Kathmandu, May 27: With big banners embossed with congratulatory messages and throngs of excited people, the domestic section of Tribhuvan International Airport looked like a ground for grand public celebration. People stood in a long queue to welcome back two Nepalese ladies who conquered the world’s highest peak Mt. Sagarmatha and made mountaineering records for themselves.
Lakpa Sherpa, 26, reached the Roof of the World on May 18 at 6:30 a.m. to become the second Nepalese woman to scale the 8,848 meter height and the first one to descend down safely. Nepal’s first woman Mt. Sagarmatha summiteer Pasang Lhamu Sherpa succumbed to the harsh and unpredictable mountain weather on her way down about six years back.
“The other mountains looked small, clouds were under my feet and for the first time I saw lightening streaking beneath my feet. At that time I was convinced that I had reached the roof of the world,” said the proud conqueror. “I and my Sherpa companions were dog tired, but the excitement of achieving something grand ran high,” she added.
Lakpa Sherpa led the Nepal’s first all-women mountaineering expedition, Nepalese Women Millennium Everest Expedition. However, rest of her team-mates, Mingma Yangzi Sherpa, Dawa Yangzi Sherpa, Dolma Sherpa and Kesang Dikki Sherpa could not make it to the top. “Leaving the team-mates behind was a painful decision but I did not lose my heart,” she said. Lakpa plans a second summit to Mt. Sagarmatha from the North Ridge sometime in future.
Born and brought up in Sankhuwasabha district, she comes from a family of mountaineers; her elder brother Chhiring Sherpa is a four time Mt. Sagarmatha (Everest) summiteer and her two cousins perished in the Himalayas in two different accidents.
A day later than Lakpa, Pema Dolma Sherpa, 30, surveyed the world as far as her eyes could see from the highest pinnacle of the world. On May 19 at 9:20 a.m. Pema Dolma became the first Nepalese woman to assault the world’s tallest summit from the North Face from the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.
Pema Dolma, who hails from Namche VDC of Solukhumbu district, summitted Mt. Sagarmatha as a member of the Swiss Everest Expedition Spring 2000.
Since its first assault in May 1953 by Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Sir Edmund Hillary, 874 individuals have already scaled Mt. Sagarmatha. Out of the total, 82 successful climbers are women.
Less noticeable arrival for today was that of Temba Chhiri Sherpa. The 14-year old seventh grader attempted to become the youngest climber atop Mt. Sagarmatha. However he had to abandon his bid due to exhaustion and frostbite. In his endeavour to make a new world record on Mt. Sagarmatha, Temba Chhiri suffered from acute frostbite in four fingers of his right hand and two fingers on the left. Talking to The Rising Nepal he said that he might have to amputate his ailing fingers. However, the challenges poised by the mountain seem to have failed to “frostbite” his determination. “I still have time for second attempt, if I find a suitable sponsor I will attempt to scale the mountain in the coming Autumn season,” said the school boy, who was accompanied by his brother and father, both professional mountaineers, to the bid. He reached upto Hillary Step, approximately 8,800 meters, only 48 meters short from the summit.
Temba Chhiri was trying to break a record set by another Nepalese climber Shambhu Tamang in 1973 when he climbed Mt. Sagarmatha at the age of 17 to become the youngest conqueror of the mountain.