Rosha Basnet
Kathmandu, May 24: Seven years have passed since a formidable group of Nepali women made history by summiting the world’s highest peak Sagarmatha, in a single climbing season.
Among the 19 women from diverse backgrounds who scaled the Sagarmatha (Mt Everest), 17 set their feet on the summit, thereby making Guinness World Records.
On May 23 in 2018, this scribe herself was one of those 17 Nepali women who made it to the top of the mountain also called the ‘Top of the World’. Had I not survived a fatal fall in the Hillary Step, a 12-metre-tall rocky outcrop on the south-east-ridge of the mountain on the way back from summit, I would not have been able to reflect the expedition after all these years.
As I write this recollection I, along with our team, was descending to lower camps from the Camp IV (at 8,000 metres) from where begins the Death Zone. Death Zone due to low oxygen saturation level (or low atmospheric pressure) As I share the summit’s saga, here’s the low-down on what propelled me to the summit of Mt Everest. From up there, I still vividly remember the sky looked so close as if I could touch it!
What started as a personal resolution to make 2018 a standout year with a meaningful challenge turned out to be a bold statement in many ways.
Leap from newsroom to the death zone
With routine translation and editing at the Rastriya Samachar Samiti (RSS), I found myself yearning for something more than words, meaning, headlines and datelines.
I wanted to take up a challenge that would test my limits, redefine my identity, and speak louder than words—something that could prove not just to myself, but to the world, that the women are capable of undertaking challenging, a break of the stereotype.
What could be a more fitting choice other than climbing the Sagarmatha for a person born in the lap of the Himalayas, for a person whose country is also known as the ‘Himalayan nation’. Despite living so close to these natural towers, climbing Everest had never seemed like a realistic goal—until it became one on May 23, 2018.
The idea of climbing the tallest peak also has a bearing with the demise Junko Tabei, the first woman to dare feat. While going through the news of the demise Tabei in 2016 at my news agency, it evidently gave a painful twinge.. The pain, however, empowered me- instilling whetting yearning to trace her footsteps in the Everest as a journalist.
I began to dream—not just climbing the Everest alone but together with fellow women journalists of my country. I believed in the power of unified voice. Later we chose -‘Unified Voice for Equity’ to be our expedition’s slogan.
Ascent starts
The arduous journey to the summit started long before we put on our down suit and tied crampons on the boots.
The journey started with conversations, brainstorming with the fellow women media persons, seeking to challenge societal norms and highlighting the strength of Nepali women and collecting suggestions from senior women media persons on the viability of the expedition’s idea.
I approached more than three dozen female journalists from different age groups, geography and working in different capacities, hoping to find those who shared my vision and fire. The initial enthusiasm was promising.
By the first quarter of 2017, a determined team of 12 female media persons had been formed.
We named our initiative the ‘First Women Journalists Everest Expedition – 2018’, and we carried a two-fold mission: reach the summit, and use that summit as a platform to elevate and amplify the voices of women across Nepal’s newsrooms and beyond.
Unfortunately, the closer the date for expedition inched, the higher the number of drop outs seen in the team owing to contingencies on their part, lack of commitment and among others. It was less than six months left to set out for expedition, the team was reduced to five to whom the then Head of the State Bidya Devi Bhandari had dubbed the ‘Pancha Kanya’.
The group had called on the First Female President of the country to seek her best wishes and moral support before making the expedition public. The ‘final five’ certainly had irreconcilable differences but they were unified by similar purpose and passion for the mountain they had long eyed to surmount.
The planning phase followed by team building was electric. Meticulous discussions on logistics, rigorous trainings, fundraising, media campaigning and post-expedition initiatives were full of optimism.
We dreamed of not just reaching atop the summit, but using our achievements to give back—to the media, to aspiring women, and to the society that too often overlooks women’s contributions.
Atop Sagarmatha: A transformation
The actual climb, of course, was overcoming the shortcomings within and shortfall of logistical and fund for the expedition.
Worryingly, it was unfortunate to be cash-strapped in the very beginning. But, the team worked hard and smart to raise the fund and subsequently received encouraging supports- both in cash and in-kind as climbing season inched closer.
Supports poured in from international agencies to government and local levels. It was all because of the collective effort of five determined women journalists.
The physical strain during the expedition was immense and the mental pressure was equally relentless. Every step in the Everest tested our will. Yet we persevered. And when we stood on the top of the world in few minutes apart, the feeling wasn’t just triumph—it was transformation in deed.
But the hardest part of the journey, as it turned out, came after the descent. Fame came swiftly. Vanity and personal ambitions rose faster than any Himalayan peak and the unity to summit gradually faded.
Women able to break barriers
Looking back, the real summit wasn’t the snow-covered peak. It was overcoming the Everest within—self-doubts, societal expectations, gender bias, and personal limitations.
For me, Everest was beyond altitude. It was about telling gravity- ‘Shut up and Sit Down!’. It soul-stirring journey for this scribe who came from a humble back group and rose above the circumstances and reached the highest point on earth by the dent of unwavering perseverance, excellent team work, supportive Sherpa team, meticulous planning, thorough execution and not to mention, the providence!
The journey was a powerful reminder that every girl, every woman, every professional stuck behind barriers can climb the mountain with purpose, passion, and persistence. Extraordinary feats are within reach of ordinary women. #rss #everest
