Lhakpa Sherpa, who ascended Mt Everest for the tenth time on May 12 at age 48, is being honoured as the 'Most Powerful Woman' by US President Joe Biden in October.

She says she is addicted to the mountains and wants to keep climbing

KATHMANDU, JUNE 4

It was in 2000 that a young Lhakpa Sherpa aged 26 became the first Nepali woman to successfully climb and descend Mt Everest.

However, her journey of scaling the highest peak in the world had only just begun - she has gone on to scale Mt Everest a total of 10 times, the highest for any woman in the world. Her tenth ascent was on May 12 at age 48.

In the lap of mighty mountains

Born in a cave in Mt Makalu, a neighbouring mountain of Everest, Lhakpa grew up admiring the mighty mountains, and she always wanted to conquer them.

Her village was one of remotest places in Nepal then with neither education nor healthcare facilities. 'I learnt about wildlife by living in the jungle. I learnt to start a fire without matchsticks. I learnt many good things in life without books, without reading. That was my life coming from a mountain,' said Lhakpa who alongside being a mountaineer is also a fierce believer of women's potential.

She grew up in an era when women were not allowed to get an academic education. She remembers carrying her younger brother to school that was made of bamboo and devoid of tables, because of her strong build. She joked how her mother used to call her 'yellow bus' referring to the colour of school buses.

With education being out of her reach due to her gender, Lhakpa she would occasionally eavesdrop from the door to know what the boys in class learnt.

She sang - 'Kapuri ka, mutuka, giaguru ga,' - laughing and remembering how the teacher used to teach the Nepali alphabets to her brother.

'I might have forgotten how I felt during my first summit in 2000, but I haven't forgotten what that teacher taught,' she laughed.

Though she could not get formal education, Lhakpa assures she had a good life. 'My dad had a small business - he used to sell goats, chyaangra, sheep, and their wool. 'Every Dashain 200-300 people from the Gurung community used to come to our place to buy the herds,' she recalled adding, 'He was a good dad.'

'We had a farm. Our parents had a lot of children (11 in total) but provided us with good food. My parents were very loving, my dad would always say 'good job' to me no matter what job I did. It made me proud,' she elaborated.

Lhakpa said that she was very strong physically as a child.

'I would fight with the boys in my place, wrestle them, beat and throw them around. But my sisters had tiny bodies, so I was like police for my siblings.

They would be like monarchs, and I was their security. If anyone touched them, I would beat the offenders. If my friends would be in trouble, they would call me to fight the other party.'

With a strong build like that of a man, Lhakpa always felt like a different woman. She chuckled, 'Americans call me tomboy. I am a tough woman.'

And even today she said 'though I'm over 40, I am very strong'.

Y2K: First ascent

Lhakpa started dreaming of her summit when she was 11 following her father who was a local guide in Makalu. She then went on to learn mountaineering from pioneer mountaineer - Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, who opened mountaineering opportunities for women by becoming the first Nepali women to summit Mt Everest in 1993.

She successfully ascended Mt Everest on April 22, 1993, but lost her life while descending the same day.

Reminiscing about her first ascent (of Mt Everest) in 2000, Lhakpa said, 'In Nepal, it was taboo for women to climb mountains. They used to say - 'Why are you climbing mountains? That is a man's job'. We could not even hang out with men or talk to them. There was a different kind of life, different kind of mindset.'

But despite all the criticism, Lhakpa ascended and descended Mt Everest in 2000, becoming the first Nepali woman to do so.

'My first experience of climbing the Everest was in the women's expedition back in 2000. I had climbed various peaks of Nepal, so I decided to summit Everest. You need to have a dream to do something.

It's like making a house. You need to have a map first, only then can you build a house.'

'I have a special technique in my brain - I make a mental map before climbing. I feel I can climb any mountain.'

Of her first ascent of Mt Everest, Lhapka recalled, 'I was very young, I don't really remember, but I felt cool. I was not scared.

I had a crush on guys, I liked some Sherpas.'

Following her first ascent, Lhakpa summitted Everest in the years 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2022.

She has also climbed Mt Makalu and Mt Manaslu.

Focus on the mountains

Lhakpa left Nepal after her marriage to Romanian-American climber George Dijamarescu in 2002. She went to the US, but did not abandon her dream of summiting Mt Everest again.

Her dream has always been 'to earn money, and come to Nepal to climb the Everest'.

She shared, 'I don't wear nail polish, I don't wear makeup, I don't wear good clothes. I just work hard in the US as I want to climb mountains.'

And she has been realising her dream of climbing mountains with lots of hard work.

Lhakpa resides in the US and does physical jobs like loading and unloading goods from trucks. She wakes up at 4:00 am to reach her work by 6:00 am, and makes time for climbing small peaks in the US when free. Even though she returns tired from work at 7:00-8:00 pm, her sole focus is the mountain peaks.

She also works as a climbing guide for hills in the US as well as in Nepal.

In the past she used to do jobs like dishwashing, loading and unloading fruits from trucks, and fruit chopping in a grocery store in the US. The only focus of all her hard work is ultimately the mountains, as per Lhakpa who believes her difficult manual job equips her with the physical strength needed to climb mountains.

She saves money from every pay cheque and once she collects enough she comes to Nepal to climb the Everest, again.

Lhakpa shared, 'The more you work, the bigger the cheque in the US. So I work hard. I worked hard so that I could summit Everest 10 times,' and revealed that one needs around Rs 20 to Rs 30 lakhs to summit Mt Everest.

'Now that I have achieved my goal, I like to think my hard work has been paid back,' she added. She wants to climb Everest again as Lhakpa said, 'Everest is my doctor. It heals me. I can't help but come back to it. I go to the US, work hard, come back to the Everest and heal.'

She also conducts guided expeditions to New England Hike Areas, among other places.

During such expeditions she often plays the role of a team leader. As a team leader, she tells her team, 'If you are in my team, you should follow my rules. My main rule is 'Do you want to climb Everest 100 per cent?' If yes, anyone can do it. I keep my team focussed and patient. We don't give up.'

Being a woman

Lhakpa believes that women are very strong and can do anything.

'We are like the weather, like nature. Sometimes we are angry, sometimes happy, sometimes sad, just like nature, which sometimes rains, sometimes thunders, and sometimes snows.'

Having said so, it is still difficult for women in the mountains, as per Lhakpa, who shared the total duration of climbing Everest is two months.

'But it is difficult for women during their menstruation.

Some women have stomachaches.

Some have mood swings. It is easier if one gets her period during a rest day while in the mountains. But if it happens while ascending, one cannot stop because of their periods,' she shared as she revealed women bring back their sanitary waste to the Base Camp.

Lhakpa recalled her personal experience of 2006, while summiting the Everest. She did not get her periods throughout her ascent and descent. 'I thought it must be because of the cold.

However, upon returning from the Everest, when the doctors checked my oxygen levels, they found out that I was two-anda-half months pregnant with my youngest daughter.'

She had such challenging moments during her Everest summits, yet 'people don't understand that I have climbed Everest 10 times because I work very hard'.

She added, 'Many people say, 'Lhakpa summited Everest 10 times, so it must be very easy'. But I know how hard I work to make my dream a reality - I have work very hard with my sweat, my blood for it.'

Everest through her eyes

Lhakpa, who grew up among the bright blue glistening mountains, observed that the mountains in the Everest area looked black this time.

'When I had climbed (Everest) in 2018, there was a lot of ice but now the ice has melted.

We can see rock, the ice is seen only in corners. The glaciers have melted,' she remarked.

Yet she is happy that the number of people climbing Everest has increased. 'Everybody wants to go to the top of the world. I have done it. I love it. I love to support anyone wanting to climb the Everest,' she expressed.

However, she was disappointed that the money the climbers pay to climb Everest is not being put to proper use as she could see a lot of garbage on the Everest. 'Even though people/Sherpas were trying to collect it, it is not enough,' she said as she suggested the government to form a team to collect the garbage after people descend.

'If done so, it could attract more tourists, and the Nepali government would become an international example,' she said.

Mountains and her

'Mountaineering is like going to college - same clothes, same shoes, same rope,' Lhakpa joked.

This was one of the many instances when the mountaineer would crack jokes in between the interview revealing her fun side.

'I am not a boring person. I like jokes, I like to have fun.

Everybody has sadness, but we must have happy things too.

Sometimes we get sad, get mad but without happiness we die.

Like nature, we need to bring everything together that can keep our mind fresh. I coped with my depression similarly after my divorce,' said Lhakpa, a single mother to two daughters and a son.

She takes pride in being a single mother who is 'a very loving, but strict mother'.

She wants her children to be educated. Her eldest daughter is already an engineer.

'I am an old lady - I just focus on the mountains and my children. I cannot fall in love with anybody. I need to make money to send my son to a shining college, get a shining car. I need to pay my bills,' she said while also reminiscing: 'But earlier, (when) I was a teenager, I used to focus on boys ... I had crushes on guys too.'

Now her focus is mostly the mountains: 'Mountaineering is like a drug to me. I am addicted to it. But when I go to the mountains, I make sure I don't die there. I come back home and do my job.'

She also called the mountains her doctor: 'They make me more healthy, more active, stronger, happier... they heal my heart.'

She was invited by the Harvard University and the Yale University to talk about her mountaineering journey.

She was in awe of the young students there.

Along with mountains she is fond of skylines. 'In the US, when I see big, nice buildings, I think about the engineer who made those buildings.

Mountaineering is hard, but making a building is harder.

People have such power. I bow down in front of big buildings, big bridges, like I bow down in front of mountains.'

For all that she has achieved as a mountaineer, Lhakpa is being awarded as the 'Most Powerful Woman' by the US President Joe Biden, in October, in the White House, USA.

She has plans to scale the second highest peak in the world, Mt K2 soon and will organise an Everest women's expedition in 2023.

'It (the expedition) would be special for me as it would be 30 years since Pasang Lhamu Sherpa's death,' said Lhakpa who plans to invite women from across the globe to join her in the expedition to climb the Everest.

The passionate mountaineer said, 'Mountains have taught me to keep persevering, work hard, to do whatever comes your way. They have taught me to become industrious, to fight with mountains, summit, not to give up.'

So, what does this successful mountaineer advise people looking to achieve success in life? 'Do not ever steal, do not ever lie. Do what you want if it is a good thing. Follow good leaders and one day you will be successful,' she said.

A version of this article appears in the print on June 5, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.