Nome, Alaska, remembers its saviors — the sled dogs and mushers who raced for more than five days through hypothermia, frostbite, gale-force winds and blinding whiteouts to deliver life-saving serum.

Ngima Nuru Sherpa is small in stature, but he stands tall in the annals of Mount Everest. The 5-foot-7, 150-pound native of ...