Lhakpa Sherpa scales Mt Everest nine times breaking own record

KATHMANDU: A Nepali woman climber today broke her own world record by scaling Mt Everest for the ninth time.

Lhakpa Sherpa (44) stood atop the summit of world’s highest mountain for the ninth time from the North Col (Tibetan side) as a handful of climbers got a fair window to make their final summit pushes this morning, according to expedition organisers.

Mingma Gelu Sherpa, Managing Director at Seven Summit Adventure told THT from the base camp that Lhakpa along with a team led by Alex Abramov made it to the summit at around 5:40 am.

Born in Makalu VDC of Sankhuwasabha, Lhakpa scaled Mt Everest from Tibet side for the 8th time in the last spring season.

Without having any formal training on mountain climbing, Lhakpa, who grew up with 11 siblings, first climbed Mt Everest from Nepal side in 2000. Lhakpa had reportedly scaled Mt Everest eight months after the birth of her first daughter and while she was two months pregnant with her second child.

Except Lhakpa, no other woman in the world has scaled the peak so many times till date.

According to Sherpa, she wants to climb Mt Everest for at least 10 times. “I have been climbing mountains for women’s empowerment,” Lhakpa told THT while leaving for Tibet last month.