KATHMANDU: Kili Pemba Sherpa, one of Nepal's most accomplished high-altitude climbers, completed his lifelong quest to summit all 14 of the world's 8,000-metre peaks on Friday morning, reaching the top of Nanga Parbat (8,125m) alongside fellow Sherpa Lakpa Chhiri Sherpa and Chinese climber Wang Zhong in what Imagine Nepal Managing Director Mingma G described as a landmark moment for Nepali mountaineering.

The three climbers summited in the early hours of July 3 after a remarkably swift push from base camp that left little room for rest or hesitation.

They had arrived at Nanga Parbat Base Camp on June 30 after a journey that began with Wang Zhong flying into Islamabad on June 26, continuing to Skardu the following day, and then taking a six-hour jeep ride to Chilas before beginning the trek toward base camp on June 29, reaching a staging point called Sar the same day. On June 30, all three trekked to base camp and pushed immediately to Camp 1, seizing a favourable weather window without delay.

They climbed to Camp 2 on July 1, advanced to Camp 3 on July 2, and launched their final summit push that same night, topping out on the Killer Mountain in the early hours of Friday.

For Kili Pemba Sherpa, the summit was the culmination of a mountaineering career that has few parallels in the world. He has now climbed Everest 15 times and K2 twice, and with Nanga Parbat, he has joined the small and rarefied group of climbers in history to have stood on top of all 14 peaks above 8,000 metres. 

"Kili Pemba Sherpa has officially completed all 14 of the world's 8,000-metre peaks — a monumental achievement in high-altitude climbing," Mingma G said.

The journey to this moment has been built on years of extraordinary climbs and acts of selfless guiding. In 2018, Kili guided Chinese double-leg amputee climber Xia Boyu to the summit of Everest on his fifth attempt — a feat that drew international attention and stands as one of the most celebrated acts of high-altitude guiding in recent memory. 

In 2021, he guided Russian double-leg amputee Rustam Nabiev to the summit of Manaslu. 

That same year, Kili was among the ten Nepali climbers who made mountaineering history with the first-ever winter ascent of K2 on January 16, 2021 — a breakthrough that the climbing world had long considered at the edge of human possibility. 

He was also one of the key Sherpas alongside Mingma G who pioneered the route to the true summit of Manaslu in 2021, a climb that rewrote the mountain's records and corrected a long-standing error in its summit history.

Thursday's summit was equally significant for Wang Zhong, who with Nanga Parbat has now climbed 11 of the world's 14 eight-thousanders. Wang first joined the Imagine Nepal team on Everest in 2021, and has since completed 10 of his 11 peaks with the same team — a relationship built over five years of high-altitude partnership. 

His only 8,000-metre summit outside the Imagine Nepal fold was Cho Oyu, his very first, climbed with a Tibetan team. He now has three peaks remaining — Gasherbrum II, Broad Peak and Shishapangma — all of which he plans to complete later this year. 

"Once he successfully completes the remaining three peaks, China will gain one more climber in the elite fraternity of 14 eight-thousanders summiteers — a remarkable achievement that will place him among the world's finest high-altitude mountaineers," Mingma G said.

For Lakpa Chhiri Sherpa, the third member of the summit team, Nanga Parbat marks a personal milestone of a different kind — his first climb outside Nepal and China. Though well regarded within the Nepali Sherpa climbing community, with summits on Everest, Lhotse, Manaslu and Annapurna in Nepal and Muztagh Ata in China, he had never previously climbed in Pakistan. He joined the Imagine Nepal team in 2025 during an Everest-Lhotse expedition where he successfully summited both peaks, and this season's Nanga Parbat ascent extends his reach to one of the Karakoram's most formidable mountains. 

"For Lakpa Chhiri, this marks his first climb in Pakistan. Although he is a well-known climber within the Nepalese Sherpa community, he had never climbed outside Nepal and China prior to this expedition," Mingma G noted.

The team's pace on Nanga Parbat, base camp to summit in just three days, reflects both the physical conditioning of the three climbers and the precision of Imagine Nepal's logistics on the mountain. 

All three will now travel to Skardu for a few days of rest before continuing their trek toward Broad Peak base camp, where the next chapter of the season awaits, Mingma G confirmed.

Kili Pemba Sherpa's completion of all 14 peaks adds another name to a list that remains among the most exclusive in sport — and one that, over the past decade, has been increasingly shaped by Nepali climbers redefining what it means to be a mountaineer on the world stage.