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Transcript

The Mountain Is My Teacher: Everest Record-Holder Lhakpa Sherpa on Resilience · Mind Over Mountain

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Hi, everyone. Welcome to Mind Over Mountain with me, Cheryl Strayed.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: This week, my guest is Nepali climber Lakpa Sherpa. Lakpa
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: holds the world record for summiting Mount Everest the most
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: times by a woman. She did it first in 2000
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: when she was in her 20s, and she did it
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: for the 11th time just this last spring at the
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: age of 52. You might already know about Lakpa. She's
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: the subject of the amazing documentary by Lucy Walker called
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Mountain Queen. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: you watch it. In our conversation, Lakpa tells me all
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: about how she considers Mount Everest her teacher and friend.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: She shares with me some of the challenges that she's
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: faced not on the mountains, but in real life, and
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: also all about the next peaks she hopes to ascend.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Let's listen to our conversation. Lakpa Sherpa, Mountain Queen, welcome
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: to Mind Over Mountain.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for inviting me here.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: I'm so thrilled to get the chance to talk to you.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: We met back in 2024 in Telluride, Colorado, when we
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: were both there at the Mountain Film Festival. And of course,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: The beautiful film about you, Mountain Queen, that Lucy Walker made,
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: her documentary, that has really touched so many around the
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: world since I saw it at that festival back in 2024.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: We chatted a little bit. And I want to tell you, Lakpa,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: you are truly a personal inspiration to me. So it's
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: my great privilege to get to talk to you here.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: I am very happy to share.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: All my documentary.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: I work very professionally. My whole life is very poor,
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: you know. I work very hard, you know. That is
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: a hard work. Things come in and people like it.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: And I'm so happy, you know, people really appreciate my documentaries.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they do. And I think it's because just what
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: you said. That film is very much, I think, a
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: look at not just... you know, your most recent achievements,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: but really a lifetime of achievements and a lifetime of
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: struggle and hardship and also resilience and excellence. And so
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: that's where I want to begin. Now, way back in 2000,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: the year 2000, 26 years ago, on May 18th, 2000,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: you were leading the Nepali Women Millennium Expedition and you
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: summited Mount Everest and you were the first Nepali woman
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: to summit and make it back safely. And then here
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: we are 26 years later, another May, May of 2026,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: You broke your own record. You summited Mount Everest for
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: the 11th time, you know, now in your early 50s.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: And I'm curious, let's start at the end and then
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: we'll work our way back to the beginning. How did
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: that feel for you, you know, last May to be
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: standing there knowing that you did that 11 times and
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: that you are the woman who has summited Everest the most?
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: I'm very child's comfort. I'm Macaloo. Village, that time no
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: have a social media, no camera. And I'm very young,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: a young girl looking opportunity myself, no school. And yeah, so,
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: you know, that time I'm very teenager, 2000, post my dreams.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: I want to do something, you know, I want to,
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: I born wrong area. I born in United States, maybe
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: I'm very good sport children. My mom was born very
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: wrong mountains, village, you know. They don't have any sport.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: My mom doesn't understand. When I was a child, I
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: was a very sporty girl. Yeah, I looked myself up.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: I followed my dad, put his steps, and my dad
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: taught me a little bit how to hike in nature. Yeah,
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: I learned myself in nature school. All the mountains look
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: like my teacher, you know. Villages and hills, it's my school. Yeah,
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: you know, teenager, 2000, I'm a very, I want to
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: climb any mountains, you know, that is my skill, beginning,
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: no school, this is my teach, I will learn myself,
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: you know. I'm very look like a teenager, American teenager,
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: do bad things, but I do bad things in Everest,
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: you know, I want to look, climb all the mountains,
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: you know. Yeah, very teenager, that time I'm a Kumbaya school,
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: I feel, think, oh my God, cool, this mountain is cool,
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: very no scare. After 2011 TEM Summit, I'm a 52-year-old lady.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: Of course, I'm scared. I learned American system. I'm very worried.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: I want to go up Summit and come back, be careful,
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: back into my children, you know. I have a big responsibility.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: I had children waiting. I'm a teenager, you know, my children,
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: I know it. I look like a jumping monkey, climbing,
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: ice climbing, no problem for me. Yeah, it's, you know,
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: mountain make me strong, you know, working hard makes me strong. Mine,
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: you know, strong physically, mentally, that makes mountain make me strong.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: And people says work hard.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Were you at that point, how old were you when
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: you made that first, that you were the first Nepali
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: woman to summit and make it back safely? Were you
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: at that point in your 20s? Yeah, 27. 27?
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: Yes. And you had started, by then you.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Were actually a.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Leading climbs as a child growing up in Nepal. How
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: was it that you, a girl, came to be a
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Sherpa climber? I understand that's a pretty unique position for
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: girls and women to be in Nepal.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there comes a girl cannot go with the porters,
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: you know, very difficult, very difficult as a man. Man jobs,
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: only men do it. Girl jobs, only girl jobs. Girl
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: must do the params, help the mama, you know. This Kenny,
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: but I broke the rule. I little bit, I'm a
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: tomboy type, and I not listen. My mama says, you
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: must do girl jobs. I want a lot. I like it,
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: the men job. Men job, more actors, you know? Yeah,
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: I followed a more historic job, more physically job because
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: I'm very tall.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: And you grew up in a very rural place in
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: the mountains of Nepal, one of 11 children. How was
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: it that you managed to convince your mom that you
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: weren't going to be just doing the girl jobs, as
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: you say, that you wanted to start climbing like your
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: male counterparts? How were you able to get away with that?
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I, a little bit, I am a little teenager girls,
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: you know, I already falling in love with the nature
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: way and see this beautiful mountain around me and look
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: like a television, look like eye porn, you know, my
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: porn is my, my eye, you know, daytime, we don't
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: have any porn or any television, any social media. It's my,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: my camera is my eye. And I, I look beautiful
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: mountain rivers, nature, animals. I, I'm feel look like I'm
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: a little girl looking to, I fall in love with
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: this nation and outdoor life is tall. You know, my
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: mom don't understand. That is, I, I not listen my mom's.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: Maybe I listen my mom. I marriage in Makalabeles. Maybe
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: 20 children now, you know, I know. I'm not coming
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: mountain queen. But I, I, I, I work myself a
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: little bit hard jobs, yes.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: And were your, was your father and your brothers, were
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: they also at this point, climbing and leading trips up Everest,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: and you sort of joined along with them, or was
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: this something that you really just sought out on your own?
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: My dad is the only Makalu village knuckle guide there,
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: you know. So all tourists are coming, posh tourists are coming,
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: and he just showed on the mountain, you know, guiding
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: knuckle guide in a base camp, you know. He is
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: the knuckle guide, and he has also tea house, little
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: tea house, shelter. tourists how to eat, you know, they're
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: making little tea house business too, you know, you know,
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: who we have a lot of, yak, naks, miliks, you know, yoghurt, butter, cheese,
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: goat cheese, we sell that kind of things and the
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: tourists buy them. My dad also a little bit, also
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: a little param type sell too, you know, and also
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: he knuckle guide, you know, he took me all the
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: times wherever he going. You know, I'm very strong. Mile, mile,
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: I can walk. You know, that is he teach me
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: this way.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: I love the way that you talk about nature as
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: being your teacher and being, you know, in some ways
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: the thing that occupied you way back as a teenager.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: You know, we think of teenagers as needing this kind
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: of like a lot of stimulation to be excited, but
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: you felt that oneness with nature. Do you still now,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: now you are in your early 50s, What does Mount
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: Everest mean to you and the mountains of Nepal? What
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: have you learned from them?
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: How to stay strong, you know. Mountain teach me how
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: to stay safe, how to stay balanced, how to stay
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: take care and how to work hard. That is mountain
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: teach me, you know. That is it. how to survive
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: the mountain and how to survive the nature. And the
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: outdoor lifestyle mountain teach me this way. And I feel
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: I had a, right now I feel I have a really, really, honestly,
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: I want to say I have a, I feel I
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: had a mountain degrees in my heart, you know. I
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: have outdoor degrees. I know everything look like a puzzle
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: in this mountain in Himalaya, almost American mountains. I learn
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: myself with all the 50 states, 50 states, 50 highest point,
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: highest mountain here in United States. I keep going. And
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: I want to learn physically, you know. Learning physically is
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: the best. Writing, reading books is not so good. Physically,
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: I challenge my mentality. Hiking there, you know. Work hard,
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: and I feel work very hard. 52 years, I work hard,
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: and my result still come a little bit, you know.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: My dad told me, you must work hard. Not two years,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: not three years. Many, many years, 30 years, you work hard,
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: and you can show your result. He told me and
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: I keep in my mind that things and I keep
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: work hard.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: And you haven't stopped all of these years. You know,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: after you had your teenage years and your youth learning
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: how to be a climber, you did, as I mentioned,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: you indeed became the first Nepali woman to summit in
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: 2000 and went back recently at 52 to summit. Why
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: did you decide? You'd already had the world record for
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: being the woman who had summited Everest the most times,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: which is chronicled in the movie Mountain Queen, that 10th climb.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Why did you decide to go back and do an
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: 11th summit?
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: You know, I summited K2, very difficult mountains, you know,
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: Mountain K2 in Pakistan, highest, second mountain, highest mountain. It's
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: very difficult. I summited. You know, mountain teach me. Every
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: year since I'm old lady, you know, my children go up.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: You know, my skill, my mountains, the skill, I had
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: only mountain. I know that this mountain look like I
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: am a very good friendship in this mountain, my whole life,
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: you know. And I like going back because I want
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: to tell my children, I am very working hard, washing dishes,
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: I keep. Going this mountain Everest, mountain Everest is totally
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: changing different kind of view. Every year I go very
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: different kind of looks, you know, different changing, mountain changing
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: a lot. And I want to see Look like I
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: almost want to researching myself up, you know, going back again.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: How did this mountain go changing again and again? You know,
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: every year the mountain changing. Yeah. I want to learn
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: myself this mountain very well. And I want to teach
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: the young generation. It's all beginning 2000 and 1996. Mountain
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: is totally ice, blue ice, no melt. Now ice lotus melt.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: MLA is coming everywhere. Big river is coming, this Mumbai school.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: I want to learn. Every day I go, I learn
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: different kind of gear, different kind of equipment. New equipment.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: I use very old equipment, mountain equipment. Now I have
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: very technical equipment I need to use. Yeah, that is
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: teach me how to do in a mountain more. More
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: young generation, more educated people come in, more educated tourists
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: come in. Everest, Kalamin, no poor people come in. Very
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: rich people, very educated people, maybe doctor, lawyer, big business
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: people come, that kind of people come in Everest. And
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: I learn every year a different kind of mountain shift.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: That is, I want to research myself.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Really, I'm curious about the culture of climbing Everest in
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: the time that you've been, the many decades that you've
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: had now on the mountain. You know, as you mentioned,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: a lot of the Western climbers are wealthy. You have
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: to have resources, right, to get to Nepal and, you know,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: climb Everest. which is in contrast to the Nepali Sherpa climbers.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: I'm wondering if you have, you know, what has happened?
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Has there been more of a shift? Also, many of
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: those Western climbers have gotten more attention about climbing Everest.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: But now I think that is shifting to an understanding
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: of the Sherpa climbers. How have you seen that culture
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: change over the last couple of decades?
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: Yes, many culture changing. Long time ago, 1996, the people
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: not so speak English. Sherpas not so speak English. Now
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: young generation, almost Western culture, they could speak English. All
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: the young Sherpas, very good at speaking English. And very technical, very,
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: they're very technical mountain too. You know, how ice columnings,
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: rock columnings, they are very good at speaking English, nice gear. Yeah,
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: I saw this culture changing, people changing. They now educated
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: Sharma also going there, very young Sharma educated, speaking very
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: good English. And they started killing the garbage and they
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: started killing the mountains. They started really, really whatever they can't,
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: that I see right now. All the people, all the
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: tourists bring the garbage down.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: So there's more consciousness, I guess, about respecting the mountain?
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: When they're bringing the garbage.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: They respect the mountains also many. Long times ago, 1996,
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: no tourists, so many people come in the Kalamik Mountain Everest.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: Right now, they're watching my movie. Mountain Queen, they're coming
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: more home, and there's a lot of home and coming,
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: climbing Mount Everest. I don't know why. They say, Lakpa,
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: I watch your documentary because I want to climb this mountain,
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: 8,000 meters, Everest. They're talking about it a lot. I
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: see many home and looking my documentary, and they want
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: to come climbing this mountain.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, that's what happens, Lakpa. I mean, that's, I think,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: one of the most moving things about any woman who
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: is the first or the greatest or the most, you know,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: her action and life inspires other women to different kinds
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: of lives and actions. So I think Mountain Queen absolutely
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: does that, whether they be, you know, whether women go
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: and summit Everest or they just take on, you know,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: outdoor challenges and adventures of their own because you inspired them.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: So thank you. Thank you for that. Um, I would
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: love to talk to you a bit about, because, you know,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: you grew up in Nepal, but you live in the
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: United States now. And I'd love to ask you a
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: bit about your journey, not just on Mount Everest, but
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: your journey through life. When was it that you first
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: came to the United States? And why did you come?
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: I came back in 2001, the United States, 2001. And
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: I fell in love with one mountain columnar because... Everybody's,
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: you know, I'm also mountain sport. I love mountain. And
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: my husband, sunny dad, shiny dad, loved the mountain too.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: We see each other and I said, this is look
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: like my guy. He's very strong. You know, I can
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: call him in together. Mountain needs two partner, all the times,
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: and two people. Every hiking. What about the hiking, going here?
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: Two people, we need to go hike two people all
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: the times. And I said, oh, this man is great.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: He summed it with oxygen, too. You know, this looks
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: like my soul man, you know. I did, you know.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: That is how I come to the United States.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: So you came for love. You met this climber. You mentioned...
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: Sonny and Shiny, your two daughters. And you came because
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: you married him and he was living in the United States.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: And you settled, are you still in Hartford, Connecticut?
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Yes, I live in Hartford, Connecticut, 25 years ago now.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Well, how was that for you? That must, I mean, obviously,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: totally different environment, totally different culture, halfway around the world.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: What did you experience personally? What kind of culture shock
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: or experience did you have when suddenly you were living
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: in Connecticut rather than in the Himalayan mountains of Nepal?
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I learned. I go to Nepal. I already know
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: Nepali culture and Sharma culture and Nepali law, you know, follow.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: And I learn here. I learn English. I speak English,
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: you know, I learn. learn by taking care of children,
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: learning English, you know, follow the rule in the Harper's
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: and also follow the rule by the Harper law. You know,
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: I must follow the learning myself. You know, here people
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: say this is a system in here, United States, and
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: I follow the rule very well. And in America, and
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: I had, I work very hard and honest working. I
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: work in dignity ways, you know, very clear. Yeah, you know,
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: people ask in Lhasa, my parents ask me, Lhasa, is
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: it a divorce? And they call me, which one is you?
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: It's difficult. And I say, no, mountain is very easy.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: Divorce is very, very difficult. You know, hurt, totally too
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: much hurt, you know. For me, I can climb any mountain,
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: but I cannot divorce. No, I don't want a second divorce.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: That is hurt, you know, very physically, mentally very difficult, yes. Right.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: We're getting ahead of ourselves here. But let me summarize
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: that after you came to the United States, you had
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: two daughters with your ex-husband. I mean, he was your
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: husband at the time. He became your ex-husband because you did,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: after some time, decide to divorce. And I find it interesting. So,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: you know, that experience you went through, which is documented
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: in the film, I thought you were so brave, Lakpa, to...
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: share the story that you did of your experience with
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: domestic violence, your husband being physically and verbally abusive to you.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: And finally, you fled with your daughters and divorced him.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: I'm wondering if you can share a bit of that experience,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: looking back on that. What was that like for you
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: to watch Mountain Queen and be relived? you know, back
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: in reliving that experience, seeing yourself at that time that
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: I'm going to guess was the most desperate time in
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: your life and the most painful time of your life.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: Yes. I'm all the time. It's the positives. They, you know, we,
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: we have, everybody has a negative and the positives. It's together.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: I keep the, all the times, my positives put on
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: for me, you know, nicely put on negatives, all the
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: times behind. I, all the times keep the, myself happy,
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: you know, and taking my children very well. And I'm
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: a mother. I did. I look at that back and
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: I said, wow, I did it. I did a very,
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: very difficult life. Now that life is coming right now.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: I cannot make it. You know, I'm go all. My
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: 30 and 40, that hyper work very strong woman. And
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: I take my children. I work in the whole food
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: and the house killing and two, three jobs. I really,
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: really work very hard, you know. And that my work hard, really,
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: really focused. Not two days, not three days, you know,
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: 30 days, 40 days I work. And that work results came.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: Right now, my children go back to college. They buy
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: for me food. And I say, oh, my God, they
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: pay me back a little bit. And I feel happy. Yeah.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Both your girls are in college? Yeah.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Stay with me. I'm very happy. It's still my children,
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: my baby.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that is life. Everybody has a difficult life, not
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: only me. Maybe rich people also have a different kind
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: of life. It's still very difficult, you know. They want
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: somebody's success, want to work hard. No working hard, maybe
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: no success, you know. I did my solo because I'm
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: no doctor, no lawyer, but I'm a simple woman, not educated,
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: but skilled in the mountains. You know, this is my land.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: I keep my dreams, you know? Yeah.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think one of the things that I
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: was most struck by in the film is this thing
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: that you're saying that how you know, I think that
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: what you're known for, obviously, it's like, okay, you have that,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: you know, record of summiting Everest the most, and you're
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: such a skilled mountaineer and such an amazing climber, right?
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: And yet, the hardest things that you've done are these
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: very mundane things that are often invisible to others. You know,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: surviving a relationship in which you're being abused, escaping that relationship,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: supporting kids as a single mom, working as a house
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: cleaner and in Whole Foods and other jobs like that.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: Those are really the more heroic and epic and difficult
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: things to survive and do. And what's life like now
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: today after the film? Are you still working at Whole
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Foods or what are you doing?
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: Oh, no. I had a searching. I opened my own business,
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: Hiking with the Lakpa.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: Hiking with Lakpa?
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: Yes, hiking with Lakpa. And I want to teach my experience,
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: you know. One day I go, oh, and I want
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: to teach how to survive the nature and enjoy them,
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: you know, healing them, you know. And we are all
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: healthy men and women, children. We need to go hiking,
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: you know. We need to go work every day, every
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: day not so good. We need to go walk and hike.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: That is healing, you know. And some people say, I
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: hate my job. I hate my job. Hey, you hate
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: your job. You must come hike with me in Everest,
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: basically two weeks. You love your job bad. Very much.
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: You love your job bad.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: Why is that? How does Everest make you love your
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: job that you hate?
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: Because here is air condition, computer, nice chair, nice food, right?
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: Two weeks hiking, not so good food, not so shower,
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: not so... That is a life challenge, you know. Anybody
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: hate the job, must go to Bresbuesk in two weeks.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: And they love that job very much. And here also,
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: I take very hard work, hard hiking here. And say,
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: many women say, oh, Lakpa, I need to go back
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: in my job. I love my air condition, you know.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: That is, see, you love your job back. Yeah.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Well, I will say I've had that experience. I mean,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: certainly I am not a mountaineer or a climber, but
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: I'm a hiker. And I agree with you that that
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: is one of the lessons the wilderness, living in the
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: wilderness teaches us, whether it's for three days or three
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: weeks or three months, is that feeling of like, you know,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: we take comfort for granted, right?
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: And We're out there and we realize we get to
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: test our strength and we get to test our endurance
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: and we get to be uncomfortable. And it does shift
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: the perspective. I think that's what is really one of
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: the most powerful things about any kind of adventure in
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: the wilderness that asks a lot of you. is you
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: go back saying, oh, maybe I don't, you know, this
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: isn't so hard to be living in this existence. So
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: do you only take women hiking in Everest or do
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: you also lead hikes here in the United States?
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I take it all the 50 states in the
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: United States, every way, you know. I want to teach
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: my experience all of hiking with the luck, but through
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: hiking with the luck, I want to teach how to hiking,
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: how to packing, you know. Uh, everything's really, people loves
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: my teach, you know, it's like, well, you are the
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: best leader, you know, and I hike in the, I'm sure,
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: nine hour, they say all very, they very likes my,
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: how to, I teach me very natural way. Uh, there is, uh,
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: one day I go all, I want to teach my
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: experience to other, uh, hiker people, you know? Uh-huh.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: What about your daughters? Do they, have you taken them,
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: have they attempted to summit Everest or have you taken
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: them hiking?
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: No, I took her hiking the boat. They love hiking too,
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: you know? And I say hiking is not so good job.
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: You know, you finish your college degree, so you make
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: good money and you can hike whatever you want. I
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: told all of them that.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: Education is more important, you know. You can make good
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: money and you can go good vacation, you know. You
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: can go two weeks in Nepal, hiking, two months, one
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: month in the Himalaya, no problem. You have money. You
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: have no money, you stuck here. And I told them.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: And they understand very well. They love hiking too.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: And what about yourself as a climber? Do you have,
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: you've done that 11th summit. You have the world record.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: What?
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Do you think that you'll return again and again? Or
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: do you ever see a time where, you know, you're saying, okay,
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: this is the end, that I'm not going to, that
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: I'll continue to hike, but I'm not going to do
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: that high altitude stuff? What do you have ahead of
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: you when it comes to your friend, Mount Everest?
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: For me, I want to go again and again. I'm
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: going 80 years old. I'm still healthy and happy, very strong. No,
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: not happen, nothing. I'm 80 years old, lay the top
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: of the Everest. I want to keep going. Because I
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: never know, my children go already big, very independent. Why
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: I look, why I stay home? I want to go
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: my skill, and I want to go and chill, and
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: I know no one in marriage. I have a son,
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: I have children. I'm not looking marriage, you know. I'm just,
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: mountain is my best parent. That is, I want to
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: go visit every year, wherever I can. I want to
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: myself love. Learning as an old lady how much we
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: can go on top of the mountain Everest. Maybe 80,
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: maybe 70, 90, maybe 100, you know. I want to
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: test myself. I want to test them. And other women
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: can do it, too, you know. I did it, and
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: other women can do it, too.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: Okay, so, you know, you make it sound... Easy, Lakpa.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: And what I know is it's not, right? When you're like,
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: I can do it. I can, I'm going to go
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: back when I'm 80, I'm 100. So what do you do?
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: I'm going, please correct me if I'm wrong, but there
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: must be times when you're climbing that you are struggling,
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: that it's very difficult. that you're having to find all
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: of that inner strength inside of you to continue going.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: Tell me about times that it has been hard for
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: How do you keep going? What do you draw upon
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: within you to keep moving forward and up?
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: I think, you know, yeah, my children also say, Mama,
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: you make social media so easy, you know. Coloring is
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: not easy. Hiking is not easy. She tell, you know, yeah, yeah,
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: you know, it's good, you know. They say also, but
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: I make a little bit easy social media. But mountains
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: are not easy. Coloring is not easy. Life is not easy.
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: Very difficult life. Very easy life cannot learn nothing, really.
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: Easy life not learning nothing. Must fail, must fail many times.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: You wake up many times. That is you learn very
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: strong body and strong mind. That is hard life you can't,
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: you learn. Very good life you not learning nothing. All
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: the time success, success, success, you don't learn nothing. That
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: is it. I've been upside down a lot in my life.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: I'm learning physically and mentally. Not really. I'm not being college,
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: no college degree, but I learn myself. Look like everything
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: I know, hard life. Hard life I know and how
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: to stay safe, how to stay strong. At least I
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: learned myself because that is because working hard and so
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: many times failing and I learned myself.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: And you think, do you think that in some ways
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: that ability to be so resilient in your life? Because
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: as you say, I mean, you, you grew up. you know,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: poor and wanting to do something that everyone around you
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: is saying, girls can't do that. You did it anyway.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: You were the first. You were a trailblazer in summiting,
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: you know, an incredibly difficult mountain of Mount Everest. And then,
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: of course, your life here in the U.S. had many challenges,
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: both economic and in your marriage and surviving abuse and
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: all of those things that you talk about. Do you
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: think that... Being a climber and having the relationship with
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: Mount Everest is what, in some ways, gave you that
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: kind of ability to be strong and resilient and keep
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: going in the hard times?
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: Yes. So many times failing, divorce, failing, so many things.
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: I learned myself, you know, no more this situation where
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: I don't want to go again, you know. I want
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: to go. I see this beautiful, more struggling, hard situation.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: Divorce is also very hard. Take care of children is
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: very hard. You know, wake up, morning 6 o'clock, daughter
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: of children, pick up, working hard, pay bill, learning English,
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: follow the American rule. That is very difficult. I learn everything.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: I pass them. I pass them, look like a check, check, check,
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: you know. I feel like, yeah, I check myself up.
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: Now I'm a, I children now, so everything, children go
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: up and educate here, born here in America.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: They.
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I learned it by my children with many things too,
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: you know?
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: But we need some actual, so the reverse is, and
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: I did ask this before, but I'm going to ask
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: it again, because I think that a lot of us
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: who do hike and a little bit of climbing want
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: to know, like, what about when it is hard, just
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: physically hard on the mountain? When you're climbing and it's
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: hard because that oxygen is, that air is so thin
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: or that your body is saying, I can't keep going. Lakpa,
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: what do you, what do you draw upon in yourself?
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: And what do you, when you're leading others who are struggling, what,
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: what kind of, what do you ask them to draw upon?
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: Where do they, where do you find the strength to
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: keep going physically up a mountain or down a mountain?
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: Oh, I just, I stay all the times. I work
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: very hard. Everybody work hard, you know, but I, a
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: little bit, I go up in the mountains, you know,
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: and I feel I'm not scared of the mountain. You know,
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: I go up this mountain together, look like a friend,
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: you know, look like a teacher. You know, it's my teacher.
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: My mountain is my school, you know, big schoolhouse, you know.
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: I'm very good to relationship this mountain, you know, very good.
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: You know, you scared? You scared of your job? You
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: cannot learn. You know, scared, very comfortable your job? You
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: can learn everything, you know. That is also, I'm scared
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: of the mountain, I'm going to die too, you know.
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: I must be careful in the mountains. MLH way, how
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: to come to MLH, which area I'm coming to. Ambulance coming,
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: ice falling. We know everything this right now, you know.
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: We learn that, that areas we need to go past,
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: very past hiking, past walking. Everything we know look like
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: a puzzle, you know. We know that this area is
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: very dangerous. We need to keep going, you know. That
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: is what we learn.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: So it's really, it's interesting because there's so much history, right,
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: of this idea that like you conquer Everest, but you
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: are saying, no, I entered the schoolhouse with my teacher
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: and my friend when I'm on Everest. I think that's
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: really beautiful and fascinating. Lakpa, I would love it if
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: you could help me give some advice to somebody who
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: wrote to me who is about to have an experience
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: that is not so unlike an experience that you had.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: Can I read you the letter that I was sent?
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: Dear Sugar, I just accepted a job offer that will
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: take me to the other side of the world. It's
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: what I thought I wanted. It's what I think I
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: still do want, but I'm so scared. How can I
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: find the courage to go without letting my fear get
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: in the way? Some days the fear of going feels
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: so all-consuming, I can't imagine going. Other days, the fear
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: of staying is crippling too. How do I make peace
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: with the fact that taking this step and moving to
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: the other side of the world is scary, but it
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: can also be the right choice for me? Signed, Fearful Woman.
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: I thought about what you just said, which I think
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: is a pretty interesting concept. This idea that you can't
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: learn when you're afraid, right? And I think that Fearful Woman.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: Can take a little lesson from you in that, you know.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: And so what advice might you have for somebody who is,
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: you know, about to have this big experience? Were you
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: afraid when you were moving to the United States from Nepal?
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: No, I'm very excited because United States, United States more opportunity,
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: you know. More learn, you know. That is, you must
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: give excited, you know. No, you know, excited your job,
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: you cannot learn. You must learn. Learning is the best,
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: you know. You scared, but you must go scared way more,
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: you know. You must go try, you know. Sometimes you
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: really learn very well. You know, maybe you fell and
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: you die again. You know, that is the, no need
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: to scare. My dad told me one example, you not keep,
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: you not lie, you not do nothing, you not scare nothing, nobody.
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: You keep do. Right. You know, that is my dad
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: teach me. You keep do whatever you want. If you're scared,
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: you keep going. You know, keep going step by step.
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: You keep going. Swimming look like you're scared, but you
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: must go. Keep going and you can reach you own summit.
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: That's my dad teach me that, you know. I try,
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: keep trying. My dad say, I keep trying.
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: I love that sense of, I think that that's probably
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: the definition of adventure, right? Like that you said, okay,
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: there's fear, but like excitement or curiosity or deciding to
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: keep going, that those things are going to be, you know,
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: for this fearful woman who's about to move around the world,
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: is that sense of like, hey, I'm not going to
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: let fear be the thing that rules me. I'm going
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: to go do it in spite of my fear, huh?
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: And also I want to say doctor, lawyer, pilot, also
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: no easy job, very difficult job, you know, very difficult job.
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: You not try, you not learn, right? You scared, oh,
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: I scared, I don't want to do it, means you
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: not learn nothing. You keep, you scared, but you must
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: keep try, learn, And you're learning hard, you become such
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: a beautiful, successful, you know. You're not learning, you're scared,
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: it's their home, you know, do nothing, and it means
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: you're not coming. Of course, you know, that is a
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: must try, try. Not try, you're not learn.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: I love it. If you don't try... You don't learn.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: I think that that is something that I've learned again
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: and again in my life. And I know Locked By
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: You have modeled that for so many of us, the
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: many times that you've tried and learned and succeeded. So
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: I'm curious, when you go back to Nepal, so in
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: the U.S., Mountain Queen, so many people I know have
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: seen that beautiful film, again, directed by Lucy Walker. And
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: it just depicts such a a powerfully inspiring story of
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: your life and your career as an elite world record-holding climber.
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: But I'm curious, like, what is that like? Has the
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: movie been widely seen in Nepal? How are you received
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: by your fellow, you know, Nepalese climbers? And are people
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: aware of the film in Nepal? And are you a
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: celebrity there?
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: No, I'm not. I'm not a celebrity. You know, I'm
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: normal moms, you know, hikers, you know. Yeah, people, women
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: a little bit difficult, women a little bit difficult, you know, whatever,
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: no celebration. But men is men easily pick up very
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: popular way, men go very quickly. Women is a little difficult,
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: you know, I going, go back again. Mountain Queen, I say,
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: I don't want to talk about a Mountain Queen. I
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: don't want to. I'm no Mountain Queen. I'm a local Sherpa.
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: I'm a normal mountain hiker. I'm a normal mom, you know.
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: I all the time say, but.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: And is that because in Nepal, I just want to
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: understand what you're saying. So in Nepal, Mountain Queen is
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: received differently because you're a woman? Or do you think
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: that if that same film were made about a man
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: who would be different?
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: United States, everywhere, they love, Nepal also love the mountain queen.
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: They say, oh, you work so hard. You know, I
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: work hard. I work hard. You know, I know Karai
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: social media. So I have a problem. I have an issue.
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: I have a dignity. That is my problem. I don't
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: want to go all over the social media, Karai, you know.
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: That is, I don't want to show up. I want
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: to try to work hard in killing house, you know.
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: Feed my children and pay my bill. This is all
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: the time my responsibility. I feel like that. I feel
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: I'm not a mountain queen, but I need work. I
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: need work. I don't need, you know, I'm not go
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: back homeless again, you know. That is, I know America,
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: we're not working. You know, two months, three months, we
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: go back and homeless, you know. That is, we need
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: to work every single day because a bill is coming
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: every single month, you know.
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: That is, we need to work hard.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: What is the next mountain you have to climb, Mokpa?
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: Next mountains, I want all, I love America very much.
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: And I want America 50 state, 50 highest point, I
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: want to finish them. And you keep going climbing Mount Everest.
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: That is, I just, I want to enjoy myself in
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: the mountain here, America. America is a beautiful mountain, beautiful mountain.
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: And I want to research myself in a beautiful American mountain.
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: I've been every 50 states here in the area. Yeah,
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: I want to learn American mountain.
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: You want to do the highest point in each state,
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: the peak.
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: In each state? All my area. Because I cannot go
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: too far away. Nobody sponsors me. Very difficult for me
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: to sponsor. I wish somebody sponsored me. I can wear
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: that product and show them my social media. You know,
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: many hiking videos. My hiking people ask me how to,
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: which company, where, which company you buy, you know, because
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: I have a small business now, family business, just a
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: new business set up hiking with the Lhapa. And many
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: people ask, Lhapa, what you get, I buy, you know,
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: what you put, I buy. I say, whatever you like. Yeah.
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: Well, okay. We need somebody to sponsor. You got to
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: come out West, Lachpa, because this is where I'm talking
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: to you from Portland, Oregon. And, you know, this is
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: where the high peaks in the U.S. are really. I
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: know there's some great peaks out there in New England, too,
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: but nothing like what we have in Alaska and on
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: the West Coast. So I hope. Yeah. that you get
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: some sponsorship. And I mean, it seems only just that
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: you should.
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: Alaska is very Danali, mountain Danali, mountain Danali, mountain Grand. Yeah,
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: they have a season because I need to book the season,
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: you know. And also I cannot guide, but I need
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: to go there, just calamint. because they have their own guide.
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: I'm rooting for you to do that. And I just
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: want to thank you so much for talking to me
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: today and being on Mind Over Mountain.
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much and inviting me to your social media.
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much and nice to see you. Namaste.
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. If you'd like to send me a
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: letter seeking advice, please email it to me at deardearsugar
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: at gmail.com. And don't forget to rate, review and subscribe
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. Happy trails and happy climbing.
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: And I'll see you next week. Mind Over Mountain with
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: Cheryl Strayed is an iHeart Women's Sports production produced by
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: Brittany Brown and Rodney Brown of Barbara Jean Productions. Supervising
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: producer is Kaylin West at Realm. Associate producer, Amaya Brathwaite.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: Our executive producers are Molly Barton, Jerry Carita, Grace Fuse,
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: and Jessie Katz. Our theme song is composed by Gramascope Music.
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you get
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: your podcasts. Happy trails, and I'll see you next week.