Phurtemba Sherpa lives in Phortse, a remote village at 3800m near Mt. Everest. He is the elder brother of Gelu Sherpa's wife, Tashi.

Phurtemba spends most of the year at Phortse with his family; he rotates crops of potatoes, buckwheat and 'green vegetable'. He has five yaks that help plow his terraced fields, transport goods to-&-from Namche Bazaar, and give milk for cheese and Sherpa Tea.

Phurtemba usually gets to work on two expeditions per year; it supplements his income from farming and the occasional carpentry job. Since 1987, he has worked for Mountain Travel Sobek as a climbing guide and trekking sherpa. Phurtemba has guided Mera Peak, Island Peak, Pokhalde, Pisang Peak and Lobuche. He climbed to the South Col on Mount Everest on a 1992 French expedition and he says that he would like to keep doing the big 8000m peaks but his "Mother won't let him".

Phurtemba Sherpa's grandfather was the head Lama at a local Buddhist monastery. He tried out the monks' life as a child but grew bored after three months and ran home to help out around the farm. Prior to 1987, he worked on Hillary projects and built schools in the Khumbu region.

Phurtemba's favorite mountain is Mera Peak because of "the good views... you can see all of the Khumbu peaks... Everest, Ama Dablam, Jannu, Kanchenjunga, Baruntse, Kangtega, Cho Oyo, Lhotse. Of the trekking peaks [he] has done, the view from Mera Peak is the best."

His favorite trekking is the Gokyo-Cho La-Kala Pattar trek in the Khumbu because of the "best views".