Sungdare Sherpa

Sungdare Sherpa (Nepali: सुन्दरे शेर्पा) 1956[1] Thame village, Solukhumbu – 1989 Pangboche[2]) was a Nepalese Sherpa guide for climbers of Mount Everest, who summitted Mount Everest five times. He was the first person to summit Mount Everest three times.[3]

Climbing career

Sungdare was with Hannelore Schmatz when she died on a 1979 expedition.[4] He remained with her after she died, and as a result, lost most of his fingers and toes to frostbite.[5]

Despite losing his digits, Sungdare summitted Mount Everest four more times after the 1979 expedition.[6]

Death

Sungdare drowned in a river below his village, Pangboche, Nepal in 1989.[2]

Elizabeth Hawley stated that he struggled with alcoholism and that his death was a suicide.[7] He was survived by his widow, Bhingfuti.[2]

As quoted in an article in Backpacker magazine talking about Mount Everest:[8]

The Summit is always different. Sometimes it is one side and sometimes the other. It changes every time.

— Sungdare Sherpa, 1986[8]

Ascents of Everest

1. 1979[8]
2. 1981[8] October summiting[9]
3. 1982[8] October summiting[9]
4. 1985[8][9][10]
5. 1988[10]

See also

• List of Mount Everest summiters by number of times to the summit
• List of Mount Everest guides
• List of 20th-century summiters of Mount Everest

References

1. "The Sherpas of Everest Series: Sungdare Sherpa".
2. "Welcome to nginx eaa1a9e1db47ffcca16305566a6efba4!185.15.56.1". news.google.com. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
3. "A commemorative postage stamp on Sundare Sherpa, a Nepalese Sherpa-guide for Mount Everest". 13 December 2019.
4. Waterman, Jonathan (1998). In the Shadow of Denali: Life and Death on Alaska's Mt. McKinley - Google Books. Globe Pequot Press. ISBN 9781558217263. Retrieved 2013-10-17.
5. "The Alpine Club" (PDF). Alpine-club.org.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-09. Retrieved 2013-10-17.
6. Adams, Vincanne (1996). Tigers of the Snow and Other Virtual Sherpas: An Ethnography of Himalayan ... - Vincanne Adams - Google Books. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691001111. Retrieved 2013-10-17.
7. McDonald, Bernadette (October 2012). Keeper of the Mountains: The Elizabeth Hawley Story - Bernadette McDonald - Google Books. Rocky Mountain Books. ISBN 9781927330159. Retrieved 2013-10-17.
8. The Backpacker - May 1986 (Google Books link)
9. Everest 80s to 85
10. "The Sherpas of Everest Series: Sungdare Sherpa".

Further reading

• The Backpacker - May 1986 (Google Books link)