        |
 |
     |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
    
PROJECT DESCRIPTION "Daughters of Everest" is a film about five Sherpa women's expedition on Mount Everest and what this means to them as the first Nepalese women's team to scale the holy mountain. To the Sherpa people, an ethnic group famous for their prowess as porters and mountain guides, the mountain is a literal Goddess, a female deity whose power and reach are omnipotent. But Sherpa women have been strongly discouraged from climbing her holy glaciers, barred by traditions and social biases that relegate women to support and logistical roles in the climbing industry of Nepal. The women's expedition was organized in the year 2000, 47 years after the first Nepalese man summited Everest. The film is not just about their ascent of Everest but more about the women's characters, their backgrounds and how they interact with each other as well as their male support Sherpas. In 1998, when 26-year old Lakpa Sherpa was working as a porter, she sent a letter to Prime Minister G.P. Koirala asking for support for a women's expedition to Everest. In 1999 when Koirala was no longer Prime Minister he found her letter in his files and became interested in Lakpa's idea. For Lakpa, his interest was an answer to her prayers. 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 felt unable to continue. They would give us a little bit of money," Lakpa says. Her family is from the Makalu region, southeast of Everest. 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 fulfill her mother's prophecy. 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. But when things didn't work out, 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. 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. 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. 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. The women's team is rounded off with 22-year-old Dolma Sherpa who has trained with the Nepal Mountaineering Association and also climbed in Manang and to the Annapurna Base Camp. At the last minute, 25-year old Kasang Dikki Sherpa wanted to join the women's team. Although Dikki has also done the Austrian mountaineering course, she is not as fit as the other team members and lacks the sturdiness of the other mountain-raised expedition members. Unlike many expeditions, this team has never worked together before, so their sponsors send them on an week long training trip, a month before they set off for Everest Base Camp. Not much time to train for the mountain that's sometimes referred to as "The Death Zone". However, this does not deter Lakpa and her companions. She refuses even to think of issues such as poor weather conditions and physical fatigue standing in their way. The climbers cannot imagine the expedition's outcome as anything but successful. "My brothers keep telling me that we women won't make it, that Everest requires great strength of mind. At that high altitude, even to pick up a pair of sun glasses right next to you requires so much effort," Lakpa says. "We'll prove them wrong." TREATMENT AND STYLE The scenic beauty of the Himalayan region contrasts with the harsh realities of the Sherpa community's existence as high altitude porters. The women's interpretation of the expedition and their world will unfold through extensive interviews, glimpses of the team in training, in worship, at work and at play. This film contains elements of both traditional and cinema verité documentary. Interviews with each member at different stages in the journey help to expand on their thoughts and experiences, while brief on the spot interviews capture their feelings in the midst of a situation. Over the course of the film, we come to understand each woman's character, her personal and cultural beliefs. We observe their interactions with one another as they choose roles for themselves within the team. The film culminates with the outcome of the team's efforts on their summit attempt.
|
 |
