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.

Mingma Yangzi Sherpa, Deputy Leader

A cook on several expeditions, Deputy Leader and a mother of two, Mingma Yangzi Sherpa is from Khumjung, in the Khumbu region. She wanted to climb Everest with her husband, an expedition leader who encouraged her to train and promised to see to it that she reached the summit.

"He told me that I'd be famous and that we would both benefit. I was happy that my husband wanted so much for me," says the 32-year-old Mingma Yangzi.

The stage was set. The couple would attempt the mountain as a team. While they trained together, Mingma's husband realized she was much stronger than he was. He changed his mind. He wanted her to accompany him as a porter, carrying the oxygen cylinders he would require for his ascent.

"I was shattered. This man who had told me that he'd make sure that I got to the top now wanted me to go as his porter. It killed my desire to climb," says Mingma.

The couple divorced and Mingma forgot her mountaineering ambitions while she concentrated on raising two children and running a small lodge in Tengboche from where she has a clear view of the peak. But when foreign guests would repeatedly ask her about climbing in the Himalayas, she realized that there was just so much second-hand information she could pass along.

"There is a vast difference in experiencing something and simply hearing about it," she says.

In 1995 Mingma's desire to climb was rekindled when an American friend invited her to join an expedition. That same year she started training again.

When the women's expedition 2000 was announced, Mingma was a strong candidate because she had proved her climbing skills while training in the Austrian Alps.

UPDATE

Nowadays, I shuttle between the US, Kathmandu and Tengboche. I visit the US in summer, I spend the winter in Kathmandu with my kids and during the spring and autumn tourist seasons, I'm up here at the lodge in Tengboche. I just returned from a 12-day trek with friends in the Everest area. During this autumn season, I'll probably lead a group from New Zealand on a trek up to Base Camp and Kalapathar.

Business has improved since the 2000 Everest expedition. People come seeking me and many of my friends, trekking guides, send their groups up here to meet me. Nowadays quite a few people know of me. When they hear that I was up at 7400 m, they are impressed. Some of them say I was right to return after having a bad dream - that it was my mind working. But I regret not going to the top. If people seek you out, take pictures with you just because you've been up to Camp III, imagine what it would be like if I had reached the summit. Many ask me questions about Everest. I try to answer them even if my English is not that great. Maybe they're interested because I'm a woman. Probably, there wouldn't have been much interest if I were a man. I'm also a friendly, outgoing person. Look at Dawa Yangzi. She went higher than I did. People are interested in my friends. But since she lives in the village it's difficult to trace her since she doesn't have a lodge or a proper address.

I would like to guide high altitude expeditions. But I haven't got a chance, yet. I feel awkward to ask. It's difficult for women to act pushy. This time I did manage to get my brother-in-law work at Camp II. When he said he was feeling the altitude, I offered to go in his place, as camp cook or kitchen hand. Spring season at the lodge wasn't so busy. But the expedition organisers said it was too late. Whenever I see people going up to base Camp. I have this urge to go. The Indian team has asked me to come up to Base Camp to buy their leftover provisions after the expedition. They were pleased to know that I had been up on Everest.

My children feel happy when people mention that their mother has been on Everest. I overheard my daughter, who speaks fluent English, telling some Russian climbers staying at the lodge that both her parents had been on Everest. She said she didn't want to climb, though. She likes talking to foreigners at the lodge about me. I haven't remarried. I don't want to. It will soon be time for my kids to marry. My son's 19. In a couple of years, he'll probably get married. People from this region marry early. I do have a friend but we have an open relationship, like in the west, not very Sherpa-like. But I prefer it that way. It means we have no claims over each other, are free to do what we want. Minds might change, you may meet someone new. My previous husband was very controlling. He didn't like it when I socialised with other people. I enjoy my freedom. I meet and socialise with who I like, do what I want, explore my interests. There is no question of my friend telling me if I can or cannot climb.

I know my kids are not happy with my climbing aspirations. They get upset whenever I talk to foreigners about climbing. They fear that I'll go again. I can't talk about climbing at home or with my kids. But this hasn't affected my interest. You have to do what you have to do. They're not interested in climbing - even if they have to starve. And they don't want me to climb. My children and most of their cousins study in Kathmandu. Kids in Kathmandu are not at all interested in climbing. My nephew Dawa who manages the lodge in my absence says he'll never go up a mountain. He'd rather run the lodge or do business. He says hanging onto rocks is no good. I don't have brothers or a father, no men in my immediate family. My sister and mother cried when I went to Everest in 2000, they were not very happy. If I had got their full support, an encouraging message even while I was at camp 2 or 3, may be I would have gone ahead. But mom would cry, my sister would cry, my kids were unhappy and kept saying they would be at a loss if anything happened to me ­ that their father wasn't very supportive. Maybe all this affected my thoughts. If anything did happen what would happen to my children. Now they are more mature. But my family is still not very supportive. Can't blame them, though. No one in my immediate family has been to Everest before.

There's an increasing interest in climbing, especially among the girls of the Solu or lower Everest area. Girls in the Khumbu or upper Everest area where I'm from don't seem to be so keen. Till 2000, there wasn't much interest in women climbing but our women's team changed that. It proved that women could do it. Currently, there's an advanced climbing training camp taking place up at Base Camp. Four of the trainees are girls. They're all from the Solu area.

Previously when I went trekking, I had little experience. But now I have plenty of first-hand expedition experience. I can organize groups and guide well. When people learn that you've been on Everest, they trust you, your experience. Your confidence grows. If I got a chance to go again, I'd go much slower. Even if I had a dream, I wouldn't let it or any superstition influence my decision. Some friends might say I made a wise decision in 2000, that my mind was in control. But I feel guilty that I didn't go all the way. If I go again, I'll be armed with more experience. I think about Everest everyday.

When Pasang Lhamu went to Everest in 1993, I didn't know much about the climbing world. She stayed at my lodge in Dingboche, Mingma was still married, then on her way to Everest. I just used to wonder why people went. It was after 1996, when I was took part in a climbing training in the region that my interest grew. I was very agile. That was the first time I wore a climbing helmet and crampons. Prior to that I had been to Amadablam and Everest but still wasn't interested in climbing. My husband had asked me to go to Tibet, but I didn't. It was only after that training and another training course in Austria that my interest grew. Following the training, Asian Trekking contacted me for the 2000 Women's Everest Expedition.

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