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Lhakpa Sherpa. Photo: Christopher Beauchamp.
Lhakpa Sherpa has succeeded on her 10th summit of Mount Everest, according to the Himalayan Times and Kathmandu Post and confirmed by a member of her film crew. Previously the only woman with nine Everest summits, she has now topped her own record.
The 48-year-old climber, delayed a day by high winds, stood on top at 6:30 a.m. Thursday, May 12, local time and date, according to her brother Mingma Gelu Sherpa, managing director at Seven Summit Adventure, who was the source in both articles.
Santa Bir Lama, President of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, was quoted as saying, “Lhakpa has made the whole mountaineering industry proud.”
Lhakpa is a professional mountain guide. See her website here. She had hoped to attempt the mountain this time in 2020 but was delayed by the pandemic.
The expedition team arrived at Everest Basecamp April 26, 2022. She posted at the time: “I am in Everest Basecamp with my 15-year-old daughter Shiny and niece Jangmu. Were doing a puja for my 10th summit and all the mountaineers climbing this year. Thank you for supporting us through our journey!”
Ang Rita Sherpa, who died in 2020 at age 72, was the first man to top Everest 10 times. See “Climbers We Lost in 2020” here.
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I was the first Nepali woman to climb Everest and survive [May 18, 2000]. I estimate my age based on the information I heard from my family. I wasn’t born in a hospital. I have no birth certificate, and when I was a child, Sherpa people did not celebrate birthdays. Now the young generations do.
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My father was a traveling merchant. As a child, I traveled to villages far and wide with him, sometimes trekking for up to a month through mountainous terrain. I have four brothers. One of my older brothers taught me how to hike with groups of people.
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When I was 15, I worked as a porter. I would deliver supplies to base camps. At the time, it was uncommon for a girl to be a porter. I wanted to challenge boys doing that job. I told my family that I wanted to make my own money. So I set out to prove to everyone that I could handle carrying heavy loads. People told me that it was a man’s job, that no one would want to marry me.
They told me to stay home, but I really wanted to spend all my time outside. If I listened to them, I wouldn’t have gotten into mountain climbing. … I’d be stuck at home on a potato farm with 15 children.
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