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Everest's greatest ever female climber: Lhakpa Sherpa - the unknown mountaineering hero who works in a 7-Eleven in Connecticut
Mount Everest has revealed many secrets down the years. But among the annals of celebrated triumphs and glorious failures, one of the great Everest achievements has remained a mystery – until now
Lhakpa Sherpa, a 42-year-old mother of three who lives in suburban Connecticut and works at a 7-Eleven shop, has been revealed as the greatest female Everest climber of all time having reached the summit on six occasions, and showing no signs of slowing down.
She is currently at Advanced Base Camp in Tibet and due to make her seventh ascent on May 20 or 21.
There had long been whisperings about an almost-mythical Nepali woman who had conquered Everest half a dozen times.
A 2013 ESPN article on the celebrated American climber Melissa Arnot, who herself has reached the summit five times, describes Arnot as “either the most accomplished female Everest climber ever, or the most accomplished non-Sherpa woman. (A Nepali named Lhakpa Sherpa is said to have from four to six Everest summits.)”
Virtually nothing was known about Lhakpa and her remarkable story, partly because Sherpas and their mountaineering achievements do not receive the credit they deserve, but also because she shunned the limelight while in an allegedly abusive marriage with a fellow climber.
Lhakpa, whose name in Nepali means Wednesday - the day she was born - grew up with 11 brothers and sisters high in the Himalayas. Climbing came naturally to her and by the age of 15 she was already working as a "kitchen boy" for a mountaineering company.
“I have seven sisters, but my mama say I mostly look like a boy. ‘Whatever boy doing, you doing. You never doing girl things. Mostly you’re doing boy things,’” Lhakpa told Outside magazine.
She had a burning desire to follow in the footsteps of Pasang Lhamu, the first Nepali woman to reach the top of Everest, but who died on her way down. Lhakpa petitioned the Nepali government for a permit to climb. “They were scared,” she said. “And me, I say, I wanna go to the summit. Really this is my dream.”
She finally got her chance in 2000 and succeeded. At a party to celebrate her achievement in Kathmandu, she met her future husband, the Romanian-American climber, George Dijmarescu.
The couple went on five Everest expeditions together in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. However the 2004 expedition, known as the Connecticut Everest, was notable for the wrong reasons, as a blazing row between Lhakpa and Dijmarescu at base camp allegedly ended with her throwing rocks at him, and him punching her in the head.
The couple, who lived together in a two-bedroom flat in the suburban American town of West Hartford, were badly affected by the 2008 recession and costly hospital bills after Dijmarescu got cancer led to financial difficulties that contributed to the deterioration of the relationship.
A neighbour called the police after another huge argument in summer 2012, with Lhakpa afterwards telling a social worker she had been abused by her husband for 11 years. Dijmarescu, who has not commented on the claims, was found guilty of breach of peace and Lhakpa was awarded custody of the children last year.
However, the detailed Outside magazine profile warns that it would be a mistake to view Lhakpa "solely as a victim".
Despite all her hardships, Lhakpa, an incredibly strong and complex woman, was driven to return to Everest again and again.
George Mallory famously responded to a question of why he was so obsessed with Everest by saying: "Because it's there." Yuichiro Miura, the great Japanese climber, said of his relationship with the mountain: "All the time, I think of Everest. I can’t stop."
It is clear that Lhakpa feels the same passion. “I stay in the house and I… God, I’m still thinking about the mountain. You know, my God, I need to go to Nepal,” she explained.
Having had to cancel an expedition last year because of the earthquake and avalanche that shut the mountain to climbers, Lhakpa is now days away from reaching the summit a seventh time. She is currently at Advanced Base Camp on the north side of Everest and is expected to make a break for the summit during a weather window on Friday or Saturday.
She did not train for the expedition, believing that mental strength is the key to conquering the mountain. “I walk every day,” she said when explaining her physical preparation. “I go to my work walking, pick up my children walking.”
Her brother, Mingma Gelu Sherpa, said she was confident of success - and extending her record.
"She's very, very strong and very determined, she never gives up," he told the Telegraph from base camp. "She has loved climbing all her life and she's now ready to get up to the top for a seventh time. If she does, she will be even more of a hero."