Lhakpa Sherpa is the daughter of tea-house owners, and spent her childhood along a trekking route in an isolated village that hugs the steep slopes of the world’s grandest mountain range, the Himalayas. From a young age, members of her family and others in the Sherpa ethnic community recognized her grittiness. Instead of sending her to school, she was put to work carrying loads for an outfitting company at 15, accompanying expeditions heading toward Makalu, the 27,838-foot peak that towers over her village.
Sherpa has traveled far from her valley since those days. She joined a growing, and thriving, Nepalese immigrant community in the United States, married a Romanian man she met at a bar in Kathmandu, and with him, began ascending Everest on a regular basis. And on Friday, she broke her own record when she reached Earth’s greatest elevation for the seventh time, more than any other woman.
Over 300 people have successfully made the ascent this year, and over 200 of those summited Everest on Thursday, with hundreds more expected to along with Sherpa on Friday. They are taking advantage of a rare “weather window,” which may close soon with chances of moisture and snow being blown in by an approaching cyclone in the Bay of Bengal. Sherpa, who is in her early 40s, and hundreds of others were prevented from climbing Everest last year by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that killed 18 at its base camp and almost 9,000 across Nepal.
Her harrowing life story was recently recounted in a profile in Outside Magazine. She first met her future husband, George Dijmarescu, when he was on one of his many trips to the Himalayas. A year later, they met again in America, when George paid for her to fly to Hartford, Connecticut, where she had family, and where he ran a home-renovation contracting company, which she began to work for.
In no time, the two were back in Nepal, climbing Everest for what would be the first of five times they did it together, bringing Dijmarescu’s total of Everest ascents to nine. On that first trip, Lhakpa Sherpa became the first woman to ever successfully ascend and descend the mountain; another Sherpa woman, Pasang Lhamu, died on her way down in 1993. And it wasn’t just Everest — in 2010, she almost made it to the top of K2, in Pakistan, which is slightly less tall than Everest, but considered a more difficult climb.
But back at home in Hartford, she toiled as a housekeeper for a hospice service and as a cashier at a 7-11 convenience store. She struggled with her three kids, and her marriage with Dijmarescu was unraveling. Each claimed the other was guilty of grievous physical abuse. In the profile of her, Sherpa recounts being knocked out by Dijmarescu at her kitchen table. Others who traveled with the couple recounted how Sherpa once accused Dijmarescu of being gay after he nurtured an injured climber. Sherpa then, apparently, assaulted the two with heavy rocks. In a deposition in their divorce, which was just finalized, Dijmarescu said Sherpa tried to strangle the injured climber.
After 12 years together, the marriage which in many ways led to Sherpa’s record-breaking feat has ended painfully. Sherpa attends a local shelter for victims of domestic violence. Dijmarescu has been served a six-month suspended sentence and a year of probation for “breach of peace” and still has second-degree assault charges pending trial.
And Sherpa continues to live in relative obscurity. Despite her achievements, she leads a humble, hard-working immigrant’s life. That you are probably hearing about her for the first time is indicative of a general lack of respect for Sherpas, who are often seen collectively as laborers and porters and seldom receive individual recognition. Despite doing the most dangerous work during the ascent — laying ladders over crevasses, fixing ropes to steep sections, and carrying the heaviest supplies — Sherpas receive a startling low percentage of the millions of dollars spent by climbers on permits and guides. After 13 were killed in an avalanche in 2014, many successfully boycotted their own jobs and demanded better insurance, compensation and compensation to families after fatal accidents.
Members of the community make between $5,000 and $12,000 a year for their work now, even though some climbers pay $100,000 just for their own excursions and permits. Forty-three Sherpas have died on Everest alone since 2000.
The record for most ascents of Everest by a man is shared by two, Apa Sherpa and Phurba Tashi Sherpa, with 21 apiece.
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