The docufilm “Mountain Queen: The Climb of Lhakpa Sherpa” directed by Lucy Walker is ready to land on Netflix. The plot focuses on the first Nepalese woman to have reached the highest peak in the world, that of Everest, but what is the true story of the protagonist? Let’s find out together, retracing the highlights of her mountaineering career and her private life.
Mountain Queen, the true story of the mountaineer Lhakpa Sherpa: the private life
“Mountain Queen,” which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, traces the history of Lhakpa Sherpa’s climbing career, personal life, and mission, which she described in these words: “Everyone has a dream. I want to show my two little girls how to be brave… what it means to not give up. To say yes! That’s my power. I feel like that’s my gift.”
Lakhpa Sherpa was born in 1973 in a cave and grew up in Balakharka, a village in Makalu, which is located in the Nepalese Himalayan region. Her poor childhood was deprived of education, which was denied to her in Nepal at the time, so much so that she still cannot read or write. Her desire has always been to climb mountains, to become a guide for others, a role that would never have been entrusted to a woman. For this reason, continuing to fight for her dream without ever giving up, as a young woman she cut her hair and wore a hat to look like a man. She has 10 siblings and is now a single mother of three children, two girls and a boy. Her name comes from the day of the week on which she was born, which is Wednesday. She now lives in the United States and takes care of her children by doing various jobs: first she worked at the American store 7 Eleven, then at Whole Foods Market and now she works as a cleaner in homes.
The mountaineer was married to fellow Romanian climber Gheorghe Dijmărescu for 12 years. The two met in 2000 in Kathmandu, Nepal, and married in 2002. In 2008, her ex-husband fell ill with cancer: it seems that the disease, along with high medical costs, contributed to creating tensions in their marriage, so much so that in 2012 her now ex-husband, unfaithful, became so violent that he beat his wife and sent her to the emergency room. After this episode, a social worker at the hospital moved the woman and her two daughters to a local shelter where they remained for eight months.
Mountain Queen: The Career of Lhakpa Sherpa
As for Lhakpa Sherpa’s climbing career, it all started in 2000, when she led an expedition sponsored by Asian Trekking. On September 18 of the same year, she became the first Nepalese woman to climb Mount Everest, surviving until the end of the adventure completed with the Nepali Women Millennium Expedition.
By 2003, she had already reached the world’s highest peak three times, which was a record for a woman at the time. That same year, she reached the top of the mountain with her sister Ming Kipa and brother Mingma Gelu: this event was also considered a record, recognized by the Guinness Book of Records, because they were the first group of three siblings to reach the finish line together. Later, during an expedition in 2004, according to the words of journalist Michael Kodas, who was present during the mission, her then husband Dijmărescu allegedly hit Lhakpa on the head: “He struck a blow with his right hand to the side of his wife’s head.” When he left her alone with a small child, she was so ashamed that she could not return to her home village.
By 2007, Lhakpa Sherpa had already climbed Everest six times, five of which with her ex-husband Gheorghe. The protagonist of the documentary film undertook another great journey in 2016, the year in which she reached the summit of the mountain for the first time starting from Tibet, China. In 2010, she took part in a new expedition – that time the goal was to climb K2 – but she did not reach the final goal: she returned to camp 3 before bad weather caused too much damage. In 2015, however, she tried to return to the summit of Everest but with poor results: she managed to reach the base camp in Tibet, but the spring earthquakes in the Himalayas prevented her from continuing the journey. Not only that: she has also climbed numerous other peaks throughout the Himalayas and around the world.
Below is a list of all the times Lhakpa Sherpa has reached the summit of Everest:
- 2000
- 2001
- 2003
- 2004
- 2005
- 2006
- 2016
- 2017
- 2018
- 2022
Records and initiatives
Not only was Lhakpa Sherpa the first Nepalese woman to summit Everest and come back unharmed, but in 2022 she was inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame after reaching the summit for the tenth time, earning her a Guinness World Record for the most climbs by a woman. In 2016, she was also included in the BBC’s list of the 100 most influential and inspirational women in the world. She created Cloudscape Climbing, a service that provides training, support and guidance to aspiring climbers who want to follow in her footsteps. Among her many initiatives is “Lhakpa Sherpa Climb Any Mountain,” which aims to help people from all over the world, especially women and the marginalized, rediscover their strength through contact with nature.