Nanga Parbat

The spring season on Nepal’s highest mountains has segued almost seamlessly into the summer season on Pakistan’s eight-thousanders. The first expedition teams have reached the base camps. The South African adventurer Mike Horn arrived on the Diamir side of Nanga Parbat a week ago. In the meantime, the 51-year-old and his teammates have already climbed up to 5,900 meters. Maya Sherpa is tackling the 8125-meter-high mountain too. In May, the 40-year-old Sherpani had had to turn back on Kangchenjunga at about 8,500 metres. Less than 100 meters of altitude difference had been missing to the summit. With the Romanian Alex Gavan and the Turkish Tunc Findik, two other well-known climbers have set off for Nanga Parbat. The 36-year-old Gavan, who failed on Dhaulagiri in spring, has so far scaled six eight-thousanders.  For the 46-year-old Findik, Turkey’s most successful high-altitude climber, Nanga Parbat would be his twelfth of the 14 eight-thousanders if successful.

Goal: Entering new territory on Gasherbrum

The Gasherbrum massif

The two Poles Adam Bielecki and Jacek Czech as well as the German Felix Berg will be on the road in the Gasherbrum massif. The trio will acclimatize on the 8,035 meter-high Gasherbrum II, afterwards the three climbers will try to open a new route via the East Face of the 7925-meter-high Gasherbrum IV.  Another possible destination is the still unclimbed 6,955-meter-high Gasherbrum VII. In May, Felix Berg had summited the eight-thousander Cho Oyu in Tibet without bottled oxygen. In spring 2017, Bielecki and Berg together with the Canadian Louis Rousseau and the British Rick Allen had tried to climb the Annapurna Northwest Face, but had had to give up because of bad weather.

Eight-thousander No. 8 for von Melle and Stitzinger?

Alix von Melle (r.) and Luis Stitzinger

The German mountaineering couple Alix von Melle and Luis Stitzinger – both have seven eight-thousander summit successes on their account – also head for the Gasherbrum massif. The 46-year-old and her three years older husband want to climb Gasherbrum I, also known as Hidden Peak, in Alpine style from the south. They have their skis with them. Before that, Alix and Luis try to first climb the 7082-meter-high Urdok Kangri II with a team of the German expedition operator Amical alpin.  Luis will lead the group.

Several expedition teams pitch their tents at K2 (8,611 meter) and neighbouring Broad Peak (8,051 meter). As in summer 2017, the Pole Andrzej Bargiel has planned the first complete ski descent from the summit of K2, the second highest mountain in the world.

Willie Benegas (l.) and Matt Moniz (r.)

All’s well that ends well. Today, 20-year-old American Matt Moniz and his mentor, 49-year-old Argentine Willie Benegas, reached the 8,850-meter summit of Mount Everest. “0459 Summit! We’re on top of the world,” Matt tweeted. On Wednesday, the two climbers also want to scale neighboring Lhotse (8,516 m) , the fourth highest mountain on earth. As reported, the Nepalese Ministry of Tourism had considered revoking Moniz’ and Benegas’ climbing permits. The reason: They had skied down the Lhotse flank during an acclimatization climb – without having a so-called “ski permit”. However, only a few knew about the existence of such a special permit. After about 150 Climbing Sherpas had campaigned for Matt and Willie in an open letter to the Ministry of Tourism for Matt and Willie, the people in charge gave in talking about a “very innocent mistake”. The way for today’s Everest summit attempt was free.

Bulgarian dies in camp 3

Since this spring’s first summit success on 13 May, north and south side summed, nearly 500 ascents have been counted. Meanwhile, there was another death on Everest. A 62-year-old Macedonian collapsed in Camp 3 and died. It was the fifth death this season on the eight-thousanders.

Further summit successes at Kangchenjunga

Kangchenjunga

On the 8,586 meter high Kangchenjunga today at least eleven climbers reached the highest point. The team of the expedition operator “Asian Trekking” was led by Dawa Steven Sherpa. Last Wednesday, as reported, five mountaineers had stood on top of the third highest mountain in the world, including the German Herbert Hellmuth. Maya Sherpa, who had tried to be the first Nepalese woman to scale Kangchenjunga, had to turn around at about 8,500 meters. She was too late, too tired and bottled oxygen run out, reported the 40-year-old on Facebook.

Nepal’s three highest mountains in one season?

Nima Jangmu Sherpa (r.) and Mingma Gyalje Sherpa (l.)

In the next few days, Nima Jangmu Sherpa will also tackle Kangchenjunga. The 27-year-old will be accompanied by Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, head of the operator “Imagine”. If she reaches the summit, she would have accomplished the feat of climbing the three highest mountains in Nepal and thus three of the four highest peaks of the world within one season. On 29 April, Nima Jangmu stood on top of Lhotse, on 14 May on the summit of Mount Everest.

Soria will leave Dhaulagiri

Spanish “oldie” Carlos Soria has declared his Dhaulagiri expedition over. The 79-year-old had climbed up to 7,250 meters with his team. Strong wind had prevented a further ascent. Next fall, Carlos wants to tackle Shishapangma, which is also still missing in his eight-thousander collection besides Dhaulagiri. For spring 2019, Soria is already planning his next attempt on Dhaulagiri. It would be his tenth.

Update 21 May: Matt Moniz and Willie Benegas also reached the summit of Lhotse, a day after they had scaled Mount Everest.

Thomas Lämmle on top of Makalu

Persistence pays off. The German high altitude climber Thomas Lämmle reached, as he wrote on Facebook yesterday, on last Sunday the 8,485 meter high summit of Makalu, the fifth highest mountain on earth. The 52-year-old from the city of Waldburg in Baden-Württemberg climbed without bottled oxygen and Sherpa support. Last year, Thomas had returned empty-handed from Makalu after four summit attempts, all of which had failed due to bad weather. Now, according to his own words, he also wants to tackle Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world, “before the snowfall – means May 21st”. Makalu was Lämmle’s sixth eight-thousander after Cho Oyu (in 2003), Gasherbrum II (in 2005 and 2013), Manaslu (in 2008), Shishapangma (in 2013) and Mount Everest (in 2016).

Five summit successes on Kangchenjunga

West, Main, Central and South Summit of Kangchenjunga (from left to right)

From Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain of the world, this spring’s first summit successes on this eight-thousander were reported. According to confirmed information, five climbers reached the highest point at 8,586 meters on 16 May, including Australian-New Zealand climber Chris Jensen Burke. It was already her tenth eight-thousander success. Chris reports an extraordinary feat: Pemba Gelje Sherpa from the operator “Expedition Base” climbed in a single push from the base camp to the highest point. The day before, he had accompanied a client from Camp 3 down to BC, wrote Chris.

German summiteer

Among the summiteers was also the German Herbert Hellmuth. For the 49-year-old from the town of Bamberg it was his third eight-thousander success after Manaslu (in 2011) and Mount Everest (in 2013). In 2015 on K2, he had to turn around at 7,000 meters.

Two more deaths

R.I.P.

Meanwhile, no day passes by on Mount Everest without dozens of summit successes. However, there is also sad news. A Sherpa who had reached the highest point on Monday with a team of the operator “Seven Summit Treks”, but had stayed behind on the descent, has since been missing. There is no hope of finding him alive. In addition, yesterday a Russian climber died in Camp 2 at 6,400 meters from the consequences of high altitude sickness. He had tried to climb Lhotse without bottled oxygen and had turned back 100 meters below the summit.

Soria’s first Dhaulagiri summit attempt failed

Carlos Soria

On Dhaulagiri, the 79-year-old Spaniard Carlos Soria and his comrades abandoned their first summit attempt. They had spent the previous night in Camp 3 at 7,250 meters. The wind was too strong, the expedition team said. The climbers are returning to the base camp. It is already Carlos’ ninth attempt on Dhaulagiri. Besides this mountain, he lacks only Shishapangma in his eight-thousander collection.

Update: Early this morning the news was spread on Facebook that also Maya Sherpa had reached the summit of Kangchenjunga. After having read it on several platforms, I included it in this summary. Obviously too hasty. Chris Jensen Burke wrote to me from the base camp that on 16 May, definitely only five climbers had reached the summit and that there had been no more ascents since then. Currently a summit attempt of the expedition operator “Asian Trekking” was on, wrote Chris: “Reports that Maya Sherpa summited are not correct.” I then removed the information about Maya’s supposed summit success from the report.

Maya Sherpa

Second attempt. This spring, Maya Sherpa, one of Nepal’s most famous and best female climbers, will tackle Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world. “I am happy to go there again,“ the 40-year-old told me as we met in Kathmandu last week. “I have found sponsors who support me. However, my goal is not only to climb Kangchenjunga, I like to climb more 8,000-meter-peaks as the first Nepali woman.” In May 2017, Maya and her Nepalese friends and teammates Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita and Dawa Yangzum Sherpa had had to turn around on the 8,586-meter-high Kangchenjunga, about 300 meters below the highest point. The entire group of summit candidates had run out of ropes. “One of our Climbing Sherpas told us then that they had made the same mistake in spring 2013,” said Maya. “At that time, they went up to the summit. On descent, two Sherpas and three foreign climbers died because there was no rope, they were tired and it was extremely slippery in the upper part of the mountain, especially on the rock.”

More ropes, more manpower

Maya Sherpa, Dawa Yangzum Sherpa and Pasang Lhamu Sherpa (from the right) on Kangchenjunga in 2017

It is not an option to move the last high camp on Kangchenjunga at 7,400 meters further up, says Maya: “I saw no safe place for tents there. We need enough ropes and manpower, that’s the solution.” The three Sherpani, who became the first Nepalese women to climb K2 in Pakistan, the second highest mountain in the world, in 2014, will not be complete up this time. Pasang Lhamu gave birth to a son last November and is missing this time. It’s still open whether Dawa Yangzum will come along. “There are still two weeks to go. Let’s see what happens,” says Maya. “Otherwise, I go alone, with other people.”

Three times on Everest

Maya on Everest

Maya Sherpa has stood her ground as a woman in the men’s world of mountain climbing. She is a professional climber since 2003. With her husband, the expedition operator Arnold Coster, she leads expeditions and works as a mountain guide. The mother of a seven-year-old daughter has scaled Mount Everest from both sides, to date a total of three times. She was also the first female Nepali woman on Cho Oyu (8,188 m) in Tibet, Pumori (7,161 m), Baruntse (7,129 m) and Ama Dablam (6,814 m) in Nepal and on Khan Tengri (7,010 meters) in Kyrgyzstan.

Mental strength counts

In addition, Maya is president of the “Everest Summiteers Association” – and, since last August, also Vice President of the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA).”I feel very proud. I never thought that I was going to be elected.” She says, she wants to take care of all climbers, not just for women. “Ever since I’ve been climbing, I’ve been giving other women an example of what’s possible. I love to share my experiences and give advice to them. I think that helps.” In the meantime, she is not only accepted by her male Sherpa colleagues, but also by the clients. “Physically, women may be a bit weaker,“ says Maya. „But if you‘re mentally strong, this doesn‘t matter.”

Arnold Coster

The Everest spring season is on. This Saturday, eight “Icefall Doctors“ will be celebrating a puja in the base camp on the Nepalese south side of the highest mountain in the world, a Buddhist ceremony, during which the gods are asked for their blessing. Next week, the Sherpas, who are specialized in this task, will prepare this year’s route through the Khumbu Icefall. At the beginning of April the first commercial teams are expected in the base camp. “I’m wondering how busy it will be on the south side with every year we see the numbers increasing significantly,“ says Arnold Coster, when I meet him today in Kathmandu. “And I wonder how many actually switch to the Tibetan side.“

Only one new operator in Tibet

Tibetan North side of Mount Everest

In truth, only the expedition operator Altitude Junkies of the British Phil Crampton has been added, says Arnold: “It sounds in the media as if a lot of people are switching but I think most of the regular companies will be there, but with bigger groups – including myself.“ The 41-year-old Dutchman will lead an internationally mixed team of twelve clients. Already last year, Arnold was en route on the Tibetan north side. “The main reason why I climb in Tibet is that it’s too busy in the Icefall on the South side. There are too many people who are too slow and it’s easy to get stuck in a traffic jam.“ Moreover, the objective dangers on the north side are much lower, says Coster, adding that after heavy snow fall, there is only, if at all, a low avalanche danger on the way up to the 7,000-meter-high North Col. “On the south side, however, you are constantly in danger in the Icefall, but also in in the Western Cwm by avalanches if there is a lot of snow. And even in the Lhotse Face.“

Three times on the summit

Arnold on expedition

Coster has been living in Nepal since 2004. He is married to Maya Sherpa, one of the country’s most famous female climbers (my interview with her will follow later). They have a daughter aged seven. This spring, Arnold will lead his 15th Everest expedition. He has been on the summit at 8,850 meters three times – more than any other mountaineer from the Netherlands. “My job is taking care of the people and not going to the summit myself,“ says Arnold, pointing out that he has been already eight times on the 8,748-meter high South Summit of Everest. “Very often I climb with my group but I turn around with somebody who needs help.“ In spring 2016, however, any help came too late for two of his clients. Within 24 hours, a Dutchman with whom Coster was a friend and an Australian woman died – even though both had reached the South Col after their summit attempt. In social networks, Arnold was subsequently accused of not informing the families of the deceased in time.

Liaison officer passed on sensitive information

In the Khumbu Icefall

“That is not the truth. The truth is that I got an emergency contact for all of my members. So as soon as I called this emergency contact, and I did that, I felt that my part of the job was done. And they should spread the news between friends and family. That part didn’t happen, but I got accused of that,“ says Coster. “At this point I was busy on the mountain with the rescue of other team members and with the recovering of the victims.“ According to Arnold, the liaison officer in the base camp was responsible for the fact that the families learned about the death of their relatives from the internet. The officer had nothing better to do than to reveal internal information from the radio in an interview, says Arnold.

“Quite silly“

Coster does not favour the new rules for expeditions in Nepal. As reported, the government had decided not to grant permits to double amputees and blind climbers and to prohibit solo climbs. Meanwhile Nepal’s Supreme Court overruled the permit ban for disabled climbers. “The rules are quite silly because those people don’t cause the problems on Everest,“ says Arnold. “The big problem on the south side are unexperienced people.“ It would make much more sense, finds Coster, to demand for example from Everest aspirants to have climbed previously at least a seven-thousander in Nepal: “Then you can check it because the records are in the (Tourism) Ministry. And you also don’t lose the income, because tourism is one of the biggest sources of income in Nepal.“

The main reason that proposals like this come to nothing is that the Nepalese government has changed every six to eight months since the end of the monarchy in 2008, says Coster: “There is a new government now and people hope for – and I also hope – that this government is gonna stay the full term. It doesn’t even matter who is there. As long as people stay, we’re gonna make a plan. But if people are always changing, how can we make a plan?“

Newly car-free zone in the tourist quarter of Thames

P.S. You may be wondering why I am currently visiting Nepal. Tomorrow, in Thulosirubari, 70 kilometers east of Kathmandu, the first two buildings of the new school will be inaugurated, which could be built with your donations for our aid project “School up!“. In addition, German climber Ralf Dujmovits and I will lay the foundation for the second construction phase. Then I will report on the celebration in the small mountain village. In addition, I use the opportunity to conduct some interviews on the upcoming climbing season in the Nepalese capital. I will publish these interviews by and by in the blog.

Mount Everest, Lhotse and Makalu (from l. to r.)

In the next few days there will surely be a lot of success reports on the eight-thousanders. Before we switch to the congratulation mode, unfortunately, we have to bring up some painful objects of commercial climbing. I’m really not a moralizer, but some news from the last few days have raised my concern – especially today’s tweet by Tim Mosedale. “Ronnie & Pemba have arrived at Lhotse high camp to find that some scumbags have nicked the supply of oxygen. Completely unacceptable”, writes the British expedition leader, who summited Mount Everest on Wednesday for the sixth time. And he sent another tweet: “Stealing Os jeopardises lives of other climbers. If it’s an emergency let us know and of course we’ll help. Taking it is utterly disgraceful.” It’s really shocking, absolutely negligent and inexcusable that egoism on the mountain goes so far that even oxygen bottles are stolen. This does not show the attitude of some (hopefully only a few) climbers on the highest mountains on earth in a very favourable light. This also applies to what happened in the failed summit attempt on Kangchenjunga last Tuesday.

Incorrect information in the highest camp

Chris Jensen Burke

The Australian Chris Jensen Burke reports in her blog, a leader of another group had told them in the last camp below the summit that ropes had been fixed up to 8,100 meters on the previous day. Therefore it would not be necessary to take all ropes available in the camp, he added – and that no Sherpas would have to ascend long before the clients of the commercial expeditions. Half a day later this turned out to be simply wrong. As a result, there was a “conga-line” (Chris) at an altitude of about 8,000 meters: ahead the Sherpas, who still had to secure the route, behind them the summit aspirants of the different teams. Then, in consequence of the incorrect information at the high camp, the ropes ran out. The summit attempt had to be abandoned, all climbers descended.

No trace of appreciation

Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, Dawa Yangzum Sherpa, Maya Sherpa (from l. to r.)

“Why were we given incorrect information?,” Chris Jensen Burke asks. “I have to believe inexperience played a key part, and there must have been no appreciation by the chap of the consequences.” No trace of teamwork. However, also the comment of a client quoted by Chris make me shake my head: “If a route setter knows climbers are coming up behind them, they should move faster.” These words are short of any respect for the work of the Sherpas. And the question must be allowed: What’s about the self-responsibility of the clients?

Among those who turned back on Kangchenjunga were the three Nepalese Maya Sherpa, Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita and Dawa Yangzum Sherpa. Today they decided to leave the mountain because of the rather bad weather forecasts. “It’s clearly a very disappointing decision, and we would obviously wish that we could return with a summit,” the Sherpani trio wrote on Facebook.

Maya Sherpa, Dawa Yangzum Sherpa, Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita (from l. to r.)

The trio wants the triple. After having climbed Mount Everest and K 2, Maya Sherpa, Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita and Dawa Yangzum Sherpa plan to scale next spring also the third-highest mountain in the world, the 8,586-meter-high Kangchenjunga in the east of Nepal. Via the normal route, with bottled oxygen. They climbed Everest still separately – Maya for the first time in 2006, Pasang Lhamu in 2007 and Dawa Yangzum in 2012 – but K 2 in Pakistan in 2014 for the first time together as a team. As early as in 2015 the trio wanted to climb Kangchenjunga. However, at that time the expedition did not come about for financial reasons. This time, too, there is still money left, Maya Sherpa, who is to lead the first Nepalese women’s expedition to Kangchenjunga, writes to me. The Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN) has announced to provide financial support as well as Tashi Lakpa Sherpa, managing director of the expedition operator Seven Summit Treks, says Maya Sherpa. The Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) has not yet decided whether it will also participate in the costs. In addition, the three Sherpani try to get a free permit for their expedition by the government.

Adventurer of the year 2016

Kangchenjunga

It is sad to hear that these three mountaineers of Nepal have to scrape together the sponsorship money for their project so tediously. After all, the Sherpani trio has made a name for themselves not only in their home country but worldwide. For example, the readers of the renowned US magazine “National Geographic” voted Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita “Adventurer of the Year 2016”. The 32-year-old is currently guiding the members of a commercial expedition on Aconcagua, with an altitude of 6,972 meters the highest mountain in South America.

Working also as expedition manager

Maya Sherpa on Everest

In spring 2016, Maya Sherpa – on an expedition operated by her husband Arnold Coster – climbed Mount Everest for the third time. Maya also leads expeditions herself. “There are no other Nepali women who do this kind of job,” writes the 38-year-old. Last fall, Maya led a five-member group to the summit of the seven-thousander Himlung Himal, “without my husband,” as she stresses. “I just like to work on the mountain.” Nepalese women, says Maya, can also work as Climbing Sherpas as Dawa Yangzum has proved during her Everest ascent in 2012, when the now 26-year-old carried the oxygen bottles of the expedition up the mountain.

Inspiration for other women in Nepal

With their new joint Kangchenjunga project, the three Sherpani want to encourage their country women. “It’s a good example for other Nepali ladies that if we try it together we can do everything,” says expedition leader Maya Sherpa. “If we climb alone, only a few people see us. But if we climb together many people are looking at us. And then maybe some other young women will show their interest to do something like us.”

Melissa Arnot

Female Power on Mount Everest. There were two women among the handful of climbers who have so far reached the 8850- meter-high summit without bottled oxygen this spring season: Melissa Arnot and Carla Perez. Before them, only six female climbers had succeeded this feat: Lydia Bradey (New Zealand, in 1988), Alison Hargreaves (UK, in 1995), Francys Arsentiev (USA, in 1998, she died on descend), La Ji (China, in 2004), Nives Meroi (Italy, in 2010) and Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner (Austria, in 2010).

A constant on Everest

Carla Perez

Melissa Arnot is the first American woman who reached the summit of Everest without breathing mask and returned alive. She ascended from the Tibetan north side. The 32-year-old is meanwhile a constant on the highest mountain on earth because she has worked there as a mountain guide for years. It was already Melissa’s sixth success on Everest after 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013. During her first five ascents, all via the normal route on the Nepalese south side, Arnot had used bottled oxygen. In 2013, she had witnessed the attacks of angry Sherpas against the European top climbers Ueli Steck and Simone Moro. Courageously Melissa had placed herself between the parties and had tried to settle the dispute.

Dream fulfilled

Like Arnot, the 33-year-old Ecuadorian Carla Perez scaled Everest from the north. She was the first woman from her South American homeland on the highest point on earth – even without breathing mask. “A few hours ago, we were at the top of Mount Everest,” Carla wrote on Facebook. “Without oxygen, exhausted, not knowing how we made it up but happy to have fulfilled our dream.” It was her third eigth-thousander after Manaslu in 2012 and Cho Oyu in 2014. Perez had done these ascents without bottled oxygen as well.

Strong Sherpani

Two Sherpani have also set exclamation marks on Everest – even though they used breathing masks. Lhakpa Sherpa scaled the highest mountain – as reported – for the seventh time. The 42-year-old, who born in Nepal and living in the US, remains the woman with the most Everest ascents.

Maya Sherpa

Maya Sherpa was at the top for the third time. She was the only woman among the Climbing Sherpas on the Nepalese side, saying: She worked on the mountain. In 2014, Maya had made headlines when she had scaled – along with her countrywomen Dawa Yangzum Sherpa and Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita – the 8611-meter-high K 2 in Pakistan, the second highest mountain on earth. “Being a professional climber since 2003, I have always tried my best to launch myself in the eyes of all those guys who think women are pathetic in this field,” Maya Sherpa wrote me early in 2015. I take my hat off to Maya, Lhakpa, Carla and Melissa. Bravo!

Maya Sherpa (in the background Mount Everest)

Nepal needs strong women like Maya Sherpa. “With our women expedition project we want to inspire women doing what we really are capable of even after being married and having children”, the 36-year-old climber writes to me. In July 2014, she scaled the 8611-meter-high K 2 with Dawa Yangzum Sherpa and Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita. They were the first female climbers from Nepal on top of the second highest mountain in the world. A week and a half ago, I introduced the trio’s new project in my blog: the planned ascent of Kangchenjunga next spring. I got Maya’s answers to my questions concerning their plans a few days after the article had gone online.

Still on debt

Climber, wife and mother

As Dawa Yangzum did previously, Maya confirmed that they are still sitting on debt with a volume of about 13,800 US $ (converted) after their expedition to K2. “People think, we have just earned a lot and lost nothing. Reality is just behind the wall”, says Maya adding that they want to do things differently now. “This time we have just tried to raise fund from many of those reputed mountaineering organizations like NMA [Nepal Mountaineering Association] or TAAN [Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal] who understand what we are doing and why.” She is alluding to the Government of Nepal that has still not paid the promised money for the K 2 expedition (equivalent to 4,950 $) till this day.

Twice on Everest

Maya (l.) on top of K 2

Maya grew up in a small village in Okhaldhunga district, not far from Mount Everest. She fought hard to find a place in the still male-dominated world of mountaineering in Nepal. “Being a professional climber since 2003, I have always tried my best to launch myself in the eyes of all those guys who think women are pathetic in this field”, says Maya who was a successful weightlifter (featherweight) before she started climbing. The Sherpani scaled Mount Everest from both sides, from Nepal in 2006, from Tibet in 2007. In addition, she was the first woman from Nepal on top of Cho Oyu (8,188 m) in Tibet, Pumori (7,161 m), Baruntse (7,129 m) and Ama Dablam (,6814 m) in Nepal and Khan Tengri (7,010 m) in Kyrgyzstan. She is married to the Dutch mountaineer Arnold Coster. They live with their four-year-old daughter Roos Dawa in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu.

Fight against gender discrimination in Nepal

In 2010, Maya was elected as an executive member of the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA): “I learned a lot there, the need of women expedition guide and climber in reality. Female climbers and guides could be counted on two hands.” It was a “huge challenge” for her, Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita and Dawa Sherpa Yangzum “to fight against gender discrimination in Nepal”, Maya Sherpa says. “We would also like to give a shot awareness message to every single man who thinks girls are born with a curse: This is not the truth if we just avoid gender discrimination in the society.”

Maya, Dawa Yangzum, Pasang Lhamu (f.l.)

They are a powerful trio on the mountain: On 26 July 2014, Dawa Yangzum Sherpa, Maya Sherpa and Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita were the first women from Nepal, who reached the 8611-meter-high summit of K2 in Pakistan. The second highest mountain in the world is also called “Savage Mountain” due to the difficulty of ascent and the high fatality rate. “We were the first Nepalese women on K 2! And it was not easy climbing this moutain. Only real climbers know how and why we climbed K 2”, Dawa Yangzum writes to me. Mountaineers had appreciated their performance in an appropriate way. They did not expect that from the Nepalese government anyway: “Mostly, the government, the ministry and all these people just know Everest and the Seven Summits. If we had climbed the Seven Summits, they would have made us a front page news”, says the 25-year-old. The government is in Dawa Yangzum’s bad books anyway.

Promised, not held

On top of K 2

The three Sherpani had difficulties in financing their expedition to K2. They are still sitting on debt. The Ministry of Tourism in Kathmandu had promised to contribute 500,000 rupees (about 4,800 US $). “We are still waiting for the money”, Dawa Yangzum complains. ”We do not understand these people. Nothing to say about them.”

There is a lack of money for their next scheduled project too. The three female climbers already scaled Mount Everest in previous years: Dawa Yangzum in 2012, the 30-year-old Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita in 2007 and the 36-year-old Maya Sherpa even twice: from the South in 2006, from the North in 2007. After having climbed successfully the first and the second highest mountain of the world, the trio wants to scale the third highest too, the 8586-meter-high Kangchenjunga in Nepal. The three Sherpani plan to climb via the normal route and to use bottled oxygen above 8000 meters – as they did on K 2 and Everest. “But we don’t have much time for fundraising”, says Dawa Yangzum. “If we are able to get the money, we are happy and can start anytime.” Perhaps the Sherpani should try crowdfunding.

Goal: More Nepalese women in mountain sports

Dawa Yangzum Sherpa

Dawa Yangzum grew up in the Rolwaling Valley, which is located north-east of Kathmandu, at the foot of the seven-thousander Gauri Shankar. She has made her marks not only as Sherpani climber, but also as an excellent ultra-marathon and mountain runner. For a year, she is married to Pasang Tenzing Sherpa, an experienced high-altitude climber and mountain guide, who stood on top of Everest ten times already. Dawa Yangzum successfully completed a mountain guide course at the end of 2014. Maya Sherpa and Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita also earn money in adventure and outdoor tourism. They had to do pioneering work. “When we were beginners, it was a difficult time for us being female in outdoor activities. Meanwhile we are taken seriously as climbers”, says Dawa Yangzum. “We want to incourage other women to get involved in mountain sports too. It just takes time.”

P. S.: Since 1993, when Pasang Lhamu Sherpa scaled Mount Everest as the first woman from Nepal (and died on the descent), 23 Nepalese female climbers reached the summit of the highest mountain in the world.