Nepali Women Climbers Gaining Foothold in the Himalaya

By Ramyata Limbu

This spring three Nepali women will attempt Mt. Everest - the world's highest peak. If she succeeds, Lakpa Sherpa, who is attempting the mountain from the northern side will become the only woman in the world to climb Everest five times, just five climbs short of her lifelong goal to climb the mountain ten times. If they succeed, Moni Mulepati, 23, a member of the Rotary Centennial Everest Expedition 2005 and Sushmita Maskey, 24, a member of the Everest Peace Expedition will join the handful of Nepali women, to date all Sherpas - who have conquered Everest.

Pasang Lhamu Sherpa became the first Nepali woman to climb Everest in 1993 but she died on the descent. Lakpa Sherpa successfully made her first summit from the south side in 2000 as part of the five member Nepali Women's Millennium Everest Expedition. A day after Lakpa's success, Pemba Doma Sherpa climbed the mountain from the northern side. In 2001, she climbed the mountain from Nepal side.

Since 2000, Lakpa has been on Everest three more times. She climbed the mountain from the north side in 2001, took a break in 2002 to have a baby, and, then returned to the mountain in 2003 with her teenage sister Ming Kippa Sherpa in tow. Ming Kippa's success on the mountain, the 15-year-old had never owned a pair of crampons or been through training - reinforced the belief that Sherpas have a natural resilience, strength, and ability at high altitude.

Nepal's most successful female mountaineer, Lakpa, who spent her childhood herding yak in the shadow of Mt. Makalu, has set her sights on conquering Everest twice this year. Her future plans include climbing Everest and K2 in the same season and climbing Everest from one side and descending from the other side.

The involvement of Nepali women in mountaineering is recent. Despite earlier attempts by women from the Nepal Police Force on climbing peaks below 6000m in the early eighties, and an attempt by Ang Rita Sherpa on a climbing peak in the seventies, most recent mountaineering attempts by Nepali women have been focused on Everest. Encouraged by husbands, close kin, and the international renown and exposure Sherpa men have enjoyed as climbers ever since Tenzing Norgary Sherpa set foot on Everest along with Hillary in 1953, these attempts have been dominated by Sherpa women.

"Everest is not a technically challenging mountain but it is the highest and that's where the fame and glory lie," says Nimmi Sherpa, one of Nepal's well-known female climbers and the only woman to complete a basic and advanced climbing course at the elite climbing school ENSA from Chamonix, France. In 1984 Nimmi climbed Nuptse 7865m without oxygen. A member of the much-publicized 1993 Indo-Nepalese women's Everest Expedition, Nimmi reached the South Summit that year. The other Nepali member Upasana Malla made it till Camp 1 before succumbing to the altitude. She runs a small trekking agency today.

Seven of the 19-member team reached the summit that season including 18-year-old Dikki Dolma from India. Encouraged by Dikki's success, a young Dawa Yangzi Sherpa, a porter on the 1993 Indo-Nepalese Women's Expedition, joined the Nepali women's millennium expedition. Her hopes of fame and fortune were shattered when she reached just above 8000 m before succumbing to the altitude. While she helps out at home in Khumjung, her village in the Everest region, Dawa, a mother of a four year-old boy, still has hopes to climb.

Nimmi, the first female executive member of the largely male dominated Nepal Mountaineering Association NMA, successfully manages Alpine Trekking with her husband Lhakpa. She also coordinates the Female Outdoor Leadership Training, a programme started by Eco Himal, an Austrian non-government organisation dedicated to improving the living conditions of mountain people by focusing on ecological, social and cultural aspects.

"The aim has been to encourage women's participation in non-traditional fields such as climbing and mountaineering, in tourism, in the hope that they will emerge as leaders in this field," says Nimmi. Since the programme began in collaboration with NMA in 1999, 91 women have completed the training, which focuses on building outdoor survival skills, trekking, climbing, and first aid.

Largely dominated by Sherpa candidates, over the years, it has attracted urban, educated, young women, too. Both Sushmita and Moni are non-Sherpa. "I joined the training between study break in 2003," says Moni, a Business Management student. She found that she enjoyed the challenge the outdoors provided and with Sushmita went on to complete the basic and advanced climbing training conducted annually by NMA.

"I want to correct the misconception that only western and Sherpa women can climb mountains, to prove that urban Nepali women can climb Everest just like the Sherpas," Sushmita told the national daily Kantipur before leaving for the Everest region. As part of their training and preparation for Everest, both Moni and Sushmita have climbed smaller peaks (below 6000m) like Island Peak and Yala Peak. Two other trainees of the Female Outdoor Leadership Training, Maya Sherpa and Lhamu Chotti Sherpa, have climbed peaks in Tibet.