"A strange thought floated through Apa Sherpa's mind as his airplane landed at SLC International Airport on Sunday afternoon. "I said to myself, 'Home, sweet home,' " the Nepalese native recalled later that day at a celebration among about 30 friends and family members, recognizing his record-setting 18th summit of Mount Everest on May 22. After more than 30 years of leading mostly Western climbers up Everest's tricky - and often deadly - slopes, Sherpa moved to Utah in 2006, intent on providing a better education for his children. "So that they wouldn't have to go up the mountain," he often says. Even by Beehive State standards, the culture shock was intense. But the humble Sherpa found good friends, a job helping to design outdoor products with a Salt Lake City company, and even a few nice hiking trails in the Wasatch Mountains that, with just a little imagination, reminded him of home."
Source: SLTribune
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