Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa (2023)

[bunniefuu]

I'm a night dreams.

I'm a day dreams.

And when I dream,

I see the beautiful mountain.

I go up in the mountain

I grow bigger and bigger and bigger.

I go down,

I'm a small mouse.

Base Camp, Base Camp, Base Camp.

We no go down because we really work hard

we're almost here.

One night wait here, one night try.

I want to be somebody.

I want to do something good.

I want to show my two girls

how to be brave.

Look like not give up.

Base Camp transmit, copy, copy.

10-4.

- But the people in Camp Four are going up?

- Mm-hmm.

- Yeah.

- Even in the bad weather?

No. They, they're trying

to contact Camp Four, your mom.

If any...

How many tanks of oxygen

does each person have?

It holds maybe fourteen hours.

In Sherpa culture,

Everest is Chomolungma.

It means, "God and Mother."

I respect it like my mom.

The Mountain Everest I look.

My life has hurt me, you know?

I'm hurt everywhere I go.

You know? You make me

so look like strong, look like you.

You are mountain queen.

You make me queen too.

Mmm.

Oh! Oh, beautiful!

Sunshine! Ooh!

I wish I can be all the time outdoors

but I can't, I need work

eight hours, nine hours, you know?

Whole Foods looks like a jail.

But I'm out and I feel, "Woot!"

My God I'm out of the jail.

Somebody bailed me out, you know.

The sun takes all my bad energy.

My bad energy be dried by sun

and I have good energy come

and after I go back.

I know which direction

I need to go Everest.

That's it.

Shiny,

say, "Nice working with you all."

and send heart.

I wanna change my life for my children.

But I want something, I must work hard.

- Hello.

- Hello.

Hey, Mingma, how are you doing?

Just getting Base Camp ready.

Why don't we get there

through Jiri like the old expeditions?

Okay, through Jiri.

Old Hillary's style, like

Edmund Hillary did it, on foot.

I want to do it that way.

Okay, I'll organize that.

You want to carry this, Shiny? Kathmandu?

Here.

You understand Sherpa language

a little bit, right?

- You do?

- A little.

Yeah.

I wish Sunny also come.

But my bugging no work.

I don't want to get sick though.

Like, altitude sickness.

Yeah.

This is my dad

at the top of Everest,

and he's holding a picture of his dad.

I've asked my mom about my dad,

and, like, to tell me stories,

but she wouldn't want to go there.

And my sister doesn't even

try to talk to us, really.

You okay, right, Sunny?

You okay?

I know you had many problems.

I tried my best in

changing my life, you know?

Also our life.

I go climbing up and maybe

we will change our life a little bit.

Sunny, Mama loves you.

I care about you.

But I need to go.

I need to go.

I hope you will stay nicely here,

you know?

Keep an eye on your sister.

And help her shopping.

Okay, I will.

Alright, bye.

- Bye.

- Just text me when you're in Nepal.

- Okay. Bye.

- When you arrive.

Should I begin?

I was born in Shersong, Yak Kharka.

And my parents were yak farmers.

We Sherpa is a few people.

Living a very hard life in the mountains.

And all people last name is Sherpa.

Sherpa, Sherpa, Sherpa.

First name decide by which day born.

We born Wednesday, we put a "Lhakpa."

We born Tuesday, they put a "Mingma."

At that time in Nepal system,

only boy go to school.

Girl doesn't matter.

So I carry young brother

two hours to school,

and two hours back.

No good road, you know?

I'm a very good yellow bus.

But I'm not allowed to go inside

because only boy.

One day I look, "What are they teaching?"

I still remember...

...like that teaching.

I remember. Still I remember.

Nepali A-B-C-D.

All Sherpa is make arranged marriage.

My mom and dad

and all my sisters and brothers

have arranged marriage.

They never no fall in love,

they never no kissing.

My little sister already marriage.

And I'm still no marriage because

my mom said I'm too tall, too tough

and I'm very, very bossy.

Really I'm very upset at that time.

I feel nobody like me.

I feel I'm ugly.

I told my mom,

"I never no wanna marriage look like you."

I'm living life in the mountain.

She no have an outside life.

I'm so stuck.

I'm a wild girl.

You know, nature girl.

I wanted something different.

I wanted what my heart want.

Hello.

In Hartford,

I don't talk about my home.

I don't talk about my personal life.

If kids were to ask where I lived,

I'd have to explain,

"My mom didn't have an education."

"She couldn't..." You know?

People might think you're poor.

And I just don't wanna do that.

My room, I share it with my mom,

and there are mattresses.

We don't have bed frames

or anything like that.

My mom really wanted this summit to be

the summit where everything

starts getting better for our lives.

But, I'm not sure how much

our whole life is going to change.

By my estimate

we'll reach Base Camp around April 26th.

We'll have to move slowly

with the children.

We'll be fine if we take it slowly.

The first thing

is just to get the girls to Base Camp

and we can teach them along the way.

Yes, so we'll have to go slowly.

They'll slowly figure it out.

On this expedition, Shiny

and Jangmu will stay at Base Camp.

They'll learn how we do everything there.

Jangmu and Shiny

are still domesticated,

they're like zoo tigers.

We're going to have to train them

to turn them into wild tigers, like us.

They'll figure it out eventually.

- Mmm.

- They're still young.

- We'll take it slow. Baby steps.

- Yes, baby steps.

Wow, two sporty girls.

One American girl, one Nepali Sherpani.

I'm your guide.

Nice to meet you.

You're ready for Everest Base Camp?

I'm a sherpa coming, "Hey!"

"Madam, madam, come, come."

- Hey, I'm a good guide?

- Yeah.

Here, that is Everest Base Camp.

That is the Khumbu Icefall.

We are very danger in this part.

This area's Camp Four, here.

And after Camp Four we'll walk all night

climbing up eight thousand meters.

Fifty meters technical rock climbing

and after we reach the summit.

One day I'm thinking about it:

I no see back side of the mountain.

I wish I can climbing up on top,

and I can look.

I wanna see other side who live.

I asked my grandmother.

And grandmother say,

"Yetis live there."

And I told my grandmother,

"One day I'll wanna go."

And my grandma tried to scare me.

"Oh, if you behave very bad

and yetis come in nighttime

and took you."

And my sister so scared.

In Makalu region, in my country,

when we see first tourists that came

we think it's yeti.

Very tall, blue eye, blonde hair.

"Mama, yeti coming! Yeti coming!"

Mama say, "Oh my God"

and Mama also run.

But after tourists just want

to take picture, hang around

we go slowly near them,

and we see that

blonde people's no danger.

Every year they're coming.

In that time, all the men became porters.

But woman no go porter.

I said, "Please, give me that job."

One of my cousins,

he cannot pick up big rock, you know.

I pick up this rock

and throw it like a football

and he been porter.

If I look like woman,

they no give a job for me.

So I cut the short hair.

Put a hat, look like a boy.

I pick up heavy, heavy load.

A hundred kilos, you believe?

I look like a yak with a basket.

I follow the blonde people.

My secret life.

I love it.

Every single day

I wake up my eye,

I see beautiful mountain around me.

My mama says:

"Snow leopard come eat you."

And my dad said, "Okay, let her go."

If animal coming, she fight back.

My dad told me,

because I'm not easily k*lled.

Because I'm so strong.

I say goodbye to my family.

And after,

I get bigger and bigger job, you know.

They put me "kitchen boy."

We sleep there.

Carry a kitchen tent.

And set up the camp.

That is a difficult job. I did it.

Other girls never no did kitchen boy,

only I did kitchen boy.

I learned English there too.

"Hello, good morning.

Excuse me."

I say, "Tea, tea."

I felt so proud.

And I want to learn new things.

I'll give my life to the mountains,

keep climbing until the day I die.

And I don't want to get married.

Why is that?

I was in a relationship before

but I got badly betrayed.

Is it okay

to talk about that marriage?

Mmm. Well...

We didn't actually

get married, but we were in love.

We had a son, and I'm raising him.

My son is in school now,

that's all.

Who was the father? Is he around?

Mmm... He wasn't faithful to me,

he hung around with other girls.

He looked down on me

because I grew up in the wrong village.

I'm lucky. I get a good son, Nima.

But people, they talking about me.

"Oh, shame!"

I not show my face

many, many years

to my family members.

I hide in the big city.

I clean house for other people.

They no pay me

but they give me food for my son.

I feel my life is over.

I really respect that woman.

- And I follow her footsteps, you know?

- Yeah.

That is for me very important.

Being the Sherpani first woman

climbing Everest.

"From the honorable Prime Minister

to the first Nepali female

to climb Mount Everest

Mrs. Pasang Lhamu Sherpa."

She never no been in school, like me.

She never no been educated.

And I said, "Oh my God, I can do that."

I'm attempting this

to inspire other Nepali women.

That's why I'm trying.

- Isn't it difficult for you?

- It's not that difficult.

Well, what happened to her?

What went wrong?

Bad weather, sherpa cannot go rescue.

She stuck on the mountain near the summit

and she finished the oxygen.

Sherpa cannot go rescue, very bad weather

very bad weather.

And sherpa and she stay three weeks up

with no oxygen and with no food.

And they both died.

She died.

And she came near my house.

I'm right there

and I saw her face very dark and blue.

Looked like a sunburn.

I give her a flower.

I feel that right away her soul go me.

Her power

she gave me.

Pasang Lhamu climbed,

and that made me believe

if Pasang Lhamu can do it

then we Nepali women can do it,

even I can do it.

I need somebody sponsor me.

I knocked on so many doors,

"Please help me!

I want to go to Everest."

I've been to a hundred people.

They no believe me.

"Oh yeah?

You, really? You have children."

Somebody said,

"Woman talk cheap." You know.

That make me more angry,

they make me more power.

I want to prove to people I do it.

I will show you one day, I will show you.

I hear about this running race.

I can do this easily,

you know, I feel that.

I win prize money

two thousand dollars.

And I opened a small tea house.

Business people come in, and I asked

"Hey, brothers, I want to go Everest

but what I do the next step?"

One time one guy come.

He looked like a big police chief.

He said, "I know

the Prime Minister very well."

"What do you want to say?"

I want to say,

"I want climbing Mountain Everest."

I want to tell people the story

that a woman can do it.

He write the letter for me.

He take me to Prime Minister house.

One hour later, I met the Prime Minister.

He right away accepted

and said, "Yes."

I'm so happy and I said,

"Wow! That is happened."

Look like a "boom!" like that,

you know, he gives me,

look like magic.

Look like it catching my dream.

They say,

"Oh, you cannot do Everest alone."

"We will make women's group."

And because all expedition was my idea

they put me leader.

Now I'd like

to introduce the expedition team.

First, we have Lhakpa Sherpa,

who is leading this team.

There are around 200 dead bodies

laying on the route to the summit.

That's proof that it is very dangerous

to reach the summit.

What do you think about the danger?

A lot of Nepali people die

in the army and police.

But what good is it getting scared?

People may die.

But that fear shouldn't stop us

from reaching new heights.

Otherwise, how will our country

ever make any progress?

Ah, my God, I'm so excited.

But we have a little bit of a problem.

Lhakpa, our leader,

must be at the top of the ridge.

She didn't want to wait for us.

It's difficult for me to walk slowly.

It's not that I don't want

to walk with the group,

but if they could walk faster

it would be easier.

The leader is supposed

to oversee everything.

It's fine here

but on Everest this is not okay.

They were very angry with me.

They really wanted to put me down.

Hold the rope!

Safety!

Because

they're women, they need our advice.

Sometimes we even scold them.

What is that?

Don't pack too much stuff for tomorrow.

Leave all of your makeup here.

Makeup? I didn't bring any.

We've stayed at Base Camp too long.

I'm impatient to go up.

I tell myself

on the summit day I will show them.

We had a little bit,

look like a competition.

One Sherpa, old man Sherpa,

he told me,

"Oh, you people no run here."

"Here you save energy."

"You run only summit day."

"Your competition day."

And I say, "Oh my God, he right."

All the other women very sick,

three girls already down.

And they return back.

But I no give up.

You cannot force anyone.

It depends on one's desire.

Only one girl

and me going to Camp Four.

Twenty minutes and she more trouble,

more sick.

She almost died.

Just beneath the summit,

snow was piling up and

the wind was getting heavier.

The sherpa guides wanted to go back.

I told them I would rather

go to the summit alone,

than go back down with them.

I couldn't care even if I died.

I keep walking.

I'm still going, keep climbing.

I keep climbing.

I see

on top of Mountain Everest.

Rainbow comes

and I go under

the rainbow look like,

"Welcome the God."

So celebration that the God

gives me looks like,

"Welcome Lhakpa!"

All the mountains I'm looking on top

and I say, "Wow."

I'm giant big mountain.

I can touch the sky

and I can touch the moon.

I can touch the sunrise.

I feel I'm the biggest

mountain woman ever.

Lhakpa has

reached the summit. The team is a success!

When I got to the summit,

I cried and bowed down.

I told Everest

"I'm going to have to step on you."

And I begged for forgiveness.

I wanted it even more

for my Nepali sisters than for myself.

So I am extremely happy.

Before Everest, I not been in eight years

in my mom's house.

Because I had a son, because I feel shame.

After I summit,

my daddy was very proud of me.

All the time he say I'm a son.

He put me on "son" level.

I feel like a shining diamond.

I go carry my power back.

You can see your dad's sign in here.

You can see my name too.

- But can you tell me where?

- I don't know.

Making me look

through all of those is cruel.

I met your dad here, first time.

He have long hair, he walk

and he look like a cool guy.

What was the first thing you said to him?

I no say nothing

because I no speak English that time.

But he keep looking me,

laughing with the silver teeth.

He had little silver teeth, you know?

He follow me wherever I go.

All the sherpas say,

"George summit without oxygen."

Wow!

I never no see

like that kind of strong man.

He has translator sherpa.

"Hey, Lhakpa, George really likes you."

I just say if he really like me,

"Come back next year," I told him.

And he said he will.

So next year

I work at Base Camp, Tibet side.

George is there.

"My God this guy's coming,

what do I say?"

He said, "You want to come with me?"

"If you go work with the sherpa,

you never no summit."

I go with George.

We go climbing together,

look like partners.

Climbing buddies, very tight together.

I saw he is so strong.

He no need down pants, nothing.

He walk with jeans.

Very tight together you know very, very.

George a little chubby,

I'm very skinny.

Look like fly together,

look like bird wing.

We summit together.

First summit Tibet side.

So romantic.

I look sometimes that picture

and I cry myself, you know?

George said, "Come to Connecticut."

"We go climbing together,

many, many mountains."

And then I said, "Wow, that is my dream."

George pick me up outside the airport.

My first time in USA.

I am twenty-eight.

And I feel like I'm in heaven country.

My life is changing.

I have no idea he's Romanian.

He looks like an American guy.

I think English is Romanian.

And after I figure out no Romanian

that is Romanian language I learned

I back learn American language.

I start the work with George

in construction

and I'm very strong carry

with the roofing.

You know, I make g*n sh**t

to the roof.

I've learned so good roofing.

He wanted a baby.

We made Sunny.

After Sunny born, we got married.

At that time, we are very happy.

See you at Base Camp.

George have idea

for climbing business.

Maybe I can work

as a professional mountain climber.

George and me

guide big Romanian expedition.

My brother Mingma

and my little sister also come with us.

I'm a little chubby.

I'm a baby mama.

But I am very, very excited.

I feel I play sport again.

Everest is my game.

Lhakpa, how do you feel?

Good.

A little bit hungry.

Too much...

The Romanian people,

they all bring the whisky

and they fight.

And George is a very tough man.

He beat everybody.

One guy need go back hospital in Romania

because George one punch

and he broke two ribs.

My sister was very tired

and she walk over his bag

with her crampon.

And he yell

and he slapped my sister.

That guy totally changing.

I see this perfect mountain man

turn very angry person.

We summit

but my sister and me sleep same tent

and George sleep in a different tent.

After that George want to keep me secret.

He say,

"We don't tell our life to people."

"People no do nothing for you."

"People just use you, use you."

"I protect you."

He say it like that.

So what do you do for a living in America?

I work.

What type of work?

I have to do whatever work

an illiterate person can get.

How many kids do you have?

Did you get married?

I didn't.

I only have one son.

But I heard you had another baby?

When I look at my childhood,

it's a lot of climbing trees,

going outdoors,

looking for bugs and stuff, like,

just childhood adventures.

But there's also, like, a dark side...

Sunny, stop it!

...of my mom

and sister being scared.

Really, the moon. Oh my goodness.

Look, really! Look.

I'm serious, look at that.

I wish Sunny here.

I tell Sunny, come with me.

Sunny won't talk, she keeping inside.

And I say, "Sunny, talk, talk."

"You keep it in, you more hurt."

What's that over there?

That is Everest Base Camp.

Yeah.

- It was hard to get up this mountain.

- Really?

Me? I feel nothing.

Okay, but I still got here before you.

I know you are before me,

but I had the same level. You know?

Same level all the times.

- It's hard to breathe. That's all.

- Yeah.

Me, no problem. See I'm up

Base Camp same, same.

- Same.

- And Camp Two, same.

Camp One, same.

My level is look like yak.

That's it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

If you vomit, it's okay.

You'll feel good if you vomit.

In the whole world, fewer than

2,000 people have ever seen these heights.

But, in two weeks,

Connecticut alone will have

seven residents try to reach

the top of the world.

Lhakpa Sherpa of Hartford is one of them.

She is the first and only woman

in the world to summit three times.

We reached the summit together,

and, in a way,

it means we have the same speed,

um, and we can safely climb

without leaving one another behind.

The idea with

the Connecticut Everest expedition

was to pull in strong local climbers.

George was this underground legend,

and Lhakpa was the queen of the Sherpa.

How is this couple that lives in Hartford,

right under our noses,

the premier Everest climbers.

I pitched doing a story

on the expedition

to the newspaper I worked at,

The Hartford Courant.

This was a time when Mount Everest

was getting a lot of attention.

Lhakpa had a very interesting backstory,

but George was a fairly

domineering character

and he would answer questions

I wanted to ask Lhakpa.

Now you spill your tea!

A lot of people see

this few square meters

that happens to be higher

than the rest of the world

as this portal to a better life.

George and Lhakpa subscribe to that.

In order to be a full-time climber,

you have to be a guide

or have sponsorship

outside of the outdoor industry.

Both of those require

a really high profile,

George and Lhakpa were hoping

that publicity could get them there.

I'm Michael Kodas,

photojournalist for The Hartford Courant

and a member

of the Connecticut Everest Expedition.

If you look behind me,

you can see some of the Sherpa

that are helping us on the climb.

You can see

George Dijmarescu here having a beer.

George's behavior

really took a turn, almost immediately.

He was drinking a lot.

He became very loud and very aggressive.

I don't know, man, that's...

I feel you, man, just little details,

just little miserable...

I say,

"Hey, you guide these people!"

I all the time say

"You no do that."

There were a number of moments

where you thought it was the tipping point

and this thing is gonna blow up,

but we continued up.

Lhakpa, good luck!

Yeah, see you later, man.

Michael started writing these

scathing weekly dispatches

for The Hartford Courant

that were not very favorable to George.

And it was just like, "Holy sh*t."

As things got more tense,

George went online and read the stories.

And I heard him scream threats

that he was going to

cut the line to my oxygen tank,

or he'd light my tent on fire,

but he was going to make sure

I didn't come back down from the mountain

to report anything else about him.

Another expedition reached out and said,

the weather window you're climbing into

is not nearly as good

as you've been led to believe.

But when you're talking about weather,

what you're really talking about is wind.

It makes the cold worse.

It can blow you off the mountain.

It can pile up snow in places

where it becomes more hazardous.

We can't see anything.

It was like being

inside of a ping pong ball.

It was just white.

You couldn't tell what was up or down.

This is not the country club.

Everybody's there because

they thought it would be f*ck' fun.

The weather turned so bad

but we still kept going.

Physically, mentally... very tired.

But, I did it, I summit.

The tension actually intensified

after they summited

and they got back down to Base Camp.

A number of climbers

from other expeditions died,

and a climber went missing.

George insisted on mounting

a rescue for him

that many of the other climbers felt

was both unnecessary and dangerous.

- ...oxygen. Too dangerous.

- Maybe no oxygen.

- No oxygen too dangerous.

- Too dangerous...

One of the first rules of mountain rescue

is don't turn one person who

is struggling or at risk into

multiple people

who are struggling and at risk.

Sherpa, no job. No climbers.

You understand? No job.

George pushed me,

"Send your family up!"

"Send your family up!"

And I told him,

"My family can die too!"

I didn't want to k*ll my brother

and my family.

And I say,

"Sherpa want to go, but not today."

When things got hostile,

Lhakpa went into the tent,

and tents are not soundproof.

He turn look like bad weather

look like thunder, look like b*llet.

George was yelling

and he punch me.

She was unconscious.

And I saw him dragging her

out of the tent,

and I'd start making photographs.

And he made a comment,

"Get this garbage out of here."

People's voices

turned to lots of birds.

I saw my whole life.

I fly near my mom's house.

I saw through everything, everything.

I felt ashamed of myself.

I want to die.

I want to go die.

Then I remember.

Sunny.

- My girl is waiting in Hartford.

- Sunny.

My baby. Sunny.

I'm not ready to die.

I'm not ready.

- Namaste.

- Namaste, David.

How are you, Dave?

- It's so good to see you.

- I grow old, you grow old.

- Shiny's fifteen. Yeah.

- Fifteen, wow.

When are you going up?

Four nights. You?

I think we're going the same time.

I don't think you know

how influential you were in my life.

In 2004, we summited in a storm,

in a blizzard.

Two people dead on the rope.

- Frozen, their hands...

- Frozen.

And they're hanging on the rope,

and it's very steep,

so you have to unclip

and climb around them.

And I got there and I stopped,

and I was like, "Holy sh*t."

And you look at me,

and you're like...

- "Are you okay?"

- Yeah.

And I said, "Yeah, I'm okay,

but I'm really freaked out by this."

And you said,

"If you're okay, then we're okay."

She very excited about meeting you

because her dad talking about you.

"Dave's my best friend."

You can ask

any questions you want.

I don't know,

just maybe some fun memories.

I have a lot of fun memories with George.

We spent a lot of time

in the mountains, and...

He saw a lot.

He had a difficult life

in his childhood.

Very, very tough life his Romania.

He had just one trauma after another,

and then he finally escaped Romania.

His only way out was

to get across the Danube River.

And one night he jumped into the river,

and he swam to Yugoslavia.

He ran across Yugoslavia,

ran across the whole country at night,

hiding in the woods,

and made it into Italy

as a political refugee.

And then he made it to the US

through this refugee fund.

And he didn't speak English,

and he's in this new country, in Texas,

and he had to just start a new life.

He had so many obstacles that beat him up.

He always...

On these expeditions, he always...

He always had a picture of you two,

laminated, with just a hole punched in it,

and a piece of yarn.

And he always wore it

around his neck. Always.

And it was always... in his jacket.

He loved you and your sister very,

very much.

I hear people noise.

I open my eye.

I see.

North face is all red, bloody.

George, he's gone.

He drive car. He go away.

I say, "Oh my God, my children,

Nima, Sunny."

I need to go.

George and me same plane ticket.

We had airplane together.

He make me scared.

He said, "You no see never your children."

"You never no see your children

no more, that's it!"

I'm begging,

"Please!

Let me go back to my girl."

In New York airport he go

and I started to cry.

And many people ask me, "Why you cry?"

"My husband go."

Hours later he comes back

and I go.

My western life is really,

really changing.

Nobody say, "Lhakpa, are you okay?"

I stay home

take care children.

I don't want my son see

George all the time yelling me.

I no have a power leaving George.

I no have money,

I have only children.

George took my power.

Okay. Yay, we did it.

- Wow.

- Wow.

Very good.

Fast!

- So I can just start?

- Yeah.

Shiny!

- Here.

- You go this side. Okay.

Yeah.

Right. Push, push, push.

Push it!

- But it's not pushing.

- Push the hand up.

Push up.

Push all the way to up!

Oh, good, good, good.

You climbing.

I'm with you.

Okay, that's good. Push.

Okay, the summit.

Okay, come down.

I did it!

- Your back, you know?

- I know. I was scared.

You tighten your back.

Again? Yeah, let's do it again.

Up there,

Camp One looks like this. Here, like this.

Here is a little bit difficult

due to stone fall situation.

Avalanche can come from there?

Yeah,

avalanche may come at this place.

After Camp One...

We can stay in Camp One...

We'll sleep for a day

in Camp One.

And then after acclimatization,

we'll return down the next day.

There is a cyclone

over the ocean near Bangladesh.

It's gonna ruin the weather

once it hits the mountain.

Very high wind.

The weather is very bad.

Start heading up around 2 a.m.

Then after that if the weather

improves, you can continue up, okay?

In 2005...

George go out.

He have a girlfriend

and we share George.

He says, "Nepal men have two wives."

Sherpa culture, very shame divorce.

I'm in a marriage with George,

but he tricked me

look like a sherpa.

You know, just house sherpa.

Cook, kitchen, carry.

Kitchen boy.

But, still climbing Everest together.

In 2006

his girlfriend kicked out George,

and George and me go climbing.

And I never no have a period,

all the way to the top in Everest.

And I told George,

"I'm pregnant."

And he really no want.

Doesn't matter if George is angry

I decide to keep Shiny.

After Shiny born

I give up the mountains.

These two girls, I must protect.

Shiny, Jangmu, I'm leaving, okay bye.

So scary, make a noise.

Everything makes a noise, you know?

We just pray the God and keep moving.

We keep moving.

We don't move

any time ice right away crack in front.

When life is not easy for me

I think about my mountain.

Mountain is my childhood friend.

When I'm with George

I feel I'm alone.

Nobody sees me.

He treat me like I am nobody.

I cry so much all the time.

I no have tears no more.

After the 2004 expedition,

there were all kinds of things I was able

to dig up about George's behavior.

The discussion always came down to

this consideration of, if you report this

and you hear that Lhakpa

has been beaten or injured

because of your reporting,

will you feel better

than if you don't report this

and you hear that she's dead?

And then, Michael Kodas'

book comes out.

And George go bookshop.

I'm in the kitchen.

And he shout at me.

"You cannot read, I read.

That book is not true."

And he throw the book,

shoveled it in my face.

There's always the question of whether

people are driven to sociopathic behavior

when they're on the mountain,

or whether sociopaths

look for a place to go

where they can behave the way they want.

George lost his reputation very badly.

He lost his mountain guide business.

I wish I can have the power

to take out this picture.

I feel shame.

This book came out

we more fight.

George more beat me.

This book is make me stop

ten years in Everest, I cannot go.

George say, "You no go no more Everest!"

"You better stay here!"

I love so much the mountain.

I'm so upset, I'm depression myself,

now I'm a housewife.

I'm so sporty girl.

I'm an outdoor girl.

I'm stuck as the housewife.

I'm okay. I enjoy my two girls.

I enjoy my girls

but I love outdoor, you know?

You're doing it, buddy!

No food in the stomach, dude.

For a whole day.

He go K2 four times.

But he no summit.

In 2010,

George feel very weak.

He go doctor and doctor say,

"You have cancer."

Doctor told him he can die.

And I say,

George, anything you want

me helping you

I will save you.

After surgery, he come back home.

I take care of his cancer,

I comb his hair.

He likes cherries a lot.

I buy them

and I feed.

I take care of everything.

He's still my husband

and my children's dad.

I'm thinking Shiny and Sunny.

I'm thinking Shiny, Sunny,

Shiny, Sunny

in my mind, you know?

And I said, "I'm gonna die here."

Hey, Shiny.

Now I know you are in a very safe area.

This Khumbu Icefall for me

is very dangerous.

Anytime I can die, I feel that.

My ice was moving violently.

Making a noise,

banging, boom, like that.

I decide to stay Camp Two, OK?

Okay, when are you coming back?

I want to save my life and stay safe here.

Take care of yourself.

I will take care of myself.

And I'm coming with the summit.

Mama loves you.

Shiny...

...love you.

That's it, okay.

They are coming for the body now.

I see this guy. I met him two days ago.

He say, "Hey Lhakpa" you know.

He said he weak

and I told him, "Stay strong."

But he died.

He has children.

Hi, Shiny.

Hi, Sunny. How are you?

Good.

Are you enjoying being alone?

Yeah.

These are our cousins.

Say hello.

- Hello.

- Hi.

Namaste from Nepal.

Wait, show me around more.

I wanna see the scenery.

This is Lhotse, you see.

Yeah.

And this is Pumori.

Whoa.

Many, many mountains,

and here is Shiny...

So...

You can see Mount Everest, like,

behind that mountain right there.

That's really cool.

There's a lot of avalanches

here all the time. It's like...

You see that happen?

Yeah, we saw one happen.

Whoa.

Yeah, it looks dangerous.

When are you coming to Nepal,

next year?

I'd like to come, but I don't know when.

We'll be waiting for you.

That's so nice. Thank you.

- Bye.

- Bye-bye.

Bye.

You know,

we cannot fight big mountain.

We just wait, whatever mountain say.

Mountain say no, we must wait.

Mountain say go, we go.

This is new for me, I'm a little sick.

I had women things happen.

I feel sh*t.

I feel dirty.

I'm a dirty, old raccoon Hartford.

That is I feel right now.

Looking food.

And he have a disease.

No have a doctor.

You know,

that is I am right now, look at my face.

Collect garbage and I smell

like a mile, mile smell.

Nobody comes to me.

Nobody fall in love with me that is

that is I am raccoon, old raccoon.

Oh my God.

I don't know why people fall in love

in the mountains

for sh*t.

I feel really sick.

But I no have a choice,

I wait here almost five days.

And I want to try.

It feels like I'm dying.

I had a period, very badly.

My period just came, two, three days,

so heavy period.

Normal people rest.

I f*cking keep walking.

George says one day, "You will disappear."

"You run away, I will k*ll you."

I sleep all the time with Shiny.

George is my yeti.

Really yeti grab me.

All the time scared.

Means he's my monster.

A woman cannot give up.

Very difficult, you know?

I feel crappy.

But we must fight.

Not give up.

In 2011,

Sunny's ten years old birthday.

George never invites

Sunny's school friends.

He only invites his friends

for drinking party.

Why drinking party?

That is children's birthday,

children's party.

His temper very quickly come.

My dad

was throwing an onion at my mom

and tugging

and pulling really hard on my mom.

I was scared 'cause I was small,

I couldn't do much.

My sister was hiding,

and I got up on this table

because I couldn't reach their faces.

And I was just trying to separate them

or, like, push my dad away.

Shiny protect me.

She's five years old.

She really protect me.

My dad just took her, like, hair...

My head this he go table is here...

No child should see

anyone do that.

No child should have that

exposed to them that early, you know?

It's, like, traumatic at that point. Yeah.

Her friend was the one

that called the police.

Because I don't think my mum would have.

Police say, "What happened?"

And Shiny speak.

"My dad, my dad beat my mom."

"No cry, Mama, no cry."

He really hurt me.

He's thinking I'm so bad woman.

But I'm such a loving woman.

He did so wrong my life.

Because, I'm very peace woman

and he make me horrible

messy woman my life.

That's it.

One day

this man k*ll me.

I have to save my children's life.

I decide at hospital

I don't want to go back.

I want to save my life.

The social worker decide me go shelter.

I said I want to go

anywhere that's a safe area.

Base Camp, Base Camp, Base Camp.

When I met Lhakpa, she had been

at the safe house for about a week.

She was very afraid of George.

Everything she did,

everything she talked about

was around George and safety

and what she could do and not do.

It was, "You can't speak English.

Nobody's going to believe you."

"Nobody's going to give you a job.

You're going to be homeless. You need me."

One time, during an argument,

he picked her up,

took her outside,

threw her in the trash can

because he said

that she was nothing more than garbage.

So... yeah.

I had only two children.

I don't have anything.

I take my children that's it.

I need to go in the shelters.

And I stayed eight months.

She used to look down.

She wouldn't make eye contact

with anybody.

But little by little, I saw her grow.

And she was able to get a job

and she started working.

And then she had

the tenacity and the courage

to move from Hartford to West Hartford

to make sure the girls had

a better school system,

because the West Hartford

school system is very good.

She would walk with the girls

to school no matter the weather.

Very difficult divorce,

many years.

At the trial,

George gave the judge quite the fight.

Interrupting, disrespectful.

He treated Lhakpa like chattel.

He would mock her.

George talking,

"Why don't I have a sole custody?"

"She's illiterate,

she cannot do nothing!"

And the judge very upset.

"You no tell her illiterate

because my mom is also illiterate

and now I'm the judge here."

I win, he lost.

And I get the sole custody.

My brother Mingma told me

"Please come Everest."

"You're still strong

I know you can do that."

And Mingma set up

the whole expedition for me.

I go, I'm so happy.

On top of the world

I feel like a giant big mountain woman.

I feel so strong.

Everest is my doctor.

Fix my soul.

I go down

I'm right away small mouse.

I'm a small, tiny mouse.

George asked me,

"Please come talk with me."

I'm so scared.

Because he really wanted me come back

but I no want it.

And I say

I don't want to die this man's hand.

I wanna die with peace in the mountain.

I told Mount Everest

you give me everything.

You give me good life.

You are my God in the mountains,

"Chomolungma, God Mother."

I feel that soul connection for me.

George's cancer came back.

He called me on speakerphone

with the children.

He said,

"I'm so sorry Lhakpa, I did wrong."

"I know you take care

of children very well."

"I know you did, many years now."

"I cannot make it."

I said, "No die, no die.

Fight, you fight."

He said,

"I fight, but I not make it."

He died two weeks later.

We no go last night

because so much windy.

We will see, you know?

My plan, going tonight.

Shiny say, "Mama,

this tenth summit changing your life."

"Mama, I promise."

One more swing.

This summit,

my tenth summit.

My darkness,

I leave behind.

Whoo!

Happy summit!

Ten times.

Shiny.

Your mom summit.

They are now at the top.

- Right now?

- Yeah.

I almost want to go down.

I fight because almost there.

You know, why I go down?

I work so hard all the way here

all the way there.

And I fight myself.

Wow.

Congratulations!

Hello.

How are you?

Oh my God! Oh my...

I'm so proud of you.

I love you. Oh my God.

My tenth summit for you, Shiny.

Thanks me life,

everything thank you.

My children, goddess of life,

send me my children.

Thank you, God Mother.

Oh!

You look like

you've been through a lot.

George summited Everest nine times.

I beat George but he's gone.

He better gone

because he see me I'm tenth summit,

he very jealous.

Lhakpa!

Whoo!

Pasang! Pasang!

Pasang first.

Now, sherpa first.

Other sherpa, Karma.

Karma.

My brother because he all the time

helping my tenth summit.

He's my buddy too!

Second is monkey.

And second, is other monkey.

And me.

48-year old

Nepali female climber, Lhakpa Sherpa,

returned to Kathmandu on Tuesday

after breaking her own record

for the tenth time

for the most summits of the Mount Everest.

- Congratulations.

- Thank you.

And you give good energy to women.

So every woman is very happy in the world.

I think before I took it for

granted and didn't really appreciate it.

And now I think she's, like, really cool,

and I think it's big.

It's not something

you shouldn't talk about.

I hope her story gets around.

Sunny.

Sunny.

Yeah, I'm very happy.

You beautiful two girls with me.

Hearing that you climbed

and summited the mountain,

I almost felt that accomplishment

in myself, if that makes sense, you know?

Yeah. That's good.

It's all to you, but that's the only way

I can pick up on the feeling, you know?

- Yeah.

- Like...

Just, you know, because

it's so many steps up that mountain.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Well, the stuff that you've accomplished

is really, like, amazing,

and I feel more people

should know about it,

and it's not fair to you that they don't.

Because you deserve it,

and you've been through a lot.

And better life.

Yeah, that comes with it, I guess.

No...

No?

It just reminded me of

something that happened today.

What happened, baby?

I was on Facebook,

and I haven't been

on my Facebook in so long

that I just opened up

an unread message from George,

and it was him saying, "I've never done

anything wrong to you girls both."

But it just reminded me

of him pulling our hairs,

him yelling at us, like,

it makes me think, "Did he really do this

or I'm just really confused?"

I just feel like we haven't really

talked about, I don't know,

the trauma that we've all went through,

as a family, out loud.

We've all kept it to ourselves,

and if we would just talk about it,

it'd be better.

Yep. And, like, the shelter, too.

That was terrible.

That was like deep, deep depression,

like the lowest I've felt.

But I'm in the mental mindset

to just be working

- and just work on myself, you know?

- Yeah.

Don't worry, Sunny.

You've been through a lot.

We love you.

You know, you are smart, Sunny.

You can do it.

You are my girl.

A West Hartford woman just summited

Mount Everest for a record tenth time.

Washing dishes at

Whole Foods to support her two daughters,

Sherpa is the picture of humility.

People say,

"Oh, Lhakpa, you're so humble."

I'm not so humble.

I'm not humble.

My Whole Foods manager.

Maybe she is very surprised today.

Never no see my Sherpa dress.

What would be the best pose for this,

do you think?

I don't know.

I never... I'm going mountain.

I go...

- Like that you know.

- Let's do that.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

Ready? One, two, three.

Many people watching me, you know?

Like that?

- Yes!

- Yes!

I love that. Good.

Recognition has been changing.

That's something that my mom

has been wanting to...

Plus, she's really happy, too,

being honored by so many people.

Yes.

Beautiful. That's great.

It was my idea, nobody told me to do it.

I've been dreaming about

climbing Everest for such a long time

whether I'm awake or asleep.

Because I'm illiterate

I want to earn a good name for myself

by climbing the mountain.

Why did you summit Everest ten times?

Why I summit Mountain Everest ten times?

Because I want to change

Sherpa women's life.

I like your hair tied up. Like, back.

My earring.

I don't want to show my earring.

No, do a ponytail

or something. Trust!

Okay.

You look good in that.

Okay, good.

I was opened to trauma

at such a young age.

To the point where

I didn't know my self worth.

And I realized that when it was too late.

Turning around right now,

I think it's just...

a strong aspect of me.

I turned that to strength.

I didn't turn it into weakness.

Sunny's beautiful.

I see you.

I see someone that can be something.

Yeah.

Monkey, monkey, monkey.

There's an old Nepali expression...

They say that having a daughter

is like watering a neighbor's garden.

That narrative is slowly changing.

And their stories must be told

like we're hearing about Lhakpa's.

What she has achieved

is really quite staggering.

And I hope she continues to break

these glass ceilings

with each step that she takes.

Please join me in awarding Lhakpa Sherpa

with the Tenzing Norgay Award.

I'm so inspired by you.

Oh my God.

And my family company

is going to sponsor you

for anything you want to do.

Oh my God!

K2 and any other mountain

you want to climb.

Yeah, I want to go K2.

Please here you email me.

Because my girl is my manager.

We'll sponsor her

for whatever she wants to do.

- I heard, yeah.

- Everything.

- I'm so inspired by you.

- Oh my God.

And my mom was a single mom.

No talk about it...

She worked so hard.

Yeah, me!

And I know... I used to clean houses

with her when I was little.

My God, it's me.

When sleep night time

when people sleep, I go house clean.

Oh my God,

you are amazing.

This is the K2 summit.

Nima, Shiny, Sunny, love you.

I want to show the world watching that

I'm very brave.

I want to do it.

Look like a tough lady.

Yes.

Like this is me.

I no give up. I do it.

I do it.

This is me.

Look like...

Like that, you know?

This is, I am.

Like that, you know? This is me.