Lhakpa Sherpa

Lhakpa has climbed Mount Everest ten times, which is the world record for women. In 2000, she became the first Nepalese woman to climb and descend Mount Everest. One of 11 children, Lhakpa grew up on the banks of Makalu in Nepal. She has two daughters and a son,4 and was married to George Dijmarescu, a Romanian-American for 12 years. They met in 2000 in Kathmandu, Nepal and married in 2002. In 2016, several newspapers published an article about her and recognized her as the most-climbed woman on Mount Everest, after she completed her seventh ascent that year.

Lhakpa grew up in the Makalu region of Nepal and in 2000 she led an expedition sponsored by Asian Trekking. On September 18, 2000, she became the first Nepalese woman to climb and survive to the summit of Mount Everest (see also Pasang Lhamu Sherpa). The climb was organized by the Nepalese Women's Millennium Expedition. 9

In 2003, the US media noted that she had climbed Mount Everest three times, a world record for women. 10 In May 2003, she reached the summit with her sister Mingma Gelu11 and brother Ming Kipa. Her younger sister Mingma was 15 when she reached the summit on 22 May 2003, becoming the youngest person known to have summited Mount Everest (see also Temba Tsheri and Jordan Romero). 12 By 2016, her brother Mingma Gelu Sherpa had summited Everest eight times. The BBC noted that this was the first time three siblings had summited together and been included in the Guinness Book of World Records. In 2004, during the Everest Connecticut expedition, Lapka was seriously injured in an altercation with her husband.

By 2007, George had summited Everest nine times since 1999, and Lhakpa six times. That year, they organised a conference recounting the 2007 expedition, with proceeds going to Quaker Lane Nursery School. George and Lhapka have summited Mount Everest together 5 times. In 2008, George was suffering from cancer, and medical expenses and George's illness reportedly contributed to tensions in the marriage.

Lhapka means "Wednesday" and the climber owes her first name to the day of the week she was born, following Sherpa custom. Although born in Nepal, she is now a resident of the United States and devotes herself to her three children and various jobs. She worked at the American retail chain 7-Eleven. However, in her interviews she speaks of her desire for the mountains, like other climbers such as George Mallory and Yuichiro Miura according to the British newspaper, The Daily Telegraph.

For her seventh ascent of Everest, Lhapka reached the summit in 2016 via Tibet (China).

In 2018, she again broke the women's record for the most ascents of Everest, reaching the summit on 16 May 2018, climbing it for the ninth time. She led the feat with Kami Rita Sherpa, who reached the summit the same day and broke the men's record for the most ascents, climbing Everest for the twenty-second time.