While Ang Nima Sherpa didn’t guide climbers to the tops of the world’s highest peaks, what he did made it possible for thousands of them to reach those summits. Nima Sherpa was an icefall “doctor,” one of many Sherpas who set fixed ropes and aluminum ladders across icefall crevasses that would otherwise be unnavigable. It is an extremely dangerous job with hazards like avalanches, moving glaciers, and tumbling seracs threatening them every day, none of which are predictable — talk to almost any Everest climber and they’ll tell you the scariest part of the climb is crossing the Khumbum, and that’s where Ang Nima spent his time. He died in his home village of Pangboche, Nepal, on January 25. He was 59. Via Explorersweb.

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Tags: mountaineering

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