Kathmandu, June 1: Sisterly prodding’s of Lakpa Sherpa propelled Temba Tshiiri to the top of the world last month to become the youngest person to climb the 8848 metres world’s tallest peak. “He was insistent on going down. I told him you lost your fingers last year.You must go on. He was
always playing with his fingers. I helped him pack his bags as we shared the last camp for a summit bid,” said the only Nepali woman to climb Everest twice.” Success comes only with risks.”

Temba,16, Lakpa, 27, stepped on the highest point on earth from the north in Tibet on May 23.
”He would scamper and stop. He was like a child. He made us all laugh,” Lakpa said as she related her second encounter on the summit of Everest. “There was hardly a place to stand on the summit. It was so crowded. The summit can probably accommodate no more than 15 persons,” she said. “I met Indians climbing from the south. We had our own set of climbers.”

A record 100 persons climbed the mountain from the south this spring alone. “I was shocked and frightened. I trampled over a dead body as I was proceeding towards the summit. I collapsed over it,” said a determined lass who hopes to be the only woman to climb Everest three times. “I want
to have a crack at it again next spring and probably ten times. For that reason I will not marry. Marriage will distract my climbing ambitions. I will have to look after my husband’s home if I marry,” she said with a smile. Patriotism propels Lakpa to climb.

“I want to enhance the prestige of Nepal. I planted the national flag on the summit. I hope my exploits will encourage others to climb and bring business to my country,” she said. She shrugged off with disdain efforts of some climbers to look down on her; she was a member of an international clean-up expedition. “They called me rubbish woman. They were not saying this in jest. I just ignored them. What could I do or say?” she asked. “Climbing from the south, I feel, was more dangerous. The north is just rock, there was no snow,”
Lakpa said.