Sherpa was considered by his peers to be the strongest and most skilled Sherpa guide of his time. According to Sherpa, he once signed up as a low-altitude porter in an expedition to Dhaulagiri but was made to carry equipment to Dhaulagiri-III camp, a task he successfully completed without shoes and any climbing gear. In April 1985, he successfully took the leader of the Norwegian team that he was guiding, to the summit of Mount Everest despite a blizzard. During his record-setting ascent of Everest in the winter of 1987, he assisted a South Korean team. According to Sherpa, after he and another climber got separated from the team one night, the two performed aerobic exercises all night to keep warm and alive. In 1990, he assisted a team from the Nepali Army in their Everest expedition. From the team that started its preparation with almost 50 members, only four reached the summit along with Sherpa, only one of them a soldier of the Nepali Army.