Dr. Nyima Namgyal Sherpa KCC Doctor / Director of KCC Medical Program
Dr. Nyima is a mountain medicine doctor from Khumjung, who splits his time between working as a doctor on mountaineering expeditions and running his own medical practice in Kathmandu. Through his work as an expedition doctor, Dr. Nyima specializes in medicine for high altitude mountaineering, climbing and trekking. He frequently works as a doctor on Everest expeditions during the trekking season, and has worked for Himalayan Experience with Russell Brice. Among the many medical cases Dr. Nyima has treated, a few include: Rescues and injuries (head, arm, leg), Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), and High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE). Dr. Nyima has also treated patients on the front lines of some of Nepal’s most tragic mountain disasters. In 2012 he was the only doctor present to treat patients injured in the Manaslu avalanche. In 2014 he was present to treat patients in the avalanche that struck the Khumbu Icefall on Everest and in the snowstorm that hit the Annapurna region (list number killed). He also participated in rescues on a disaster that took place on Dhaulagiri (8,000m peak), which left climbers trapped due to an avalanche (5 body recoveries and 24 lives rescued). In 2015 Dr. Nyima was 1 out of 5 at Everest Base Camp when the first Nepal Earthquake triggered avalanches that hit basecamp with a windblast, leaving 70+ casualties and 18 dead. Dr. Nyima bravely chose to stay at Base Camp after the disaster to help survivors until May 2. Overall, Dr. Nyima has worked on 4 Everest expeditions, 2 Manaslu expeditions, and 2 Ama Dablam expeditions. He also has plans to lead his own Denali expedition in 2016, and eventually to do the 7 summits. Dr. Nyima decided to become a mountain medicine doctor in an effort to give back to the mountain communities he encountered by growing up in the mountains. He attended medical school in China, a pre hospital emergency medicine program in the UK, and a mountain emergency medical program in EURAC in Italy. That makes him the only certified mountain doctor in Nepal. Outside of Nepal, Dr. Nyima has participated in the ALCF NOLS program that sends KCC instructors to do a NOLS course in Wyoming. He has also worked in the UK, Italy, and Tibet/China. As if all of this work wasn’t enough, Dr. Nyima also regularly conducts trainings for medical students both in and out of Nepal. He has his own training school called Himalayan Medics and runs WFR and NOLS WMI courses in Nepal. He is also part of the Nepal Mountaineering Association’s Mountain Rescue Committee and is on the board of the Himalayan Trust. Dr. Nyima has been with KCC since 2012.
