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.

Lakpa Sherpa, Expedition Leader

Because of Lakpa's initiative to form the women's Everest team, she is also the leader.

"As a child, I followed the trail that westerners used to take, there were a group of us who tagged along. We would help them retrieve things from the various camps when they were unable to continue. They would give us a little bit of money," Lakpa says.

Her family is from Sankhuwasabha, east of the Everest region. Like many Sherpa families, Lakpa's mother and sisters farm while her brothers are in the climbing business.

She started working as a porter from the age of 15 carrying the standard 30 kilo loads for treks and expeditions. The tallest of a family of 11 brothers and sisters and born at an altitude of 4,400 meters, Lakpa's mother always told her she would one day make her family proud. Lakpa is determined to fulfil her mother's prophecy.

Lakpa Sherpa & Min Kippa Sherpa Climb in 2003

Two Sherpa sisters, Lakpa Sherpa, 29, and younger sister Ming Kippa Sherpa (her passport details say birth date 1980 but they're claiming she's younger) are set to climb Mt Everest from the north side in Tibet next week (around the 15 th or 16th May), weather permitting. In Kathmandu, elder sister Kidiki Sherpa is praying hard for good weather.

"I do hope the weather takes a turn for the better," says Kidiki whose come down from the remote village of Balakharka in eastern Nepal to mind Lhakpa's lodgings in Kathmandu and to hold the fort while her sisters are on the mountain. "In phone conversations, both my sisters say they are feeling strong and healthy. They are not suffering from high altitude headaches. If the weather gives they say they've got a very good chance."

Brother Mingma Gelu Sherpa, 24, a former Everest summiteer, is also trying his luck for the third time while a cousin brother Pasang Sherpa is helping out at Base Camp. Reports from Base Camp, however, haven't been encouraging. "Strong winds and snow have caused havoc, blowing away tents at Base Camp, leaving expedition teams running for cover and forcing climbers off the mountain," says Dawa Sherpa of Asian Trekking. One of Nepal's foremost expedition organizers, Asian Trekking is operating eight expeditions on the north side of Everest, including the Romanian Everest Expedition 2003 of which Lhakpa and her sister Ming Kippa were on the Nepali staff.

Seated in the cramped confines of Lakpa's lodgings, a little TV her only companion, Kidiki waits patiently for the phone to ring with updates of her sisters' progress. The girls' mother is scheduled to arrive from their village in a week while another sister, Pasang, will be flying in from France.

"I'm sure we'll be able to see Lakpa on TV again if she summits," says Kidiki. The seventh of twelve siblings - eight sisters and four brothers - Lakpa has become a household name in Nepal since she first climbed Everest from the south side in the spring of 2000 as a member of the Nepali Women's Millennium Everest Expedition. She climbed for the second time in spring 2001 from Tibet. Ming Kippa appears to want to follow in her sister's footsteps.

Says Kidiki, "Ming Kippa's never done any climbing in her life. Of course, she's been grazing livestock at high altitudes since she was young and is very sturdy. So, when she expressed an interest to climb, Lakpa decided Ming Kippa would accompany her." The family lives in the remote highlands of east Nepal, where they own about 20-30 yaks, produce milk and butter and sell them to villagers and to trekkers passing through. Family members take turns to run a small tea shop at the base of Mt. Makalu, another 8000 meter peak.

Since she climbed Everest in 2000, Lakpa has been shuttling between the US and Nepal, guiding treks, brushing up her English and trying to spend time with her adolescent son who attends boarding school in Kathmandu. She's making sure that he gets a proper education," says sister Kidiki. Except for three boys in the family and a younger sister, none of the siblings have attended school.

"Since the nearest village school is quite a distance away, there is no question of sending kids to school until they're older like 10 or 11 and are able to look out for themselves," says Kidiki whose 6-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter still don't go to school. Children often help with household chores and take the livestock out to graze."

next character >>