The Women

Compared to most foreign expeditions, the Nepalese women's team is young, inexperienced and financially disadvantaged. A normal Everest expedition team would have had the experience of climbing at least one other peak at an altitude of 6,000 meters or more. The 1996 Indian women's Everest expedition, for example, trained rigorously and climbed the 7,822 meter Nanda Devi peak prior to their Everest attempt.

However, what the Nepalese women's team lacks in experience, it makes up for in courage, drive and determination. There is also a strong fatalistic element that surrounds this climb. The women believe that they will succeed and that God will see them through. The limitations of their climbing abilities or experience seem secondary.

Dawa Yangzi Sherpa

Another young Sherpa woman proved her climbing abilities in the Austrian Alps. Dawa Yangzi, 20, the youngest member of the expedition says she would rather face Everest than Kathmandu's taxi drivers. Dawa's parents had warned her to be ware of city men who lure unsuspecting village girls to sell to brothels in India. A Khumjung native, Dawa also started working as a porter at a young age.

In 1993 when she was on an Indian women's expedition, an 18-year-old had reached the Everest summit.

"I thought how come we Nepalese haven't done it, we can do this too. Since then I have wanted to climb Everest very much. I was very upset when I returned from that trip, I was only a coolie, a porter carrying other people's loads and didn't have enough money to try to reach the Everest summit," she says.

When a cousin's brother told her of the women's expedition, Dawa knew she had to be a part of it.

UPDATE

DAWA YANGZI, 25

I'm currently living with my parents in Khumjung, where I help plant potatoes, buckwheat and with the household chores. Since my son is quite young, I can't leave him and go far. I'll stay at home for a couple of years till he's older.

During the 2000 Everest expedition, I gained a lot of experience about climbing. Before that Everest expeditions just meant the tons of sweets, chocolates, goodies that were taken up to Base Camp. Later I realised that Everest meant fame, fortune and opportunity. But I haven't been able to utilise my experience. So my economic status is the same. Soon after I came back, I got married and had a baby. I haven't been on a trek or expedition. I've had a couple of opportunities. I was asked to go to Xishapangma but since I was pregnant my mother didn't let me go. After having the baby, I got a chance to go to Amadablam as Sherpa support staff. But I couldn't leave the baby - he was still nursing. It would be hard to leave the baby, hard for me and hard for the people at home who would have to take care of him. So I'm basically helping out at home, doing what I've always done.

I have received a certain amount of fame. When I was heading up towards Everest Base Camp in 2000, I came across a group of locals who were talking about the women's expedition, including about myself. I was right there. They didn't recognise me but they knew me by name. If I hadn't been on the 2000 Women's Everest Expedition who would know of me? Sometimes media people come by seeking me out.

My parents and husband are pretty supportive about me wanting to climb. They say I shouldn't miss a good opportunity if it comes by, that I should climb when I'm still young and make a name for myself if I can. But I've realised, it's easy to do what you want when you're single and free. But now that I'm married I need to think of the baby, my family, my husband, consult with them.

I know some young girls who would love to climb Everest given the opportunity. Some have asked me to help them. But how can I? Who would I approach? Since 2000, I've heard that Lhakpa climbed Everest from Tibet and is trying again this year. Pemba Doma Sherpa also made her second ascent of Everest from Nepal. That's about it, I haven't heard of any other Nepali woman climbing..

Before Everest, I used to work as a porter, a yak driver, and any odd job that I could get. But after Everest, one tends to aim for bigger things. People know you, you not only make a name for yourself but for your village, you win respect for women as a whole. I didn't reach the top. So if I get a chance, I want to get to the summit, go abroad, travel the world, make good money. When the baby's bigger, I'll leave him with my parents. Now, he'll be too much trouble for them. My husband wouldn't be very happy, either. Climbing smaller peaks doesn't really count. I want to climb Everest just once. Since having my son, I may have lost a lot of weight and look thinner. That's probably because he's still nursing. But I'm still strong.

When we were young, my friends and I were in awe of Pasang Lhamu. I remember talking about how it would be great to get a chance to go to Everest. Some friends said women couldn't do it. I insisted that women could. When the news of her death came, we speculated on how she died, whether she was blown off the mountain, had fallen into a crevasse, or died in an avalanche. I wondered whether death was instantaneous or whether she had survived on Everest for a couple of days. But when I was on the mountain, I felt no fear.

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