has six daughters, four granddaughters: Michele, Amira, Sara, Jenica; and two grandsons: Chhewang and Urgen.

Death

In 2001, Chiri signed on for his eleventh Everest expedition. He was planning another bid for the summit. On April 29, while near Camp II (6,500 m) and apparently taking photographs, Chiri fell into a

crevasse A crevasse is a deep crack, that forms in a glacier or ice sheet that can be a few inches across to over 40 feet. Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the shear stress generated when two semi-rigid pie ...

, and died.

Legacy

Chiri was an environmentalist and a humanitarian. He worked to have a school built in his home village; the school was completed before his death. On September 25, 2005, the Royal Nepali Government, as represented by the Crown Prince, inaugurated the Babu Chiri Memorial Museum and erected a statue of Chiri. The museum and statue were both built by the Everest Summiteers Association (ESA) with financial contributions from the government, local businesses, social organizations and individuals. The museum and statue are located in Til Ganga,

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

Summits/expeditions

;Everest #October 6, 1990 #May 22, 1991 #October 10, 1993 #May 14, 1995 #May 26, 1995 #May 23, 1996 #May 21, 1997 #May 6, 1999 #May 26, 1999 #May 21, 2000

References

External links

Biography
EverestNews.com; accessed February 14, 2018. {{DEFAULTSORT:Chiri, Babu Sherpa 1965 births 2001 deaths People from Solukhumbu District Sherpa summiters of Mount Everest Mountaineering deaths on Mount Everest Nepalese mountain climbers Nepalese Buddhists Deceased Everest summiters