Kathmandu. Ang Rita Sherpa, the record-breaking mountaineer who scaled Mount Everest ten times without the help of oxygen, breathed his last today morning at his daughter’s residence in Jorpati, Kathmandu.

Born in 1948 in Solukhumbu, Sherpa was famously known as the ‘Snow Leopard’. He started summiting Mount Everest in 1983 and scaled it without oxygen for the last time in 1996. His last rites are being performed on Wednesday according to the Buddhist customs.

According to Sherpa’s family sources, he retired from his profession when late King Birendra asked him to do so after his health declined during the course of an expedition. Sherpa used to tell reporters that he did not ask for anything in spite of late King Birendra’s query in that regard. He was decorated with the Trishakti Patta and Gorkha Dakshin Bahu, among others by the then government.

The famous mountaineer, who glorified Nepal’s name worldwide, was reportedly offered amenities by India to remain there but he declined. According to his daughter Doma, the Nepal Mountaineering Association has been regularly supporting him with a monthly allowance of fifteen thousand rupees due to his poor financial status. He is survived by three sons and a daughter. His wife had passed away three years ago. RSS