In 1993, Pasang Lhamu Sherpa became the first Nepali woman to summit Mount Everest. After three failed attempts at reaching the top of one of the world’s most dangerous mountains, she finally made it. Unfortunately, she never came back down. Unexpected bad weather made her descent difficult, and Pasang Lhamu ended up dying on the mountain. Still, her remarkable and historic ascent continues to be honored and celebrated today. Seven years later, in 2000, another Nepali woman mountaineer named Lhakpa Sherpa would follow in Pasang Lhamu’s footsteps, making her first summit of Everest. For Lhakpa, though, this ascent would be far from her last.
Lucy Walker’s latest documentary, Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa, details the life of this incredible mountaineer. Over the course of 22 years, Lhakpa has summited Everest 10 times; not only is she the first Nepali woman to summit and descend Everest, but she also holds the record for the most completed climbs of Everest by a woman. But Lhakpa’s inspiring story goes well beyond the mountain’s tallest peaks, with Walker taking great care to mold both her lives on and off the mountain into one incredible story.
There are many things that drive a person to the top of Everest. It calls to people in unexpected and strange ways. For Lhakpa, this mountain is her best friend. “When life is not easy for me, I think about my mountain,” she says. And life has not been easy for Lhakpa who is described as always being drawn to the outdoors, even when she was a young girl. A mother to three children, Lhakpa has not only endured the brutality of Everest but also the brutality of the men in her life. The father of her first child never married Lhakpa, leaving her to care for their son all on her own instead. Her two daughters, Sunny and Shiny, had to endure a traumatic childhood alongside their mother at the hands of their abusive father, George Dijmărescu—a mountaineer, as well.
While it might seem like Lhakpa’s obsession with Everest is tied up in her own desire to reckon with this traumatic and abusive past, she continually tells everyone that she climbs the mountain because she wants to give a better life to her children. There’s the sense that she means this figuratively, hoping that by allowing her children to see her courage and bravery unfold as she conquers Everest again and again, they, too, will come to understand the importance of striving for the unreachable. In some scenes, she explains that she wants to inspire change in Nepali women, as well. Much of Mountain Queen is narrated by Lhakpa herself—a choice that goes a long way in presenting her as the reporter of her own story. Unlike other documentaries full of interviews with people discussing the film’s subject, Lhakpa does not need someone else to speak for her, and thankfully Walker is more than happy to let her take control of her own narrative.
Perhaps the most interesting part of Mountain Queen is its emphasis on motherhood and all that we give up in exchange for raising children. If you decide to climb Mount Everest, you are also deciding to face death head-on. For some parents, this would be enough to keep them at base camp. But even though it is clear Lhakpa loves her children, the pull of Everest is irresistible for her. In one particular scene, she tries to explain to her daughter Sunny why she is going, saying, “I love you. I care about you. But I need to go.” In this sense, she is so much bigger than her motherhood, honoring her own personhood separate from her children by climbing Everest. By doing this, she inadvertently becomes the ultimate mother figure—strong and wise and utterly indestructible. “I respect it like my mom,” she says of Everest, which in Tibetan is referred to as “Chomolungma” or “Goddess Mother.” And to respect a mother is to honor her, as well.
Mountain Queen is a riveting and inspiring documentary about a phenomenal woman that goes beyond your average inspirational story. In large part, this is because Walker allows Lhakpa’s voice to shine through, giving shape to her own unique life. By the film’s end, we understand that Lhakpa’s strong will and determination will never keep her from chasing after the things she loves. “A woman cannot give up,” she tells us, and while this might sound like a warning, it is also an invitation. An invitation to find our Everests and climb them, or as Lhakpa says, “I wanted what my heart wanted.”
Photo courtesy of Netflix
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