00:00:47.852 --> 00:00:51.105
We told her not to go, so many times.

00:00:51.814 --> 00:00:53.649
She would scold us right back,

00:00:53.649 --> 00:00:56.652
saying that she wants to
make a name for herself.

00:00:57.653 --> 00:00:59.489
She didn't want to be like other women

00:00:59.489 --> 00:01:01.783
who stay at home and work in the fields.

00:01:04.660 --> 00:01:07.163
Pasang was a very intelligent woman,

00:01:07.372 --> 00:01:09.874
headstrong, courageous, magnificent.

00:01:11.292 --> 00:01:13.419
But I also think she was ambitious.

00:01:14.379 --> 00:01:16.589
To have ambition is wonderful,

00:01:17.507 --> 00:01:20.218
but to go beyond that is catastrophic.

00:02:37.712 --> 00:02:40.298
I wasn’t born a mountaineer.

00:02:40.298 --> 00:02:42.508
I’m just a housewife.

00:02:52.310 --> 00:02:57.440
Since I was young it's been my dream

00:02:57.440 --> 00:03:02.278
to go trekking in the Himalayas.

00:03:40.650 --> 00:03:43.903
How old was she when she
went trekking for the first time?

00:03:44.153 --> 00:03:46.072
I think she was 16 or 17.

00:03:51.619 --> 00:03:57.250
Grandmother used to tell her,
"Do this, don't do that,"

00:03:58.292 --> 00:04:00.711
but your mother would never listen

00:04:00.711 --> 00:04:02.421
so they would have arguments.

00:04:02.838 --> 00:04:07.510
Your mom was upset because
she was not allowed to go to school.

00:04:17.103 --> 00:04:23.150
Your grandmother said, "I'll be alone
with no one to help me at home."

00:04:23.150 --> 00:04:26.279
I think that's why she didn't send her.

00:04:51.470 --> 00:04:54.056
The hardest thing for us Nepalese women

00:04:54.056 --> 00:04:56.058
is when we want to do something

00:04:56.058 --> 00:04:59.061
and traditional men don't let us do it.

00:05:00.646 --> 00:05:03.399
Between my village and her village

00:05:03.399 --> 00:05:05.943
it's just a half-hour walk,

00:05:07.153 --> 00:05:08.404
so we saw each other often.

00:05:09.905 --> 00:05:11.949
She was very beautiful,

00:05:11.949 --> 00:05:14.243
with long hair that made her very pretty.

00:05:17.413 --> 00:05:20.374
I am six years younger than she,

00:05:21.083 --> 00:05:22.793
so when I saw her,

00:05:22.793 --> 00:05:24.253
I wanted to be like her.

00:05:25.963 --> 00:05:29.842
There are 5 boys and one girl in our family.

00:05:29.842 --> 00:05:32.094
I'm the youngest brother of Pasang.

00:05:33.387 --> 00:05:34.972
Our father was a Sirdar.

00:05:34.972 --> 00:05:38.142
He was leading treks and expeditions to

00:05:38.142 --> 00:05:40.394
all the major Himalayan mountains.

00:05:44.523 --> 00:05:46.859
As a Sherpa, that's how we live,

00:05:47.234 --> 00:05:48.944
working as a guide

00:05:49.570 --> 00:05:51.280
to take people in the mountains.

00:08:34.360 --> 00:08:36.695
She insisted and went on a trek once.

00:08:36.695 --> 00:08:39.114
I had to go after her and bring her back.

00:08:40.783 --> 00:08:41.992
I didn't let her go.

00:08:44.829 --> 00:08:49.583
People used to avoid taking women on treks.

00:08:50.459 --> 00:08:52.336
She was very interested, though.

00:09:18.988 --> 00:09:20.698
How did mom and dad meet?

00:09:22.074 --> 00:09:27.538
Your father used to be
a trekking guide in Khumbu,

00:09:27.788 --> 00:09:30.958
and your mom worked in
a Sherpa hotel in Lukla.

00:09:31.625 --> 00:09:32.793
That's what I heard.

00:09:32.793 --> 00:09:37.798
They met near here, then they eloped.

00:09:40.593 --> 00:09:44.638
It wasn't a traditional engagement

00:09:44.847 --> 00:09:48.017
where your dad asked for your mom's hand.

00:09:48.392 --> 00:09:52.229
Your mom and dad met and fell in love.

00:09:53.564 --> 00:09:57.151
Your grandmother sent me a message,

00:09:57.776 --> 00:10:04.617
"Your sister has taken the coral
jewelry and the precious beads!"

00:10:06.535 --> 00:10:12.207
These were meant to be given to her
for her wedding anyway.

00:10:12.666 --> 00:10:18.839
But she didn't get married or do the
traditional ceremony before taking them.

00:10:19.381 --> 00:10:23.177
Your grandma sent a message,

00:10:23.177 --> 00:10:25.387
"You need to see what's going on with your sister!"

00:10:26.013 --> 00:10:27.890
So did mom really take those?

00:10:27.890 --> 00:10:28.766
Yeah, she did.

00:10:31.226 --> 00:10:32.728
Both families are angry.

00:10:40.110 --> 00:10:42.237
They want to arrange marriage.

00:10:42.404 --> 00:10:43.948
We didn't care.

00:10:44.073 --> 00:10:45.532
We decided to marry.

00:11:11.141 --> 00:11:13.852
If she had married someone in the village

00:11:14.228 --> 00:11:16.271
that her parents wanted her to,

00:11:16.397 --> 00:11:18.107
she wouldn't have had the life,

00:11:18.107 --> 00:11:20.818
she wouldn't have the fame that she has today.

00:11:22.611 --> 00:11:26.115
So they met in Lukla and fell in love, and...

00:11:26.991 --> 00:11:30.035
From Lukla they went walking to Kathmandu.

00:11:30.035 --> 00:11:31.328
Kathmandu, by foot?

00:11:36.625 --> 00:11:38.210
There wasn't even a bus.

00:13:33.700 --> 00:13:38.163
To start a trekking company in Kathmandu

00:13:38.163 --> 00:13:41.458
without even a formal education —

00:13:41.458 --> 00:13:43.168
it was hard for me to believe.

00:13:43.752 --> 00:13:47.673
She managed the finances herself.

00:13:48.132 --> 00:13:50.425
She found sponsors herself.

00:13:50.425 --> 00:13:53.429
She managed the equipment herself.

00:13:53.804 --> 00:13:55.639
This wasn’t an easy task.

00:14:16.285 --> 00:14:19.413
My climb in 1988 was the first time

00:14:19.413 --> 00:14:22.416
anyone tried climbing Everest in less than 24 hours

00:14:22.416 --> 00:14:24.626
and without using oxygen tanks.

00:14:25.544 --> 00:14:30.591
My professional relationship with Sonam
started in 1985

00:14:30.591 --> 00:14:34.219
I hired him as a mountain porter.

00:14:35.053 --> 00:14:38.223
I became great friends with Sonam and Pasang.

00:14:39.349 --> 00:14:42.728
We all lived together in a house in Kathmandu.

00:14:53.238 --> 00:14:58.327
I decided to travel to Nepal
with my husband Marc Batard.

00:14:59.328 --> 00:15:02.873
His plan was for us to stay with Pasang and Sonam.

00:15:03.874 --> 00:15:06.501
Pasang was very present,

00:15:06.501 --> 00:15:08.921
with her family, and at the agency.

00:15:09.588 --> 00:15:11.757
She exuded an impressive strength.

00:15:12.758 --> 00:15:14.801
Pasang was very close to her children.

00:15:14.843 --> 00:15:16.511
Very attentive.

00:15:17.346 --> 00:15:18.138
A loving mom.

00:15:18.972 --> 00:15:21.016
But I think she wanted to know other things.

00:15:21.475 --> 00:15:23.018
She seemed like a modern woman.

00:15:23.977 --> 00:15:28.649
She didn't want to be just a mother
taking care of her kids.

00:15:29.024 --> 00:15:32.361
I think she had a desire to know

00:15:32.361 --> 00:15:33.904
this life that I had — independent.

00:15:39.993 --> 00:15:44.081
She would help me receive clients at the airport

00:15:44.081 --> 00:15:45.916
and drop them at their hotels.

00:15:46.083 --> 00:15:49.795
French climbers. French girls.

00:15:50.337 --> 00:15:53.173
"Why do they come to Nepal?
Why do they climb mountains?"

00:15:53.173 --> 00:15:56.593
She would always ask me these questions.

00:15:58.512 --> 00:16:05.435
I think that's when she first
got interested in climbing.

00:16:07.020 --> 00:16:10.691
Later on, we went to France.

00:16:12.067 --> 00:16:13.944
She was going to France and climb some mountains.

00:16:15.654 --> 00:16:18.573
And I encouraged her. I said,
“You should do this because

00:16:18.782 --> 00:16:19.908
nobody does it."

00:16:20.993 --> 00:16:23.495
Most of the women, they never did it
and I said, "you should do it."

00:16:23.787 --> 00:16:25.038
“I think it’s a good idea.”

00:16:35.590 --> 00:16:37.092
They were really happy,

00:16:37.217 --> 00:16:38.635
they loved life,

00:16:39.678 --> 00:16:41.596
and their goal was Mt. Blanc.

00:16:44.433 --> 00:16:47.936
So we did a little climbing school,

00:16:47.936 --> 00:16:50.022
and a little ice school.

00:16:51.857 --> 00:16:55.402
She gained experience

00:16:56.361 --> 00:16:58.322
of walking with traction cleats,

00:16:58.322 --> 00:17:00.490
of securing herself with rope,

00:17:00.490 --> 00:17:03.785
of being careful during descents.

00:17:04.995 --> 00:17:08.498
No Nepalese woman had that experience.

00:17:11.209 --> 00:17:14.796
She was very happy.

00:17:15.130 --> 00:17:19.718
It was the first time Pasang had climbed
to the top of a mountain.

00:17:23.722 --> 00:17:26.683
She asked me, "How high is Mt. Blanc?"

00:17:27.309 --> 00:17:30.437
I said the distance from Chamonix to Mt. Blanc

00:17:31.563 --> 00:17:36.777
is about the same as the distance from
Base Camp to the summit of Everest.

00:17:38.445 --> 00:17:42.491
Then she got excited and said,
"I should be able to summit Everest easily

00:17:42.491 --> 00:17:45.410
because I climbed Mt. Blanc."

00:17:45.744 --> 00:17:50.957
I said the distance is the same
but the altitude is different.

00:17:54.002 --> 00:17:59.591
Mt. Blanc is 4,800 meters
and Everest is 8,840 meters.

00:18:06.348 --> 00:18:12.604
Mt. Everest is the highest mountain in the world.

00:18:12.604 --> 00:18:15.273
Will she make a name for herself by climbing it?

00:18:15.774 --> 00:18:18.902
She had her sights set on that.

00:18:19.528 --> 00:18:23.323
"Until I make a name for myself in Nepal,

00:18:23.323 --> 00:18:25.617
I won't rest, no way!"

00:18:25.617 --> 00:18:28.120
That's the kind of girl she was.

00:18:28.120 --> 00:18:30.872
That's why she tried to climb it four times.

00:18:42.259 --> 00:18:46.680
Sonam asked me if Pasang could join the expedition.

00:18:46.680 --> 00:18:47.848
I said yes.

00:18:48.223 --> 00:18:53.186
But the main purpose was
the Marc Batard expedition. That’s all.

00:18:56.273 --> 00:18:58.275
During the approach,

00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:02.737
Pasang was dressed in traditional fashion,

00:19:02.988 --> 00:19:04.823
like a Nepalese, like a Sherpa.

00:19:07.117 --> 00:19:08.994
At that point I didn't imagine her

00:19:08.994 --> 00:19:12.247
putting on a mountaineering outfit.

00:19:13.874 --> 00:19:17.669
Pasang was there simply as Sonam's wife.

00:19:18.295 --> 00:19:22.090
And having this physical potential, naturally,

00:19:22.090 --> 00:19:24.009
to be acclimatized to these valleys,

00:19:24.009 --> 00:19:26.678
she felt completely able to keep up,

00:19:26.678 --> 00:19:28.638
at least up to Base Camp.

00:19:28.638 --> 00:19:31.475
But up until Base Camp, no one expected,

00:19:31.850 --> 00:19:34.519
as far as I knew, that she would go any higher.

00:19:37.731 --> 00:19:39.733
Marc didn't have any big sponsors.

00:19:40.484 --> 00:19:43.778
So there were fifteen Western women, mostly French,

00:19:43.862 --> 00:19:47.824
who paid to participate in the expedition,

00:19:47.824 --> 00:19:50.535
and who made the expedition possible.

00:19:51.369 --> 00:19:53.622
I think I didn't realize at the time

00:19:53.914 --> 00:19:58.168
what it actually meant for her to climb this Everest,

00:19:59.169 --> 00:20:02.130
to transcend all these cultural barriers,

00:20:02.464 --> 00:20:06.843
I think it was way more powerful
than for those Western women climbers.

00:22:37.827 --> 00:22:43.958
Pasang didn't tell Marc Batard
that she wanted to sleep at South Col.

00:22:44.584 --> 00:22:50.298
We went from Base Camp to Camp 2,
then to Camp 3,

00:22:50.715 --> 00:22:53.677
then to Camp 4, where we slept for the night.

00:22:54.719 --> 00:22:58.056
We didn't even have any oxygen tanks with us.

00:22:58.431 --> 00:23:00.308
Pasang Lhamu spent the night at
South Col without any oxygen.

00:23:01.643 --> 00:23:04.771
When I arrived by helicopter at Base Camp,

00:23:05.146 --> 00:23:08.108
my leader and the Sherpas told me that Pasang

00:23:08.650 --> 00:23:12.070
was laying siege on the South Col
and didn't want to come down.

00:23:13.029 --> 00:23:18.076
When he found out she had taken a tent to Camp 3,
to hang out with the Sherpa—

00:23:18.284 --> 00:23:23.998
these Sherpa, in his mind, were not there
to accompany her, but his clients—

00:23:24.833 --> 00:23:27.627
at that point he flew into a terrible rage.

00:23:28.670 --> 00:23:32.340
They told me that Pasang was too slow.

00:23:32.340 --> 00:23:34.134
She wasn't capable of climbing Everest.

00:23:34.342 --> 00:23:36.928
She used too much of the equipment.

00:23:37.554 --> 00:23:39.931
It wasn't her expedition, it was my expedition.

00:23:40.932 --> 00:23:44.853
So I asked her by radio to come down.

00:23:45.895 --> 00:23:47.230
And she didn't want to.

00:23:47.522 --> 00:23:48.398
So I climbed up.

00:23:49.941 --> 00:23:52.694
We met along the route
between Camp 2 and Camp 3.

00:23:53.862 --> 00:23:58.867
Marc asked why she went up
and spent the night without his permission.

00:23:58.867 --> 00:24:01.286
He lifted her up by the collar
and just dropped her.

00:24:02.704 --> 00:24:07.000
Pasang came down 8,000 meters
from South Col.

00:24:07.375 --> 00:24:09.085
At that point she got very upset.

00:24:11.296 --> 00:24:15.049
She said, "It's outrageous not to let me climb
this mountain in my own country."

00:24:16.092 --> 00:24:19.220
She was determined she would do it.

00:24:22.015 --> 00:24:25.977
When she is that determined, I can't stop her.

00:26:16.546 --> 00:26:19.966
Watching this footage from 27 years ago,

00:26:21.092 --> 00:26:22.802
I feel quite sad.

00:26:24.387 --> 00:26:27.056
That was the first time I met Pasang Lhamu Sherpa.

00:26:29.017 --> 00:26:33.938
We came to film some rock-climbing.

00:26:35.356 --> 00:26:40.069
Suddenly, a rock-climbing woman caught our eye.

00:26:41.070 --> 00:26:48.536
It was the first time in all my life
I'd ever seen a woman rock-climbing.

00:26:48.786 --> 00:26:50.830
Go from the bottom.

00:26:51.205 --> 00:26:52.874
Yes, yes, yes! Bravo, you got it!

00:26:53.207 --> 00:26:55.877
Now she's got the hang of it.

00:27:00.381 --> 00:27:04.344
She was climbing with such enthusiasm,

00:27:04.344 --> 00:27:10.058
I asked my cameraperson to follow that woman.

00:27:13.394 --> 00:27:14.604
Isn't it difficult for you?

00:27:14.854 --> 00:27:16.397
It's not that difficult.

00:27:17.315 --> 00:27:19.233
How is it working with men?

00:27:20.401 --> 00:27:24.739
They are friends, just like my women friends.

00:27:24.739 --> 00:27:29.160
Once you're on the team, you can't
differentiate between men and women.

00:27:30.787 --> 00:27:34.707
Pasang Lhamu didn't have mountaineer training.

00:27:35.375 --> 00:27:39.212
At the same time, she surely had something natural,

00:27:39.712 --> 00:27:42.548
which is to be a girl born at the foot of this mountain.

00:27:43.883 --> 00:27:47.345
Perhaps she didn't feel all the dangers
of this big mountain,

00:27:47.679 --> 00:27:50.765
and she had the patience of her people,

00:27:51.432 --> 00:27:54.018
and the hardiness,

00:27:54.018 --> 00:27:57.271
and also the energy to go to the summit of Everest.

00:27:57.855 --> 00:28:01.609
Very few Nepalese women have taken part in this,

00:28:01.609 --> 00:28:03.861
and there are still very few.

00:28:04.487 --> 00:28:07.824
Nepali women haven’t achieved
the status of foreign women,

00:28:08.157 --> 00:28:10.743
because many countries have summited Everest

00:28:11.786 --> 00:28:14.455
and until now, Nepalis haven't shown interest.

00:28:14.455 --> 00:28:17.417
That's why, even though I'm a mother,

00:28:17.417 --> 00:28:20.211
I'm attempting this to inspire other Nepali women.

00:28:20.795 --> 00:28:22.422
That's why I'm trying.

00:29:11.137 --> 00:29:15.266
Many people have said that Pasang
was not an expert mountaineer.

00:29:16.184 --> 00:29:17.101
That's true.

00:29:17.643 --> 00:29:21.022
No doubt she was a little slow in the mountains,

00:29:21.189 --> 00:29:23.900
technically speaking, not exceptional,

00:29:24.358 --> 00:29:27.361
but that's true of 80% of climbers on Everest.

00:29:29.363 --> 00:29:32.241
You don't achieve Mt. Everest
because you're the best climber.

00:29:32.241 --> 00:29:35.328
You achieve Mt. Everest because
you have a will of iron,

00:29:35.328 --> 00:29:38.414
because you have an enormous
capacity to suffer,

00:29:39.415 --> 00:29:41.751
and because you have an outrageous desire.

00:29:41.751 --> 00:29:43.336
That's how you achieve Everest.

00:29:43.336 --> 00:29:45.421
And also because you got a bit lucky.

00:30:13.074 --> 00:30:16.619
When I crossed paths with Pasang,
who was going up while I was going down,

00:30:16.869 --> 00:30:18.996
the weather was really not good.

00:30:19.413 --> 00:30:22.542
So I told her, "Watch out, it's really hellish up there."

00:30:22.917 --> 00:30:25.586
I looked at the Sherpas also, and I told them,

00:30:25.878 --> 00:30:28.506
"Go back down, guys, 'cause it's not going to work!"

00:30:31.300 --> 00:30:35.054
And I saw that no one listened to me,

00:30:35.304 --> 00:30:39.016
they all just kept climbing up,
in the wind, in the fog...

00:30:46.649 --> 00:30:48.568
The day she went for summit,

00:30:49.193 --> 00:30:50.903
they reached the South Summit,

00:30:52.196 --> 00:30:54.031
8,750 meters,

00:30:54.907 --> 00:31:00.705
and there, all of the sudden the weather changed,

00:31:03.541 --> 00:31:07.378
and they couldn't even see the trail to go down.

00:31:10.339 --> 00:31:12.842
And they decided to make a bivouac there.

00:31:53.299 --> 00:31:56.219
She had to come back due to weather.

00:31:56.802 --> 00:32:00.097
She came back from the South Summit
after spending a night there.

00:32:00.097 --> 00:32:03.184
Just spending a night there,

00:32:03.226 --> 00:32:05.436
her face got completely dark.

00:32:07.230 --> 00:32:11.359
When her 1991 expedition was not successful,

00:32:11.943 --> 00:32:13.736
she was very upset

00:32:14.820 --> 00:32:16.572
not to reach the top.

00:32:17.281 --> 00:32:19.242
She saw the summit is very close,

00:32:20.034 --> 00:32:21.661
and she wants to go back again.

00:32:22.828 --> 00:32:24.956
Her aim: she wants to climb.

00:32:28.584 --> 00:32:29.961
For me it was very difficult

00:32:29.961 --> 00:32:32.672
because we had no money for an expedition.

00:32:33.881 --> 00:32:37.593
We sold 60% of the shares of the company.

00:32:39.178 --> 00:32:42.265
I've already planned this expedition.

00:32:44.308 --> 00:32:47.812
I want to climb even if I have to pay for it myself.

00:32:50.564 --> 00:32:55.111
It was an enormous effort for Sherpas
to organize their own expeditions

00:32:55.194 --> 00:32:57.405
because Everest expeditions cost a lot of money.

00:32:58.656 --> 00:33:02.368
And they used the same techniques they saw us use,

00:33:02.785 --> 00:33:05.037
they started with the world of sponsors.

00:33:06.205 --> 00:33:11.377
I asked Royal Nepal Airlines, and they supported me.

00:33:13.212 --> 00:33:16.966
I asked the Life Insurance Company, and they also agreed.

00:33:17.174 --> 00:33:20.636
Then San Miguel beer also sponsored us.

00:33:22.888 --> 00:33:26.309
Pasang and Sonam were very shrewd
about finding money.

00:33:26.809 --> 00:33:29.270
They knew how to find important sponsors.

00:33:29.812 --> 00:33:32.773
Miss Pasang, stand over here.

00:33:32.773 --> 00:33:34.108
Notably a brand of beer.

00:33:36.652 --> 00:33:41.365
I think Pasang was not motivated
by the high mountains.

00:33:42.908 --> 00:33:45.703
This was a magificent couple,

00:33:46.120 --> 00:33:47.455
coming from a modest background,

00:33:47.747 --> 00:33:49.081
and motivated by money,

00:33:49.290 --> 00:33:50.499
motivated by success,

00:33:50.666 --> 00:33:52.335
motivated by business.

00:34:06.932 --> 00:34:09.143
I am completely convinced

00:34:09.560 --> 00:34:12.229
that Pasang Lhamu's yearning for Everest

00:34:12.229 --> 00:34:13.356
belonged to her.

00:34:14.315 --> 00:34:17.276
I can't imagine, given Pasang's personality,

00:34:17.610 --> 00:34:20.529
that Sonam could have told her, "Well my dear,

00:34:20.529 --> 00:34:23.032
you'll go up there, and it'll be great,

00:34:23.407 --> 00:34:25.993
and thanks to you, we'll live happily ever after

00:34:25.993 --> 00:34:27.328
and have lots of money.”

00:34:27.370 --> 00:34:28.996
I don’t believe a word of that.

00:34:30.956 --> 00:34:36.337
No, Pasang had enough good sense
to decide for herself what to do,

00:34:36.712 --> 00:34:41.342
and if she kept going back to Everest
it's because she wanted to.

00:34:41.342 --> 00:34:44.678
You don't go to Everest simply because
someone tells you it's a good idea.

00:34:44.762 --> 00:34:48.474
We can do it. It's not impossible.

00:34:48.808 --> 00:34:51.310
There's nothing we can't achieve if we try.

00:34:52.561 --> 00:34:54.355
Even I try.

00:34:54.355 --> 00:34:57.858
I wasn't born a mountaineer.

00:34:57.858 --> 00:34:59.527
I'm also a housewife.

00:34:59.527 --> 00:35:02.238
I'm trying, and I'm hopeful I'll succeed.

00:35:02.238 --> 00:35:03.948
I’m very hopeful.

00:35:04.198 --> 00:35:07.284
If others try, they can succeed too.

00:35:07.284 --> 00:35:10.663
I'm doing this to inspire others.

00:35:12.790 --> 00:35:17.336
At her invitation, I went to cover
the press conference for the news.

00:35:18.504 --> 00:35:24.176
I felt lucky to be able to talk to
such a courageous woman.

00:35:24.885 --> 00:35:26.762
How optimistic are you?

00:35:27.555 --> 00:35:31.225
I'm very optimistic, and confident.

00:35:32.059 --> 00:35:37.898
I initiated this project with a lot of
trust in my own instincts.

00:36:02.298 --> 00:36:03.466
I should have come down yesterday.

00:36:04.383 --> 00:36:07.094
I was showing off, staying an extra night up there.

00:36:07.761 --> 00:36:09.722
There was a really strong wind today.

00:36:10.055 --> 00:36:11.348
It was windy.

00:36:17.897 --> 00:36:23.068
That 1992 expedition was not successful.

00:36:24.195 --> 00:36:27.072
According to our Sherpa Buddhist beliefs,

00:36:27.072 --> 00:36:30.826
if you fail 3 times at something,

00:36:30.826 --> 00:36:33.162
then you're not destined to do it.

00:36:33.162 --> 00:36:35.873
So she gave all the equipment to her friends,

00:36:35.873 --> 00:36:38.250
and she completely stopped thinking about it.

00:36:40.503 --> 00:36:43.214
She said, "I'll never go back to this mountain.”

00:36:43.756 --> 00:36:47.927
"I've already paid with too much suffering up there."

00:36:48.260 --> 00:36:50.638
"No, it's finished, I'll take care of my children,

00:36:50.638 --> 00:36:52.848
I'll live in my house in Kathmandu,

00:36:52.848 --> 00:36:54.808
I'll cut the flowers in my garden,

00:36:55.935 --> 00:36:58.062
and I'll have a life like everyone else."

00:37:40.896 --> 00:37:45.985
In 1993, the Minister of Tourism called to tell us

00:37:45.985 --> 00:37:50.614
there was going to be a joint Indian-Nepali
women's expedition in the spring.

00:37:50.990 --> 00:37:53.325
Pasang said, "If we don't need to
invest our own money, I'll go."

00:37:53.325 --> 00:37:54.451
She got very excited.

00:37:55.035 --> 00:37:57.204
Once you've tasted Mt. Everest,

00:37:57.204 --> 00:37:59.498
and gotten so close to the summit,

00:37:59.915 --> 00:38:01.542
it becomes unbearable,

00:38:01.542 --> 00:38:02.209
you go back,

00:38:02.793 --> 00:38:05.629
Pasang, who just missed getting to the summit,

00:38:05.629 --> 00:38:07.631
who bivouacked at the top,

00:38:07.631 --> 00:38:11.093
and so realized she had the strength of character,

00:38:11.093 --> 00:38:13.429
that she could survive the harsh conditions,

00:38:14.346 --> 00:38:17.933
she couldn't help but go back up there

00:38:17.933 --> 00:38:19.101
to have another shot at it.

00:38:19.101 --> 00:38:20.436
No doubt.

00:38:22.896 --> 00:38:25.858
There's a moment when those who don't succeed,

00:38:25.858 --> 00:38:27.276
keep going, keep going, keep going,

00:38:27.735 --> 00:38:31.155
until they succeed or fail for once and for all.

00:38:35.242 --> 00:38:43.584
In 1990, the French expedition team leader
had decided who would summit.

00:38:43.917 --> 00:38:45.753
"You can go, you can't go."

00:38:45.753 --> 00:38:50.132
Pasang had already experienced that.

00:38:50.633 --> 00:38:52.468
She told the tourism minister,

00:38:52.468 --> 00:38:56.221
"If it's a Nepal-India joint expedition

00:38:56.221 --> 00:39:01.518
then I will represent Nepal as a team leader.

00:39:03.270 --> 00:39:09.568
If I get to be team leader, I'll go to Everest."

00:39:11.070 --> 00:39:16.283
The Indians refused to have
a Nepalese team leader.

00:39:32.925 --> 00:39:34.301
She was afraid that

00:39:34.301 --> 00:39:36.929
if she joined the joint expedition,

00:39:38.305 --> 00:39:40.474
if she didn't reach the summit

00:39:40.683 --> 00:39:44.436
then her mission to promote
Nepalese women will fail.

00:39:45.020 --> 00:39:46.271
And for that reason

00:39:47.189 --> 00:39:49.316
she wanted to do her own team,

00:39:49.733 --> 00:39:51.735
the first Nepalese women's expedition.

00:39:53.612 --> 00:40:00.244
When this proposal came they said,
"You need to go for our country."

00:40:00.244 --> 00:40:02.287
OK, for the country, I am ready.

00:40:02.287 --> 00:40:05.290
Because a joint expedition has two leaders.

00:40:05.290 --> 00:40:09.002
I've had problems before under foreign leadership.

00:40:09.503 --> 00:40:10.963
They didn't accept me.

00:40:10.963 --> 00:40:14.466
They only let their own women summit,
and I had to return.

00:40:14.967 --> 00:40:16.176
You are the leader?

00:40:16.176 --> 00:40:16.635
Yes.

00:40:16.635 --> 00:40:17.594
Pasang Lhamu Sherpa?

00:40:17.594 --> 00:40:18.470
Yes.

00:40:18.762 --> 00:40:22.641
We are a team of 3 women,

00:40:22.641 --> 00:40:24.810
and a support staff of 6 Sherpa.

00:40:25.477 --> 00:40:27.396
My main motivation is that, until now,

00:40:27.813 --> 00:40:31.358
16 women from different countries have climbed,

00:40:31.984 --> 00:40:34.361
even though Mt. Everest is in our country,

00:40:34.361 --> 00:40:37.740
and no woman from our country
has been allowed to climb it.

00:40:37.740 --> 00:40:38.949
I find this very sad.

00:40:40.075 --> 00:40:42.786
Isn't Everest our mountain?
Can we not climb it?

00:40:48.083 --> 00:40:51.211
The team leader, Mrs. Pasang Lhamu Sherpa.

00:40:51.462 --> 00:40:53.297
Pasang asked me to go with her.

00:40:53.464 --> 00:40:54.423
She was the leader,

00:40:54.423 --> 00:40:55.758
I was the deputy leader.

00:40:56.467 --> 00:40:59.011
The team members are Lhakpa Phuti Sherpa,

00:40:59.678 --> 00:41:01.138
Miss Nanda Rai.

00:41:02.473 --> 00:41:04.475
Why is there such a big difference in the budgets?

00:41:04.475 --> 00:41:07.352
Our country is poor. Our people are poor.

00:41:07.436 --> 00:41:09.605
So our expedition is also poor.

00:41:09.813 --> 00:41:13.192
San Miguel beer has contributed
less than 25% of your budget,

00:41:13.192 --> 00:41:18.697
yet you've named the whole
expedition after that company.

00:41:18.697 --> 00:41:22.659
So are you chasing after San Miguel
or is San Miguel chasing after you?

00:41:23.744 --> 00:41:25.954
Well, I'm not chasing after San Miguel,

00:41:25.954 --> 00:41:27.873
nor is San Miguel chasing after me.

00:41:27.873 --> 00:41:30.876
We are both chasing after our country.

00:41:35.130 --> 00:41:36.924
So this was a very good answer.

00:41:37.007 --> 00:41:38.842
This was a very diplomatic answer.

00:41:40.886 --> 00:41:44.139
For a long time journalists were
talking about that answer.

00:42:40.863 --> 00:42:42.531
According to the rules of an expedition,

00:42:42.531 --> 00:42:46.410
a joint expedition between two countries
must have two leaders.

00:42:46.410 --> 00:42:48.620
If there are any problems,

00:42:48.620 --> 00:42:50.956
both leaders discuss the problems and solve them.

00:42:50.956 --> 00:42:55.711
If this joint expedition is able to summit,
with a leader from our country,

00:42:55.711 --> 00:42:57.254
that would be a matter of national pride.

00:42:58.338 --> 00:43:00.215
Please, have some tea and snacks.

00:43:01.174 --> 00:43:05.137
That's why I'm asking for your help.

00:43:07.931 --> 00:43:09.224
Okay.

00:43:09.224 --> 00:43:11.268
Good luck to you.

00:43:11.268 --> 00:43:12.936
Please uphold the reputation of Nepal.

00:43:13.604 --> 00:43:16.773
But we cannot pay 500,000 rupees.

00:43:16.773 --> 00:43:18.150
I will look into that.

00:43:18.150 --> 00:43:19.443
I don't know what you're talking about.

00:43:20.360 --> 00:43:22.946
I don't know about this, but I'll look into it.

00:43:24.281 --> 00:43:27.784
When I set out to do something
for the country, I do it.

00:43:27.784 --> 00:43:29.328
I'll prove it.

00:43:36.376 --> 00:43:38.962
Before going, everyone honored us,

00:43:38.962 --> 00:43:42.049
gave us khata scarves, respect, love

00:43:42.049 --> 00:43:44.301
from family, from friends,

00:43:44.301 --> 00:43:46.929
from community, from the nation.

00:43:48.138 --> 00:43:50.849
This was a big responsibility that we felt.

00:43:51.683 --> 00:43:54.478
The expectation of the people.

00:43:54.811 --> 00:43:56.563
I think Pasang felt it even more.

00:43:57.022 --> 00:43:58.690
Be careful at the summit.

00:44:36.478 --> 00:44:37.562
You look beautiful.

00:44:39.773 --> 00:44:41.858
Ok girl, need to rub this in.

00:44:42.776 --> 00:44:44.403
May you climb safely.

00:44:44.403 --> 00:44:46.029
May you climb down safely.

00:44:47.072 --> 00:44:49.282
We'll be watching you on TV.

00:44:55.330 --> 00:44:58.166
This is in case anything happens.

00:45:03.714 --> 00:45:07.134
Pasang said to me, "Sonam wants
to go with me to the summit,

00:45:07.134 --> 00:45:09.011
what do you think, Lhakpa Phuti?"

00:45:09.011 --> 00:45:13.015
I said, "If you didn't have children back there,
you both could go,

00:45:13.598 --> 00:45:18.103
but since you have children back there,
it's better not to both go together."

00:47:13.093 --> 00:47:15.804
She had with her a very strong Sherpa,

00:47:15.804 --> 00:47:17.889
certainly one of the strongest in Nepal,

00:47:18.265 --> 00:47:19.558
that was Sonam Tsering.

00:47:20.684 --> 00:47:23.270
Sonam is my younger brother.

00:47:24.229 --> 00:47:29.109
People trusted us brothers and always chose us.

00:47:29.484 --> 00:47:31.111
So we used to climb together.

00:47:31.111 --> 00:47:33.029
My brother was the Sirdar,

00:47:33.029 --> 00:47:35.448
and I was the Sherpa.

00:47:36.283 --> 00:47:39.452
It would be my brother's 5th summit.

00:47:40.579 --> 00:47:42.080
I had only done it twice at that time.

00:47:44.166 --> 00:47:45.876
He was coughing a little

00:47:45.876 --> 00:47:48.253
but he didn't say he wasn't feeling well.

00:50:46.348 --> 00:50:48.892
She went up to the South Col quite nicely.

00:50:49.100 --> 00:50:55.023
But she got a little slower going above South Col.

00:50:58.276 --> 00:51:01.071
Then later she started getting really tired.

00:51:01.071 --> 00:51:04.824
Some of us helped pull her up from the front,

00:51:04.824 --> 00:51:08.036
while some of us pushed her up from behind.

00:51:11.122 --> 00:51:14.584
We all went up together like this
until we reached the South Summit

00:51:17.379 --> 00:51:22.092
and at the South Summit, we rested.

00:51:45.031 --> 00:51:47.992
It took me about an hour to fix the ropes.

00:51:49.911 --> 00:51:54.541
A rope between two of us was flung into the air.

00:51:55.542 --> 00:51:58.503
I said, "Let's go back
or the winds will sweep us away."

00:51:59.212 --> 00:52:03.466
She said, "No, not until we summit."

00:53:10.867 --> 00:53:14.412
When we reached the summit
the winds had died down a bit.

00:53:15.288 --> 00:53:18.875
Then a very dark cloud came
from the Tibet side.

00:53:18.875 --> 00:53:23.129
And suddenly it started snowing
and got very windy.

00:53:23.129 --> 00:53:25.798
Then we couldn't see the track
to go back down.

00:53:26.257 --> 00:53:30.136
We were told to open the track,
so we went ahead.

00:53:30.845 --> 00:53:35.642
Then my brother and Pemba Norbu
were helping Pasang come down.

00:53:39.312 --> 00:53:41.189
We were coming down after the summit.

00:53:41.606 --> 00:53:43.233
It's very steep,

00:53:43.233 --> 00:53:45.276
more than forty-five degrees slope.

00:53:46.903 --> 00:53:48.905
So, she was scared a little bit.

00:53:49.447 --> 00:53:54.786
We couldn't see anything between
the Hillary Step and the South Summit

00:53:54.786 --> 00:53:56.371
due to the fog.

00:53:56.788 --> 00:53:59.958
I could hear them talking

00:54:00.124 --> 00:54:03.002
but I couldn't see them with my eyes.

00:54:06.464 --> 00:54:11.302
It took us five hours to go down
from the main summit to the South Summit.

00:54:16.558 --> 00:54:18.268
It took us about 5 hours.

00:54:18.268 --> 00:54:21.104
By the evening we had run out of oxygen.

00:54:22.438 --> 00:54:24.065
None of us had oxygen left.

00:54:25.692 --> 00:54:27.777
That's when the trouble started.

00:54:32.991 --> 00:54:35.577
When we reached the camp at
eight o'clock at night,

00:54:35.952 --> 00:54:37.662
we looked back and saw no one.

00:54:39.163 --> 00:54:41.165
We didn't even see their lights.

00:54:41.541 --> 00:54:46.254
So we melted some snow
and made tea and waited for them.

00:54:47.422 --> 00:54:50.800
When we ran out of oxygen, she collapsed.

00:54:52.176 --> 00:54:53.678
So we were stuck there for

00:54:54.387 --> 00:54:55.013
overnight.

00:54:58.516 --> 00:55:00.977
Then Sonam was having a problem also.

00:55:01.769 --> 00:55:03.771
He coughed, he just put his hands

00:55:04.063 --> 00:55:06.858
both hands, one here and one hand here,

00:55:07.233 --> 00:55:10.695
and coughed very, he bent down his head

00:55:11.154 --> 00:55:13.156
and coughed blood all the time.

00:55:29.297 --> 00:55:33.551
Next morning, both were not capable of walking.

00:55:34.844 --> 00:55:38.473
I told them, "Pasang, you need
to limp on top of me.

00:55:38.473 --> 00:55:41.809
Just move the leg
and then I will help you uphill,

00:55:42.352 --> 00:55:43.394
just only twenty steps,

00:55:44.103 --> 00:55:45.688
and then we go down."

00:55:46.606 --> 00:55:50.610
She can't stand up and she can't walk.

00:55:52.320 --> 00:55:57.116
Mentally, she's perfectly capable, like us.

00:55:57.283 --> 00:55:59.702
And then she said,
"Okay, you go down.

00:56:00.828 --> 00:56:05.375
There were three Sherpas
we left there yesterday.

00:56:05.375 --> 00:56:10.338
They have food and
oxygen at the South Col."

00:56:12.840 --> 00:56:14.258
Pasang said, "You go down,

00:56:14.258 --> 00:56:16.511
send those three Sherpas up

00:56:16.803 --> 00:56:19.722
and then go down to tell Sonam
that we got to the summit."

00:56:22.809 --> 00:56:27.980
It was dawn,
seven or eight in the morning.

00:56:29.273 --> 00:56:34.237
Pemba Norbu suddenly appeared in front of our tent.

00:56:34.237 --> 00:56:36.739
We didn't see him coming down
the mountain.

00:56:37.198 --> 00:56:40.076
"They are still up there.
They are still alive.

00:56:40.326 --> 00:56:43.496
We have to take the oxygen up to them."

00:56:44.497 --> 00:56:46.999
We had six oxygens.

00:56:46.999 --> 00:56:50.586
So, I gave each Sherpa
two oxygens to go up and down.

00:56:50.753 --> 00:56:54.215
And then two—one for Sonam
and one for Pasang.

00:56:54.340 --> 00:56:58.302
We were able to cut through
some of the snow.

00:56:59.178 --> 00:57:01.764
We got through 200 or 300 meters.

00:57:01.764 --> 00:57:04.934
But as we moved up
there was much more snow.

00:57:04.934 --> 00:57:06.728
How long would it take us to get up there?

00:57:07.145 --> 00:57:08.938
"We all might die here."

00:57:08.938 --> 00:57:11.274
So we came back down.

00:57:12.316 --> 00:57:14.736
Afternoon, Pemba Norbu,

00:57:14.736 --> 00:57:16.779
who made a bivouac with her,

00:57:16.779 --> 00:57:17.989
he came down to

00:57:19.490 --> 00:57:22.118
Camp 2, where I was staying.

00:57:24.829 --> 00:57:26.622
And he told me there are problems.

00:57:26.873 --> 00:57:30.334
She didn't want to come down without—

00:57:30.334 --> 00:57:32.920
she didn't want to leave the Sherpa.

00:57:35.423 --> 00:57:38.718
Two years before, in the same place
she made a bivouac.

00:57:41.179 --> 00:57:44.474
And I was confident she was still alive.

00:58:12.835 --> 00:58:15.213
Once Pasang went up to the summit,

00:58:15.213 --> 00:58:18.257
when she came down,
then I was supposed to go up.

00:58:20.092 --> 00:58:22.929
I slept in Camp 3, in the tent alone.

00:58:24.430 --> 00:58:25.306
And in the morning,

00:58:25.515 --> 00:58:29.143
around 3:30, 4 o'clock, I think

00:58:30.144 --> 00:58:33.314
she was calling me,
"Lhak Phuti! Lhak Phuti!" many times.

00:58:33.314 --> 00:58:37.276
and I opened my tent and I looked outside
and there was nobody.

00:58:42.281 --> 00:58:46.327
Then in the morning I woke up
and I came down to Camp 2.

00:58:48.788 --> 00:58:51.582
And then I told Sonam and our cook Saila,

00:58:52.250 --> 00:58:55.044
"Pasang called me many times,
'Lhak Phuti! Lhak Phuti!'

00:58:55.044 --> 00:58:57.088
and I looked out and there was nobody."

00:58:57.088 --> 00:59:00.216
And then Saila said,
"Ah! She called you also?

00:59:00.258 --> 00:59:03.219
She called me all night also,
she didn't let me sleep.

00:59:03.845 --> 00:59:07.265
She called me during the night
and the morning also,

00:59:07.932 --> 00:59:10.518
'Saila! Saila!' She called me many times."

00:59:11.102 --> 00:59:16.065
Then, only, Sonam started to get afraid
that something happened, maybe.

00:59:35.793 --> 00:59:41.424
It's snowing, it's storming. It continued for a week.