Pasang Lhamu Sherpa: First Nepali Woman on Everest

Pasang Lhamu Sherpa is one of the most important figures in Nepali mountaineering history. In 1993 she became the first Nepali woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, a milestone that reshaped how Nepalis, and especially Nepali women, saw their place on the world's highest peaks. Her story is one of ambition and breaking barriers, but it also ends in tragedy on the descent. For travellers and trekkers who come to Nepal drawn by the Himalaya, knowing her name adds depth to the landscape you walk through.

Key takeaways

• Pasang Lhamu Sherpa (1961-1993) was the first Nepali woman to summit Mount Everest, reaching the top on 22 April 1993.
• She succeeded on her fourth attempt, climbing via the standard South Col and Southeast Ridge route from the Nepal side.
• She died during the descent when a storm hit and her team ran out of oxygen; her body was recovered weeks later.
• She was posthumously awarded the Order of the Star of Nepal, becoming the first woman to receive that honour.
• Her legacy lives on through a renamed Himalayan peak, a highway, a foundation, a documentary, and even a Moon crater named after her in 2024.

Who was Pasang Lhamu Sherpa?

Pasang Lhamu Sherpa was born on 10 December 1961 into a Sherpa family in the Everest region of northeastern Nepal. The Sherpa community has long been central to Himalayan climbing, supplying many of the guides and high-altitude porters who make expeditions possible. If you want background on the people themselves, our guide to the Sherpa people and the explainer on who the Sherpas are give useful context for understanding the world she grew up in.

By most accounts she was drawn to the mountains from a young age. As a teenager she left her home village for Kathmandu, where she married Lhakpa Sonam Sherpa and co-founded a trekking company. That business gave her both the means and the network to pursue serious mountaineering at a time when very few Nepali women climbed at all.

A climbing record before Everest

Pasang Lhamu was not a one-mountain climber. Before her historic Everest ascent she had built a genuine alpine resume. She is reported to have been the first Nepali woman to climb Mont Blanc in Europe in 1990, and she also climbed Cho Oyu, the world's sixth-highest mountain, along with other Himalayan peaks. This experience matters: her Everest summit was the culmination of years of preparation, not a single lucky push.

The 1993 Everest expedition

Pasang Lhamu organised and led a Nepali women's Everest expedition in 1993. Reaching the top of Everest had eluded her on three previous attempts, so this fourth try carried enormous personal weight. The team climbed from the Nepal side, following the classic route over the South Col and up the Southeast Ridge, the same line first climbed in 1953 and still the most popular way to the top today. If you want to understand that mountain in general terms, see our overview of Mount Everest and the trekking-focused guide to Everest Base Camp, where most visitors get their closest view.

On the morning of 22 April 1993, under clear skies, Pasang Lhamu reached the summit alongside a group of Sherpa climbers. The moment made her the first Nepali woman ever to stand on top of the world. For a country whose name is bound up with Everest, the symbolism was huge.

The tragic descent

The triumph did not last. As the team began descending, the weather turned violently. A storm moved in, and the climbers became trapped high on the mountain near the South Summit. Their supplemental oxygen ran out, a critical danger in the thin air of the so-called death zone above 8,000 metres, where the body cannot survive for long without acclimatisation aids. To understand why this altitude is so lethal, see our piece on the Everest death zone.

Pasang Lhamu and one of her fellow climbers, Sonam Tshering Sherpa, did not make it down. Her body was recovered from high on the mountain weeks later. She was 31 years old and a mother of three. The loss turned a moment of national pride into national mourning, and it cemented her place in collective memory.

How Nepal honoured her

The response from the country was immediate and lasting. Pasang Lhamu was posthumously decorated with the Order of the Star of Nepal (Nepal Tara) by the King, becoming the first woman to receive this state honour. Beyond the medal, the tributes have been unusually wide-ranging, touching geography, infrastructure, and culture.

| Tribute | Detail | | --- | --- | | State honour | Order of the Star of Nepal, awarded posthumously; first woman so honoured | | Renamed peak | Jasamba Himal in the Mahalangur range renamed Pasang Lhamu Peak | | Highway | The Trishuli-Dhunche road renamed the Pasang Lhamu Highway | | Statue | A life-size statue erected at Chuchepati, Boudha, Kathmandu | | Postage stamp | A commemorative stamp issued in her name | | Agriculture | A strain of wheat named Pasang Lhamu in her honour | | Memorial hall | A memorial hall established in Dhulabari, Jhapa district |

The renaming of a Himalayan peak is especially notable. Mountains in Nepal carry deep cultural and spiritual significance, and attaching her name to one places her within the landscape itself. The road tribute is more practical: the Pasang Lhamu Highway connects the Kathmandu valley toward the Langtang region, an area many trekkers pass through on the way to the Langtang trek.

A crater on the Moon

The recognition has even reached beyond Earth. In 2024, a crater near the Moon's south pole was officially named "Lhamu" in her honour. The naming went through the International Astronomical Union's planetary nomenclature process and was approved by the United States Geological Survey on 29 July 2024. For a Nepali mountaineer who spent her life reaching for high places, a feature named after her on another world is a fitting and rare distinction.

The Pasang Lhamu Foundation

Her name also lives on through ongoing work. The Pasang Lhamu Memorial Foundation was established in 1993 as a non-profit, non-political organisation. Its stated aims centre on improving conditions for women and children in mountainous and hilly regions, supporting the development of mountaineering and tourism, and empowering Nepali women more broadly.

The foundation has supported climbing training, scholarships, and education initiatives, and has been associated with a community college in Kathmandu serving students. Practical efforts like these connect her symbolic legacy to tangible opportunities for the next generation of Nepali women, including those who might one day follow her into the mountains.

Pasang Lhamu in film and memory

In 2022, a biographical documentary titled "Pasang: In the Shadow of Everest," directed by Nancy Svendsen, brought her story to international audiences. The film traces her journey to the summit and the obstacles she faced as a woman pursuing a male-dominated pursuit in the Nepal of her era. A memorial gallery dedicated to her was also inaugurated in Kathmandu in 2024, giving visitors a dedicated place to learn about her life.

For travellers, these are good ways to connect with her legacy before or after a trip. Watching the documentary, visiting her statue at Boudha, or simply learning her name before you trek toward Everest all deepen the experience of being in her mountains.

Why her story matters for visitors

Nepal's mountaineering history is often told through foreign expeditions and a handful of famous summiteers. Pasang Lhamu's story re-centres that narrative on a Nepali, and specifically on a Nepali woman. The Sherpa community has always been the backbone of Himalayan climbing, a theme we explore alongside other Nepali ethnic groups like the Gurung and the Tamang. Knowing about figures like Pasang Lhamu turns a scenic trek into something richer: a walk through a landscape shaped by real people and real history.

Practical notes for travellers

If your trip is taking you toward the Everest region, here are a few grounded ways her story intersects with what you will actually see and do.

• The standard South Col route she climbed is the same line followed by most commercial Everest expeditions today, though trekkers themselves go no higher than Base Camp or nearby viewpoints.
• Her statue stands at Chuchepati near Boudha in Kathmandu, an area many visitors pass while seeing the Boudhanath Stupa.
• The documentary about her life is a strong primer for understanding Sherpa mountaineering culture before you fly to Lukla.
• Learning even a few words of Nepali, such as the greeting namaste, goes a long way in the mountain communities that carry her legacy.

Pasang Lhamu Sherpa's life was short, but her impact endures across Nepal and beyond. She turned the summit of Everest from a foreign achievement into a Nepali one, and she opened a door that countless women have since walked through. For anyone drawn to the Himalaya, her name is worth carrying along the trail.

Sources

• Pasang Lhamu Sherpa - Wikipedia
• Order of the Star of Nepal - Wikipedia
• Moon's crater named 'Lhamu' after Pasang Lhamu Sherpa - The Kathmandu Post
• Moon crater named after national luminary Pasang Lhamu Sherpa - The Himalayan Times
• Inauguration of Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Memorial Gallery - The Kathmandu Post / ekantipur
• Pasang Lhamu Foundation - About Us
• Pasang: In the Shadow of Everest (documentary)