A Nepali woman climber has set a new record by scaling Mount Everest 10 times, breaking her own record of the highest number of climbs by a female climber.
Lakpa Sherpa, 48, stood atop the world’s highest peak on Thursday at 6.30 am, Mingma Gelu Sherpa, Managing Director at Seven Summit Adventure said.
Lakpa, who currently lives in the US, was born in Sankhuwasabha district. She had made her first ascent of the world’s highest mountain in 2000 from the Nepal side. This will be her only second time ascending Mt. Everest from the Nepal side.
‘‘I am following the old style of climbing that Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmond Hilary had followed to step at the top of the world for the very first time’’, she told the press in Kathmandu last month before heading to the base camp.
She traveled to Solukhumbu headquarter Salleri first, then trekked to the basecamp with the help of porters.
‘‘I want to inspire today’s youth and women’’, Lhakpa told the press in Kathmandu, ‘‘Nepali women are hardworking and can do anything they want.’’
There have been spate of other records made on Thursday in Everest.
Lucy Westlake summited the peak along with her Sherpa guide, Xtreme Climbers Treks & Expeditions said. The 18 year old climber wanted to become the youngest American female to summit the world’s highest peak.
Six members of an all black team called Full Circle Everest, made it to the top of the world’s highest peak Thursday morning. There had only been 10 black climbers so far among the almost 6,000 who have summited the peak in the past 70 years history of Everest expedition.
A six-member team of Nepal Army’s Everest clean up Campaign also reached the top of the world’s highest peak, organizer Peak Promotion said. NA initiated the cleanup campaign in 2019. This year, the clean up campaign was carried out in four mountains– Everest (8,848.86 m), Lhotse (8,516 m) Kanchenjunga (8,586 m) and Manaslu (8,163 m).
A 39-member expedition team of Seven Summit Treks also summited Everest. “Huge Congratulations to the team of Seven Summit Treks Sagarmatha (Everest) Expedition 2022, for the successful climb of the Mt. Everest (8848.86m) this morning,” the outfitter announced on its Facebook page. It was the biggest group of climbers of one group to reach the top so far.
Among them is the lone Ukrainian climber Antonina Samoilova. She wanted to use her summit bid to draw the world’s attention toward the plight of Ukrainians who are suffering under the ongoing Russian invasion.
“The Ukraine flag should be flying on the top of the world especially when our people are living through such tough times as a symbol of invincibility of Ukrainian spirit!” she told Everest Chronicle in an interview before heading up for the summit.
Hundreds of climbers are on their way up. According to Khimlal Gautam, Liaison Officer posted at the base camp, an estimated 150 climbers are expected to reach the summit on Thursday. “We can’t tell the exact number of climbers to make a successful summit yet,” he said.
