Nepal lawmaker Mingma Gyabu Sherpa summits Everest
First sitting MP to climb world’s highest peak carries parliament flag to summit in symbolic Himalayan ascent
Mingma Gyabu Sherpa, one of Nepal’s best-known climbers and the country’s first mountaineer to enter parliament, summited Mount Everest on Wednesday, becoming the first sitting Nepali lawmaker to stand atop the world’s highest peak.
Sherpa unfurled both Nepal’s national flag and the flag of the federal parliament at the summit, framing the climb as a symbolic message of national unity and democratic inclusion. The expedition, titled Sadan Dekhi Summit Samma (“From Parliament to the Summit”), sought to link Nepal’s political institutions with the Himalayan identity on which much of the country’s international image and tourism economy rests.
“I reached the summit at 5:40 a.m. on my second attempt,” Sherpa told Everest Chronicle from Base Camp. Strong winds had forced him to retreat from around 8,500 metres the previous day.
After only a brief stay on the summit, Sherpa descended rapidly to Everest Base Camp, arriving before 1 p.m.—less than seven hours after leaving the top of the mountain, a descent time that may itself rank among the season’s fastest. Sherpa, however, appeared less interested in records than in reaching Lobuche for the inauguration of a newly built porter house. Deteriorating weather prevented the helicopter flight, forcing him to miss the ceremony.
The porter shelter, built at 5,030 metres with support from the Nimsdai Foundation, is intended to provide accommodation for Nepali porters, the labour force underpinning Everest trekking and expedition tourism.The porter house will accommodate about 100 porters.
Sherpa’s emphasis on porters reflects his own beginnings in mountaineering. In 2007, stranded in Kathmandu by political unrest while still a student, he began working as a porter carrying trekking loads. Two years later, while employed as a kitchen helper at Manaslu Base Camp, he resolved to become a climber himself.
He would go on to become one of Nepal’s most accomplished high-altitude mountaineers. Until 2024, Sherpa held the distinction of being the youngest climber to summit all 14 mountains above 8,000 metres. He has since completed 35 ascents of such peaks, including nine summits of Everest and six of K2.
Sherpa later co-founded Elite Exped alongside Nirmal Purja, better known as Nimsdai Purja. Last year he was elected first vice-president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association before entering parliament through the proportional representation system as a nominee of the Rastriya Swatantra Party.
Sherpa said the climb was also intended to draw attention to climate change, the importance of the Himalayas and the central role of tourism in Nepal’s economy.
When Mingma posted news of his summit on Instagram, American climber Conrad Anker offered a succinct tribute that neatly captured both the man and his achievements: “Always solid, always strong, ever humble.”
He reached the summit eight days after arriving at Base Camp and descended in just seven hours, without the usual weeks-long acclimatisation rotations at Base Camp.
