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hunjo Lama is a high-altitude mountain guide from Nepal who is carving out a place in mountaineering history. She is the fastest woman in the world to climb Everest – a title she first claimed in 2018 and reclaimed in 2024. Before this, she was Nepal's first female long-line helicopter rescuer.
For International Women's Day, Anna Fleming speaks with this remarkable woman about her landmark ascents of Everest and her extraordinary journey – from a yak herder in rural Nepal to a pioneering helicopter rescuer and elite high-altitude guide. She has achieved all of this while raising her daughter as a single mother.
Nearing the summit of Manaslu in 2017
© Phunjo Lama
We speak in English, Phunjo's fifth language, which she says she sometimes feels is harder than Mount Everest.
In 2018 you got the women's speed record for climbing Everest. Can you tell me more about that climb? How did you end up making such good time? Did you know you were making a record?
So 2018 was my first Everest climb. In 2015 I went on my first Everest expedition, but because of the earthquake I had to return back from Everest base camp. In 2018 I was guiding an Australian woman. We arrived into Everest base camp and did our training, acclimatised and were waiting for the good summit window.
One morning, my client and I were drinking coffee outside our tent in Everest base camp. We had been waiting for many days in base camp. And I was just looking up to Khumbu Icefall and Everest, and the view was very beautiful. And I just wondered, you know, if we climbed from base camp to summit with no need to stop, how many days would it take? So I said to my client, Sammy, 'What do you think if we climb from base camp to summit? With no stopping – how many hours would it take? Let's do it' I said. She was laughing and said, 'Phunjo, you can do it, but I could not. I'm not ready to do that'.
After that day, my client Sammy agreed, and she was encouraging me to do the speed record. She went up with another guide five days before me. Our plan was that we would have the same summit day.
I hired a guide for myself in Everest base camp. Many people said to me, Phunju, you are already a guide, why are you hiring another guide? I hired him for the Khumbu Icefall and because I would have to be alone all the way up the mountain. I can't go with other people because I have to go at a different time to the expedition groups to avoid the traffic jam. So if something happened to me, then the other person who went with me could say, 'Oh, she's dead here', or 'she fell here', 'she had an accident here', for the information. The second thing is I was doing the speed record. We needed some evidence that I really did it.
My goal was to summit within 20 hours, but I could not do it in that time, because firstly my colleague-guide could not keep up with my speed. It was not his fault – he had never trained for doing Everest at speed. I also didn't train for that, but I had some extra training because as a woman, I feel I always have to train extra because the work is so male dominated. That's why I always do with the training, and whatever I do, I always do a little bit extra. You know – extra and extra. So, he could not catch up with my speed. And the second bad thing is he fell in the Khumbu Icefall and I had to rescue him.
Eventful! He fell, and you rescued him – all within your record breaking speed ascent?
Yeah, I rescued him and we checked him over, he had no problems, he was fine. So after the rescue, we continued to climb. Then he had problems between Camp Four and the Summit. He said, 'I have this problem, a headache, and other things'. I told him, 'man, take it easy, this is just for a few hours, not for your lifetime'.
How did you feel, summiting Everest in 2018?
Before Everest, I had climbed Manaslu, Cho Oyu, Ama Dablam, and Island Peak, Lobuche and Mera Peak, so many times because I am a guide. I always summit with a happy feeling and enjoy it, but summiting Everest was not like that. This was not because of my physical state, or my mind, the mental side, but because of the teamwork. It was very difficult.
After all this, a year later, the Guinness Book of Records recognised me as the fastest woman to summit Mount Everest.
Phunjo in Kathmandu with her Guinness Book of Records certificate for 2018
© Bijiya Bar Srestha
But my goal was to summit in under 20 hours. The total in 2018 was 39 hours and 6 minutes basecamp to basecamp, so I was not happy with my timing and was not satisfied with my record. I always wondered if I could do it in under 20 hours or not, so then I was looking for sponsorship, because climbing Everest, and a project like this, costs a lot of money.
How did you feel when Tsang Yin Hung from Hong Kong beat your record in 2021?
I was so happy. A lot of people said 'Phunjo, you need to set another record because she broke your record', but I was so happy. I set that record because I want to see a lot of women in the Himalaya, in the mountain. When she broke my record it was great! After her Everest expedition, I wanted to hug her but because of Covid I couldn't meet her. It was a really happy moment for me.
What did you do differently when you climbed Everest in 2024?
In 2024, everything was so good. I got support from Himali brand and friends and family all over the world. The logistics and teamwork, everything was so good. In 2024 from basecamp to summit was 14 hours and 31 minutes. Basecamp to basecamp was 24 hours and 26 minutes and that record is the third fastest in the world.
This time I took two guides. One went with me from Basecamp to Camp 2 and the other was Camp 2 to summit. I changed the people and that worked really well. They were not tired.
Many people think that men are so strong, but sometimes I feel like, 'Oh, I'm stronger than men, in the mountain!' You know, I think we are doing okay in the mountains Anna.
Were you happy with this climb and time in 2024?
Still I feel I can do better than 2024. In 2024, the icefall route was 1 hour 34 longer than the previous time and I was stuck in the traffic jam for around 45 minutes on the Balcony. I can do better in a future year if I get the opportunity and sponsorship, but at the moment I am happy with my timing.
Will you go back to Everest?
Yes I am going this spring to guide.
Can you tell me about your background? Your mum died when you were very young and you were raised by your grandfather. What was your childhood like?
I come from Tsum valley on the border between Nepal and Tibet. Until 2008, the Tsum valley was a restricted area for foreign visitors. It is a non-violence valley, so we are not allowed to kill any animals.
When I was two years old my mum passed away. I don't know what my mum looks like, I don't know what she was like as a person, I don't know mother love, I don't know, I never got those kind of experiences. My grandfather raised me at 4,000–4,500 metres with the yaks. I always dreamed about going to school, but in Tsum there was no school.
When I was nine, my brother and I fell very sick. My brother could not survive, he passed away. He was ten or eleven. My grandfather was very sad and I asked him why he was so sad. He said he wanted to take both of us to hospital, but there was no hospital. After that my grandfather said to me, 'Phunjo, you are born and raised in the high Himalaya. It is a blessing, but for your bright future, you have to get an education and go to a bigger city'.
What did you want to be when you were older?
My dream was to become a Buddhist nun. [She laughs.] It's funny! In Tsum you can't dream of going to school and becoming a guide, doctor, engineer, pilot, because in my village young girls have very few choices. You could be yak herder, farmer, get married and take care of the house, or to go to the monastery and become a Buddhist nun. I thought becoming a Buddhist nun was the best option I had.
At Pumori High Camp, Phunjo is preparing for her 2024 speed ascent of Everest
© Nuru Sherpa
At thirteen years old, I got the opportunity to go to a bigger city. The city was Kathmandu. I walked from my village all the way down to the bus station. It takes fourteen days. And I carried a basket, of around twenty to twenty-five kilos, with everything I needed for fourteen days. My family had no money to pay for a tea house or hotel, so when we travelled somewhere, we took everything we need from our house. Blanket, food, spoon, plate, everything.
Now I realise it was camping! Real camping!
I was thirteen and I walked with my village uncle and auntie. When we arrived at the bus station, I was so excited to see the bus. Because in my life I had never seen a bus, TV, electricity and all those kinds of things. I couldn't sleep all night, I was too excited to see the bus.
What happened when you got to Kathmandu? Did you go to school? It must have been a big change for a girl from the remote high mountains.
In Kathmandu I saw a whole new world and I changed my mind. I said to my brother, 'I don't want to go the monastery and be a Buddhist nun', so he said I had to go to Nepali language class because I didn't speak any Nepali. My first language is Tsumke, second is Tibetan. After a few months, my brother sent me to school. Going to school was one of the hardest times in my life. I started when I was fourteen and I had not done a single grade of education before. I only knew how to take care of fifty yaks!
In my classroom, all the kids were very small and I was the biggest one. I looked like their teacher, but when those small kids spoke English and Nepali, it was so good. When I spoke English or Nepali, it was a disaster. Disaster! I was so embarrassed. I went for a few months but I didn't understand anything. So I quit school. I went to Nepali language class and then English language class, but I never went to school or university.
Becoming a city girl was very hard for me. My village culture was so different.
You became the first female long line helicopter rescuer in Nepal in 2014. How did you get into this work?
In 2013, a woman from my village had a problem in childbirth and she needed urgent helicopter rescue. Her sister called me to get a helicopter. She thought because I lived in Kathmandu, I knew everything but I honestly didn't know anyone with a helicopter! My brother helped me and the woman was rescued successfully. She survived and is raising a healthy boy.
That was when I met the helicopter pilot, who sadly died in 2015 in a helicopter accident during the earthquake. We became really good friends and he introduced me to helicopter long line training. First he said, 'Phunjo you should be a helicopter pilot because you are so strong and you can do everything yourself', but he didn't know my inside story. Maybe he thought I had been to university, but I don't have a single grade of education, he didn't know that.
So I said I'm not interested in being a pilot and he said, 'then why not be a helicopter long line rescuer?' So I did the training and started work. I really wanted to help the people in my village who live in such a difficult situation.
What was it like to be in the helicopter rescue industry as a woman?
There was both good and bad. Many people said 'this is a man job, not a woman job'. Some people said I was doing very well. It was difficult. A lot of people said 'this is very risky, it's a man's job'. It was kind of mixed.
But for me, I care about people but I don't care about what they say. I have to survive. I have to be happy and make enough money.
In the end, I didn't feel like I could survive on the helicopter long line rescue work. We only get paid when we do a rescue, and the long line rescue calls are rare. So then I changed to guiding.
On the Renjo-La pass with clients Elise and Jo-jo from France
© Nuru Sherpa
How did you get into climbing and guiding in the high mountain?
Through my work, I got to know many rescuers, who were not just rescuers, but they were also mountaineers who had climbed Everest many times. That was when I realised – wow – there is a mountaineering world also! I was born and raised in the high Himalaya, but my community does not practice mountaineering.
After meeting all these people, and needing more work, I trained and became a guide.
So you got into climbing and trained to become a guide because you needed to make enough money to survive?
Yes. It's not only me – I'm an independent mother and I have to make enough money to take care of my daughter. So that's why it is difficult and that's why I needed to change.
But I respect the helicopter rescue work, and I am who I am today because of the long line rescue. I still work for the helicopter company.
When did you become a guide?
I started mountaineering in 2015, when I was 25 years old.
Did you experience any challenges as a woman?
Yes there were so many challenges. It is not easy. In Nepal 95% of trekking guides and high mountain guides are male. In the company I work for, there are eighty-two male guides, and I am the only female guide.
Sometimes I feel, not exactly dominated, but that people are not happy with me being there. But I always say, the mountain, Everest, does not care whether you are a man or a woman. There is one summit and I am working for the mountain, not the people. So I do not see what the people say as so important.
Now I am doing well, people respect me and they are proud of me that I am doing so well. But it took around six, seven, eight years to earn that respect.
And still there is a challenge around accidents. If the client of a male guide has an accident, they say 'oh that's the mountain, that's Everest', but if one of my clients has an accident, they say it's because of the female guide, that's why they had the accident. This is a big challenge for me.
Do you like working as a mountain guide?
Yes. At the moment I feel so blessed to be working as a mountain guide because I was born and raised in the Himalaya. I feel very blessed to be working here.
On the Cho La pass with clients Elise and Jo-jo from France
© Nuru Sherpa
When I was a young girl and herding yaks on the high Himalaya with my grandfather it was difficult to see five to ten people in a year. Now I am guiding people from all over the world! I feel so blessed. If I had not found climbing I am sure I would be living very far away, in another country somewhere, not in Nepal, and very far from away from nature and mountain.
What do you like about climbing and being in the mountains?
When I go to the mountain it feels like meditation. When I'm in Kathmandu, there are so many things, buying groceries, meeting someone, taking my daughter somewhere, many things, but when I go to the mountain there is only one responsibility: taking care of my client very well. That's it. So it's a meditation for me. There's not so many choices in the mountain. You can live life very simply.
One thing that I love about mountain, is that when we're in the city, or the gym, when we're training, we always push-push-push, but in the mountain, you can push yourself, but you can't push the mountain. You can't push nature. I love that the mountain makes the limit, you know, be grounded on the centre. When I go to the mountain I always go with respect. I always listen to what the mountain is saying.
What do you call Everest? The mountain has several names, like Sagarmatha and Chomolungma.
It depends. Because we are guides, if we are talking with Western people we say Everest, if we are talking with Nepali we say Sagarmatha. When we talk with Tibetan, or in our Himalayan culture, we say Chomolungma. For me, with a Tibetan background, we say Chomolungma. It means Mother Goddess.
Phunjo at Pumori High Camp. She climbed here from Basecamp everyday in training for her Everest speed ascent in 2024
© Nuru Sherpa
And do you see the mountain as that – is the mountain the mother goddess to you?
Yes. Not only in Nepal, but for people across the Himalayas, we see the mountains, not only Everest, as goddesses. All of them. All mountains. In my grandfather's time they did Puja for the mountain. We strongly believe in the goddess. The female god.
As a mother goddess, is she protective or dangerous, do you have to respect her?
I never feel danger. A lot of people say 'Oh Phunjo why are you climbing, Everest is so dangerous', but for me I feel more danger in the city. I don't feel danger in the mountain. In the mountain you go with respect, follow the process, and if you go with respect, I think the mountain will protect us. I feel really safe in the mountain.
What do you think about the commercialisation of Everest? So many people on the mountain?
I don't know if it's a problem or if we should be happy. We can manage with the people, some people say the government should limit the numbers of people, but if you do that, then you are controlling, and how do you decide who can and can't?
Everest is for everyone, and everyone has a right to go in the nature. For us as guides, people have to come with respect and preparation. That makes our life as a guide safe, and their own life safe, too.
What is happening with climate change and the changing weather in the Himalaya?
Guiding should get easier each year because you have more experience, but it is becoming harder because the weather is changing so much. Especially in the Khumbu Icefall. After you put on the crampons, there is a small river. In 2018, it was a very small river that you could hardly see. In 2024, the river was so big. We guides were worried and were saying if this river gets any bigger we will need to put a big bridge on the Khumbu Icefall.
Last year I was guiding and we did summit push on 12–13 May, and when we came down on 18 May, crossing this river was so difficult. It takes one hour, the river was so big.
The weather is changing a lot. The forecast might say tomorrow is good, clear sky and light wind, so everyone does summit push. But then that day the weather is completely different, it is snowing. So the weather is changing, the forecasts are not accurate.
Phunjo at Everest Camp 1 in 2025
© Dawa Jangbu Sherpa
What can we do to protect the mountain and the environment?
As Buddhists we pray and do religious things. Otherwise, so many things are out of our hands for the environment. The weather is out of our hands. Khumbu Icefall is melting so fast, and that is out of our hands, but we can take out the rubbish: that kind of thing is in our hands.
What do you tell your daughter about climbing?
I am an independent mother, I have one daughter, she is fourteen, and I always say, 'you have to be independent yourself because I am going to climb the mountain, I may come back, I may not'.
In 2019, I went on a K2 expedition, she was around seven or eight, and she said to me, 'OK mum you are going to K2, a dangerous mountain, you will come back or not, I just want to know, how much money you have in your bank account, do you owe anyone money or do they owe you?'
I replied, 'Oh you love me or my money?' But she says she just wants to know the reality. In Nepal our insurance is our community. We borrow and lend to each other. Now my daughter is very independent.
Does she want to be a climber like you?
Yes. Her dream, before she goes to university, is she wants to climb Mount Everest. In 2024, after my speed record, I called her from Basecamp, thinking she is my small child, I will tell her I have climbed Everest in less than 15 hours.
I called her and she said, 'Mum, you don't need to tell me, I got all the information from BBC, CNN, and Himalayan Times'. My twelve year old daughter reads the news! And she said, 'Mum, I will break your record'. I said, 'Are you sure?' and she said yes, 'but mum, I need your support. With your support, I am the one who will break your record'.
Will you support your daughter to climb Everest?
Yes. Lots of mountaineers and guides don't want to see their kids becoming a guide or mountaineer. I know my daughter won't be a guide, but I want to see her climb a mountain. I want her to know what her mother's job is like, and how hard it is when we go to the mountain. It is really important, she has to know.
Lots of parents don't share their hardships with their kids, but me, I share all the time. Good things, bad things, everything I share with her. She knows all my hard work. Because their life is just starting, if we don't share with them then they think it's easy. When children are young we provide everything for them – if they're hungry we give food, we provide clothes – and they think this is life, but actually parents are working so hard. They have to know.
What are your ambitions and dreams for the future?
I want my daughter to go to university and study and have the education that I never had. As a guide, to share the beautiful country of Nepal with people and to make them strong and happy, because my job as a guide is to make people happy. I also want to study and improve my English.
On the summit of Lobuche with client Angela from Australia
© Nawang Sherpa
And do you have goals in the mountains?
Next year, 2027, I want to attempt K2. Not only to reach the summit, but to set the speed record from basecamp to basecamp. I can't talk about this too much now before doing. I feel a bit embarrassed to share before I do it. Some people are very good at talking and telling the story before, but I like to share the story after. In Nepali culture, we feel very embarrassed if we talk a lot about something before doing it. As guides, we always say, less talk more action.
What message would you like to give to women?
When you get an opportunity, just do it. Everyone has their own everyday Mount Everest to climb.
Sometimes you need to walk away from your everyday Mount Everest and do some trekking or mountaineering, because mountain and nature will teach us how to face a challenge or a problem. After facing challenges like that, in our life, the small problems will feel like nothing.
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# Phunjo Lama: The Fastest Woman on Everest
© Nuru Sherpa
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[Anna Fleming](https://www.ukclimbing.com/user/profile.php?id=188605)
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8th March
This has been read 2,781 times
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**Phunjo Lama is a high-altitude mountain guide from Nepal who is carving out a place in mountaineering history. She is the fastest woman in the world to climb Everest – a title she first claimed in 2018 and reclaimed in 2024. Before this, she was Nepal's first female long-line helicopter rescuer.**
For International Women's Day, Anna Fleming speaks with this remarkable woman about her landmark ascents of Everest and her extraordinary journey – from a yak herder in rural Nepal to a pioneering helicopter rescuer and elite high-altitude guide. She has achieved all of this while raising her daughter as a single mother.
[](https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/dbpage.php?id=473449)
Nearing the summit of Manaslu in 2017
© Phunjo Lama
We speak in English, Phunjo's fifth language, which she says she sometimes feels is harder than Mount Everest.
#### In 2018 you got the women's speed record for climbing Everest. Can you tell me more about that climb? How did you end up making such good time? Did you know you were making a record?
So 2018 was my first Everest climb. In 2015 I went on my first Everest expedition, but because of the earthquake I had to return back from Everest base camp. In 2018 I was guiding an Australian woman. We arrived into Everest base camp and did our training, acclimatised and were waiting for the good summit window.
One morning, my client and I were drinking coffee outside our tent in Everest base camp. We had been waiting for many days in base camp. And I was just looking up to Khumbu Icefall and Everest, and the view was very beautiful. And I just wondered, you know, if we climbed from base camp to summit with no need to stop, how many days would it take? So I said to my client, Sammy, 'What do you think if we climb from base camp to summit? With no stopping – how many hours would it take? Let's do it' I said. She was laughing and said, 'Phunjo, you can do it, but I could not. I'm not ready to do that'.
After that day, my client Sammy agreed, and she was encouraging me to do the speed record. She went up with another guide five days before me. Our plan was that we would have the same summit day.
I hired a guide for myself in Everest base camp. Many people said to me, Phunju, you are already a guide, why are you hiring another guide? I hired him for the Khumbu Icefall and because I would have to be alone all the way up the mountain. I can't go with other people because I have to go at a different time to the expedition groups to avoid the traffic jam. So if something happened to me, then the other person who went with me could say, 'Oh, she's dead here', or 'she fell here', 'she had an accident here', for the information. The second thing is I was doing the speed record. We needed some evidence that I really did it.
My goal was to summit within 20 hours, but I could not do it in that time, because firstly my colleague-guide could not keep up with my speed. It was not his fault – he had never trained for doing Everest at speed. I also didn't train for that, but I had some extra training because as a woman, I feel I always have to train extra because the work is so male dominated. That's why I always do with the training, and whatever I do, I always do a little bit extra. You know – extra and extra. So, he could not catch up with my speed. And the second bad thing is he fell in the Khumbu Icefall and I had to rescue him.
#### Eventful! He fell, and you rescued him – all within your record breaking speed ascent?
Yeah, I rescued him and we checked him over, he had no problems, he was fine. So after the rescue, we continued to climb. Then he had problems between Camp Four and the Summit. He said, 'I have this problem, a headache, and other things'. I told him, 'man, take it easy, this is just for a few hours, not for your lifetime'.
#### **How did you feel, summiting Everest in 2018?**
Before Everest, I had climbed Manaslu, Cho Oyu, Ama Dablam, and Island Peak, Lobuche and Mera Peak, so many times because I am a guide. I always summit with a happy feeling and enjoy it, but summiting Everest was not like that. This was not because of my physical state, or my mind, the mental side, but because of the teamwork. It was very difficult.
After all this, a year later, the Guinness Book of Records recognised me as the fastest woman to summit Mount Everest.
[](https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/dbpage.php?id=473451)
Phunjo in Kathmandu with her Guinness Book of Records certificate for 2018
© Bijiya Bar Srestha
But my goal was to summit in under 20 hours. The total in 2018 was 39 hours and 6 minutes basecamp to basecamp, so I was not happy with my timing and was not satisfied with my record. I always wondered if I could do it in under 20 hours or not, so then I was looking for sponsorship, because climbing Everest, and a project like this, costs a lot of money.
#### How did you feel when Tsang Yin Hung from Hong Kong beat your record in 2021?
I was so happy. A lot of people said 'Phunjo, you need to set another record because she broke your record', but I was so happy. I set that record because I want to see a lot of women in the Himalaya, in the mountain. When she broke my record it was great! After her Everest expedition, I wanted to hug her but because of Covid I couldn't meet her. It was a really happy moment for me.
#### What did you do differently when you climbed Everest in 2024?
In 2024, everything was so good. I got support from Himali brand and friends and family all over the world. The logistics and teamwork, everything was so good. In 2024 from basecamp to summit was 14 hours and 31 minutes. Basecamp to basecamp was 24 hours and 26 minutes and that record is the third fastest in the world.
This time I took two guides. One went with me from Basecamp to Camp 2 and the other was Camp 2 to summit. I changed the people and that worked really well. They were not tired.
Many people think that men are so strong, but sometimes I feel like, 'Oh, I'm stronger than men, in the mountain!' You know, I think we are doing okay in the mountains Anna.
#### Were you happy with this climb and time in 2024?
Still I feel I can do better than 2024. In 2024, the icefall route was 1 hour 34 longer than the previous time and I was stuck in the traffic jam for around 45 minutes on the Balcony. I can do better in a future year if I get the opportunity and sponsorship, but at the moment I am happy with my timing.
#### Will you go back to Everest?
Yes I am going this spring to guide.
#### Can you tell me about your background? Your mum died when you were very young and you were raised by your grandfather. What was your childhood like?
I come from Tsum valley on the border between Nepal and Tibet. Until 2008, the Tsum valley was a restricted area for foreign visitors. It is a non-violence valley, so we are not allowed to kill any animals.
When I was two years old my mum passed away. I don't know what my mum looks like, I don't know what she was like as a person, I don't know mother love, I don't know, I never got those kind of experiences. My grandfather raised me at 4,000–4,500 metres with the yaks. I always dreamed about going to school, but in Tsum there was no school.
When I was nine, my brother and I fell very sick. My brother could not survive, he passed away. He was ten or eleven. My grandfather was very sad and I asked him why he was so sad. He said he wanted to take both of us to hospital, but there was no hospital. After that my grandfather said to me, 'Phunjo, you are born and raised in the high Himalaya. It is a blessing, but for your bright future, you have to get an education and go to a bigger city'.
#### What did you want to be when you were older?
My dream was to become a Buddhist nun. \[She laughs.\] It's funny! In Tsum you can't dream of going to school and becoming a guide, doctor, engineer, pilot, because in my village young girls have very few choices. You could be yak herder, farmer, get married and take care of the house, or to go to the monastery and become a Buddhist nun. I thought becoming a Buddhist nun was the best option I had.
[](https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/dbpage.php?id=473455)
At Pumori High Camp, Phunjo is preparing for her 2024 speed ascent of Everest
© Nuru Sherpa
At thirteen years old, I got the opportunity to go to a bigger city. The city was Kathmandu. I walked from my village all the way down to the bus station. It takes fourteen days. And I carried a basket, of around twenty to twenty-five kilos, with everything I needed for fourteen days. My family had no money to pay for a tea house or hotel, so when we travelled somewhere, we took everything we need from our house. Blanket, food, spoon, plate, everything.
Now I realise it was camping! Real camping\!
I was thirteen and I walked with my village uncle and auntie. When we arrived at the bus station, I was so excited to see the bus. Because in my life I had never seen a bus, TV, electricity and all those kinds of things. I couldn't sleep all night, I was too excited to see the bus.
#### What happened when you got to Kathmandu? Did you go to school? It must have been a big change for a girl from the remote high mountains.
In Kathmandu I saw a whole new world and I changed my mind. I said to my brother, 'I don't want to go the monastery and be a Buddhist nun', so he said I had to go to Nepali language class because I didn't speak any Nepali. My first language is Tsumke, second is Tibetan. After a few months, my brother sent me to school. Going to school was one of the hardest times in my life. I started when I was fourteen and I had not done a single grade of education before. I only knew how to take care of fifty yaks\!
In my classroom, all the kids were very small and I was the biggest one. I looked like their teacher, but when those small kids spoke English and Nepali, it was so good. When I spoke English or Nepali, it was a disaster. Disaster! I was so embarrassed. I went for a few months but I didn't understand anything. So I quit school. I went to Nepali language class and then English language class, but I never went to school or university.
Becoming a city girl was very hard for me. My village culture was so different.
#### You became the first female long line helicopter rescuer in Nepal in 2014. How did you get into this work?
In 2013, a woman from my village had a problem in childbirth and she needed urgent helicopter rescue. Her sister called me to get a helicopter. She thought because I lived in Kathmandu, I knew everything but I honestly didn't know anyone with a helicopter! My brother helped me and the woman was rescued successfully. She survived and is raising a healthy boy.
That was when I met the helicopter pilot, who sadly died in 2015 in a helicopter accident during the earthquake. We became really good friends and he introduced me to helicopter long line training. First he said, 'Phunjo you should be a helicopter pilot because you are so strong and you can do everything yourself', but he didn't know my inside story. Maybe he thought I had been to university, but I don't have a single grade of education, he didn't know that.
So I said I'm not interested in being a pilot and he said, 'then why not be a helicopter long line rescuer?' So I did the training and started work. I really wanted to help the people in my village who live in such a difficult situation.
#### What was it like to be in the helicopter rescue industry as a woman?
There was both good and bad. Many people said 'this is a man job, not a woman job'. Some people said I was doing very well. It was difficult. A lot of people said 'this is very risky, it's a man's job'. It was kind of mixed.
But for me, I care about people but I don't care about what they say. I have to survive. I have to be happy and make enough money.
In the end, I didn't feel like I could survive on the helicopter long line rescue work. We only get paid when we do a rescue, and the long line rescue calls are rare. So then I changed to guiding.
[](https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/dbpage.php?id=473447)
On the Renjo-La pass with clients Elise and Jo-jo from France
© Nuru Sherpa
#### How did you get into climbing and guiding in the high mountain?
Through my work, I got to know many rescuers, who were not just rescuers, but they were also mountaineers who had climbed Everest many times. That was when I realised – wow – there is a mountaineering world also! I was born and raised in the high Himalaya, but my community does not practice mountaineering.
After meeting all these people, and needing more work, I trained and became a guide.
#### So you got into climbing and trained to become a guide because you needed to make enough money to survive?
Yes. It's not only me – I'm an independent mother and I have to make enough money to take care of my daughter. So that's why it is difficult and that's why I needed to change.
But I respect the helicopter rescue work, and I am who I am today because of the long line rescue. I still work for the helicopter company.
#### When did you become a guide?
I started mountaineering in 2015, when I was 25 years old.
#### Did you experience any challenges as a woman?
Yes there were so many challenges. It is not easy. In Nepal 95% of trekking guides and high mountain guides are male. In the company I work for, there are eighty-two male guides, and I am the only female guide.
Sometimes I feel, not exactly dominated, but that people are not happy with me being there. But I always say, the mountain, Everest, does not care whether you are a man or a woman. There is one summit and I am working for the mountain, not the people. So I do not see what the people say as so important.
Now I am doing well, people respect me and they are proud of me that I am doing so well. But it took around six, seven, eight years to earn that respect.
And still there is a challenge around accidents. If the client of a male guide has an accident, they say 'oh that's the mountain, that's Everest', but if one of my clients has an accident, they say it's because of the female guide, that's why they had the accident. This is a big challenge for me.
#### Do you like working as a mountain guide?
Yes. At the moment I feel so blessed to be working as a mountain guide because I was born and raised in the Himalaya. I feel very blessed to be working here.
[](https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/dbpage.php?id=473446)
On the Cho La pass with clients Elise and Jo-jo from France
© Nuru Sherpa
When I was a young girl and herding yaks on the high Himalaya with my grandfather it was difficult to see five to ten people in a year. Now I am guiding people from all over the world! I feel so blessed. If I had not found climbing I am sure I would be living very far away, in another country somewhere, not in Nepal, and very far from away from nature and mountain.
#### What do you like about climbing and being in the mountains?
When I go to the mountain it feels like meditation. When I'm in Kathmandu, there are so many things, buying groceries, meeting someone, taking my daughter somewhere, many things, but when I go to the mountain there is only one responsibility: taking care of my client very well. That's it. So it's a meditation for me. There's not so many choices in the mountain. You can live life very simply.
One thing that I love about mountain, is that when we're in the city, or the gym, when we're training, we always push-push-push, but in the mountain, you can push yourself, but you can't push the mountain. You can't push nature. I love that the mountain makes the limit, you know, be grounded on the centre. When I go to the mountain I always go with respect. I always listen to what the mountain is saying.
#### **What do you call Everest? The mountain has several names, like Sagarmatha and Chomolungma.**
It depends. Because we are guides, if we are talking with Western people we say Everest, if we are talking with Nepali we say Sagarmatha. When we talk with Tibetan, or in our Himalayan culture, we say Chomolungma. For me, with a Tibetan background, we say Chomolungma. It means Mother Goddess.
[](https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/dbpage.php?id=473450)
Phunjo at Pumori High Camp. She climbed here from Basecamp everyday in training for her Everest speed ascent in 2024
© Nuru Sherpa
#### **And do you see the mountain as that – is the mountain the mother goddess to you?**
Yes. Not only in Nepal, but for people across the Himalayas, we see the mountains, not only Everest, as goddesses. All of them. All mountains. In my grandfather's time they did Puja for the mountain. We strongly believe in the goddess. The female god.
#### As a mother goddess, is she protective or dangerous, do you have to respect her?
I never feel danger. A lot of people say 'Oh Phunjo why are you climbing, Everest is so dangerous', but for me I feel more danger in the city. I don't feel danger in the mountain. In the mountain you go with respect, follow the process, and if you go with respect, I think the mountain will protect us. I feel really safe in the mountain.
#### What do you think about the commercialisation of Everest? So many people on the mountain?
I don't know if it's a problem or if we should be happy. We can manage with the people, some people say the government should limit the numbers of people, but if you do that, then you are controlling, and how do you decide who can and can't?
Everest is for everyone, and everyone has a right to go in the nature. For us as guides, people have to come with respect and preparation. That makes our life as a guide safe, and their own life safe, too.
#### What is happening with climate change and the changing weather in the Himalaya?
Guiding should get easier each year because you have more experience, but it is becoming harder because the weather is changing so much. Especially in the Khumbu Icefall. After you put on the crampons, there is a small river. In 2018, it was a very small river that you could hardly see. In 2024, the river was so big. We guides were worried and were saying if this river gets any bigger we will need to put a big bridge on the Khumbu Icefall.
Last year I was guiding and we did summit push on 12–13 May, and when we came down on 18 May, crossing this river was so difficult. It takes one hour, the river was so big.
The weather is changing a lot. The forecast might say tomorrow is good, clear sky and light wind, so everyone does summit push. But then that day the weather is completely different, it is snowing. So the weather is changing, the forecasts are not accurate.
[](https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/dbpage.php?id=473453)
Phunjo at Everest Camp 1 in 2025
© Dawa Jangbu Sherpa
#### What can we do to protect the mountain and the environment?
As Buddhists we pray and do religious things. Otherwise, so many things are out of our hands for the environment. The weather is out of our hands. Khumbu Icefall is melting so fast, and that is out of our hands, but we can take out the rubbish: that kind of thing is in our hands.
#### What do you tell your daughter about climbing?
I am an independent mother, I have one daughter, she is fourteen, and I always say, 'you have to be independent yourself because I am going to climb the mountain, I may come back, I may not'.
In 2019, I went on a K2 expedition, she was around seven or eight, and she said to me, 'OK mum you are going to K2, a dangerous mountain, you will come back or not, I just want to know, how much money you have in your bank account, do you owe anyone money or do they owe you?'
I replied, 'Oh you love me or my money?' But she says she just wants to know the reality. In Nepal our insurance is our community. We borrow and lend to each other. Now my daughter is very independent.
#### Does she want to be a climber like you?
Yes. Her dream, before she goes to university, is she wants to climb Mount Everest. In 2024, after my speed record, I called her from Basecamp, thinking she is my small child, I will tell her I have climbed Everest in less than 15 hours.
I called her and she said, 'Mum, you don't need to tell me, I got all the information from BBC, CNN, and Himalayan Times'. My twelve year old daughter reads the news! And she said, 'Mum, I will break your record'. I said, 'Are you sure?' and she said yes, 'but mum, I need your support. With your support, I am the one who will break your record'.
#### Will you support your daughter to climb Everest?
Yes. Lots of mountaineers and guides don't want to see their kids becoming a guide or mountaineer. I know my daughter won't be a guide, but I want to see her climb a mountain. I want her to know what her mother's job is like, and how hard it is when we go to the mountain. It is really important, she has to know.
Lots of parents don't share their hardships with their kids, but me, I share all the time. Good things, bad things, everything I share with her. She knows all my hard work. Because their life is just starting, if we don't share with them then they think it's easy. When children are young we provide everything for them – if they're hungry we give food, we provide clothes – and they think this is life, but actually parents are working so hard. They have to know.
#### What are your ambitions and dreams for the future?
I want my daughter to go to university and study and have the education that I never had. As a guide, to share the beautiful country of Nepal with people and to make them strong and happy, because my job as a guide is to make people happy. I also want to study and improve my English.
[](https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/dbpage.php?id=473454)
On the summit of Lobuche with client Angela from Australia
© Nawang Sherpa
#### **And do you have goals in the mountains?**
Next year, 2027, I want to attempt K2. Not only to reach the summit, but to set the speed record from basecamp to basecamp. I can't talk about this too much now before doing. I feel a bit embarrassed to share before I do it. Some people are very good at talking and telling the story before, but I like to share the story after. In Nepali culture, we feel very embarrassed if we talk a lot about something before doing it. As guides, we always say, less talk more action.
#### What message would you like to give to women?
When you get an opportunity, just do it. Everyone has their own everyday Mount Everest to climb.
Sometimes you need to walk away from your everyday Mount Everest and do some trekking or mountaineering, because mountain and nature will teach us how to face a challenge or a problem. After facing challenges like that, in our life, the small problems will feel like nothing.
UKC Articles and Gear Reviews by Anna Fleming
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### [Comments](https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/ukc/phunjo_lama_the_fastest_woman_on_everest-788780)
[French Erick](https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/ukc+ukh/phunjo_lama_the_fastest_woman_on_everest-788780?v=1#x10125947)
9 Mar
Well, that was incredibly inspiring ! She is my new idol figure: what a machine.
[Frank R.](https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/ukc+ukh/phunjo_lama_the_fastest_woman_on_everest-788780?v=1#x10126475)
12 Mar
Wow, UKC at its best. Loved it! Cheers to the article author and Phunjo Lama\!
[RX-78](https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/ukc+ukh/phunjo_lama_the_fastest_woman_on_everest-788780?v=1#x10126596)
12 Mar
Inspiring story, I love her thinking with regards to children. Best wishes to her daughter on breaking her mum's record.
[Add Comment](https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/ukc/phunjo_lama_the_fastest_woman_on_everest-788780?reply)
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| Readable Markdown | **Phunjo Lama is a high-altitude mountain guide from Nepal who is carving out a place in mountaineering history. She is the fastest woman in the world to climb Everest – a title she first claimed in 2018 and reclaimed in 2024. Before this, she was Nepal's first female long-line helicopter rescuer.**
For International Women's Day, Anna Fleming speaks with this remarkable woman about her landmark ascents of Everest and her extraordinary journey – from a yak herder in rural Nepal to a pioneering helicopter rescuer and elite high-altitude guide. She has achieved all of this while raising her daughter as a single mother.
[](https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/dbpage.php?id=473449)
Nearing the summit of Manaslu in 2017
© Phunjo Lama
We speak in English, Phunjo's fifth language, which she says she sometimes feels is harder than Mount Everest.
#### In 2018 you got the women's speed record for climbing Everest. Can you tell me more about that climb? How did you end up making such good time? Did you know you were making a record?
So 2018 was my first Everest climb. In 2015 I went on my first Everest expedition, but because of the earthquake I had to return back from Everest base camp. In 2018 I was guiding an Australian woman. We arrived into Everest base camp and did our training, acclimatised and were waiting for the good summit window.
One morning, my client and I were drinking coffee outside our tent in Everest base camp. We had been waiting for many days in base camp. And I was just looking up to Khumbu Icefall and Everest, and the view was very beautiful. And I just wondered, you know, if we climbed from base camp to summit with no need to stop, how many days would it take? So I said to my client, Sammy, 'What do you think if we climb from base camp to summit? With no stopping – how many hours would it take? Let's do it' I said. She was laughing and said, 'Phunjo, you can do it, but I could not. I'm not ready to do that'.
After that day, my client Sammy agreed, and she was encouraging me to do the speed record. She went up with another guide five days before me. Our plan was that we would have the same summit day.
I hired a guide for myself in Everest base camp. Many people said to me, Phunju, you are already a guide, why are you hiring another guide? I hired him for the Khumbu Icefall and because I would have to be alone all the way up the mountain. I can't go with other people because I have to go at a different time to the expedition groups to avoid the traffic jam. So if something happened to me, then the other person who went with me could say, 'Oh, she's dead here', or 'she fell here', 'she had an accident here', for the information. The second thing is I was doing the speed record. We needed some evidence that I really did it.
My goal was to summit within 20 hours, but I could not do it in that time, because firstly my colleague-guide could not keep up with my speed. It was not his fault – he had never trained for doing Everest at speed. I also didn't train for that, but I had some extra training because as a woman, I feel I always have to train extra because the work is so male dominated. That's why I always do with the training, and whatever I do, I always do a little bit extra. You know – extra and extra. So, he could not catch up with my speed. And the second bad thing is he fell in the Khumbu Icefall and I had to rescue him.
#### Eventful! He fell, and you rescued him – all within your record breaking speed ascent?
Yeah, I rescued him and we checked him over, he had no problems, he was fine. So after the rescue, we continued to climb. Then he had problems between Camp Four and the Summit. He said, 'I have this problem, a headache, and other things'. I told him, 'man, take it easy, this is just for a few hours, not for your lifetime'.
#### **How did you feel, summiting Everest in 2018?**
Before Everest, I had climbed Manaslu, Cho Oyu, Ama Dablam, and Island Peak, Lobuche and Mera Peak, so many times because I am a guide. I always summit with a happy feeling and enjoy it, but summiting Everest was not like that. This was not because of my physical state, or my mind, the mental side, but because of the teamwork. It was very difficult.
After all this, a year later, the Guinness Book of Records recognised me as the fastest woman to summit Mount Everest.
[](https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/dbpage.php?id=473451)
Phunjo in Kathmandu with her Guinness Book of Records certificate for 2018
© Bijiya Bar Srestha
But my goal was to summit in under 20 hours. The total in 2018 was 39 hours and 6 minutes basecamp to basecamp, so I was not happy with my timing and was not satisfied with my record. I always wondered if I could do it in under 20 hours or not, so then I was looking for sponsorship, because climbing Everest, and a project like this, costs a lot of money.
#### How did you feel when Tsang Yin Hung from Hong Kong beat your record in 2021?
I was so happy. A lot of people said 'Phunjo, you need to set another record because she broke your record', but I was so happy. I set that record because I want to see a lot of women in the Himalaya, in the mountain. When she broke my record it was great! After her Everest expedition, I wanted to hug her but because of Covid I couldn't meet her. It was a really happy moment for me.
#### What did you do differently when you climbed Everest in 2024?
In 2024, everything was so good. I got support from Himali brand and friends and family all over the world. The logistics and teamwork, everything was so good. In 2024 from basecamp to summit was 14 hours and 31 minutes. Basecamp to basecamp was 24 hours and 26 minutes and that record is the third fastest in the world.
This time I took two guides. One went with me from Basecamp to Camp 2 and the other was Camp 2 to summit. I changed the people and that worked really well. They were not tired.
Many people think that men are so strong, but sometimes I feel like, 'Oh, I'm stronger than men, in the mountain!' You know, I think we are doing okay in the mountains Anna.
#### Were you happy with this climb and time in 2024?
Still I feel I can do better than 2024. In 2024, the icefall route was 1 hour 34 longer than the previous time and I was stuck in the traffic jam for around 45 minutes on the Balcony. I can do better in a future year if I get the opportunity and sponsorship, but at the moment I am happy with my timing.
#### Will you go back to Everest?
Yes I am going this spring to guide.
#### Can you tell me about your background? Your mum died when you were very young and you were raised by your grandfather. What was your childhood like?
I come from Tsum valley on the border between Nepal and Tibet. Until 2008, the Tsum valley was a restricted area for foreign visitors. It is a non-violence valley, so we are not allowed to kill any animals.
When I was two years old my mum passed away. I don't know what my mum looks like, I don't know what she was like as a person, I don't know mother love, I don't know, I never got those kind of experiences. My grandfather raised me at 4,000–4,500 metres with the yaks. I always dreamed about going to school, but in Tsum there was no school.
When I was nine, my brother and I fell very sick. My brother could not survive, he passed away. He was ten or eleven. My grandfather was very sad and I asked him why he was so sad. He said he wanted to take both of us to hospital, but there was no hospital. After that my grandfather said to me, 'Phunjo, you are born and raised in the high Himalaya. It is a blessing, but for your bright future, you have to get an education and go to a bigger city'.
#### What did you want to be when you were older?
My dream was to become a Buddhist nun. \[She laughs.\] It's funny! In Tsum you can't dream of going to school and becoming a guide, doctor, engineer, pilot, because in my village young girls have very few choices. You could be yak herder, farmer, get married and take care of the house, or to go to the monastery and become a Buddhist nun. I thought becoming a Buddhist nun was the best option I had.
[](https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/dbpage.php?id=473455)
At Pumori High Camp, Phunjo is preparing for her 2024 speed ascent of Everest
© Nuru Sherpa
At thirteen years old, I got the opportunity to go to a bigger city. The city was Kathmandu. I walked from my village all the way down to the bus station. It takes fourteen days. And I carried a basket, of around twenty to twenty-five kilos, with everything I needed for fourteen days. My family had no money to pay for a tea house or hotel, so when we travelled somewhere, we took everything we need from our house. Blanket, food, spoon, plate, everything.
Now I realise it was camping! Real camping\!
I was thirteen and I walked with my village uncle and auntie. When we arrived at the bus station, I was so excited to see the bus. Because in my life I had never seen a bus, TV, electricity and all those kinds of things. I couldn't sleep all night, I was too excited to see the bus.
#### What happened when you got to Kathmandu? Did you go to school? It must have been a big change for a girl from the remote high mountains.
In Kathmandu I saw a whole new world and I changed my mind. I said to my brother, 'I don't want to go the monastery and be a Buddhist nun', so he said I had to go to Nepali language class because I didn't speak any Nepali. My first language is Tsumke, second is Tibetan. After a few months, my brother sent me to school. Going to school was one of the hardest times in my life. I started when I was fourteen and I had not done a single grade of education before. I only knew how to take care of fifty yaks\!
In my classroom, all the kids were very small and I was the biggest one. I looked like their teacher, but when those small kids spoke English and Nepali, it was so good. When I spoke English or Nepali, it was a disaster. Disaster! I was so embarrassed. I went for a few months but I didn't understand anything. So I quit school. I went to Nepali language class and then English language class, but I never went to school or university.
Becoming a city girl was very hard for me. My village culture was so different.
#### You became the first female long line helicopter rescuer in Nepal in 2014. How did you get into this work?
In 2013, a woman from my village had a problem in childbirth and she needed urgent helicopter rescue. Her sister called me to get a helicopter. She thought because I lived in Kathmandu, I knew everything but I honestly didn't know anyone with a helicopter! My brother helped me and the woman was rescued successfully. She survived and is raising a healthy boy.
That was when I met the helicopter pilot, who sadly died in 2015 in a helicopter accident during the earthquake. We became really good friends and he introduced me to helicopter long line training. First he said, 'Phunjo you should be a helicopter pilot because you are so strong and you can do everything yourself', but he didn't know my inside story. Maybe he thought I had been to university, but I don't have a single grade of education, he didn't know that.
So I said I'm not interested in being a pilot and he said, 'then why not be a helicopter long line rescuer?' So I did the training and started work. I really wanted to help the people in my village who live in such a difficult situation.
#### What was it like to be in the helicopter rescue industry as a woman?
There was both good and bad. Many people said 'this is a man job, not a woman job'. Some people said I was doing very well. It was difficult. A lot of people said 'this is very risky, it's a man's job'. It was kind of mixed.
But for me, I care about people but I don't care about what they say. I have to survive. I have to be happy and make enough money.
In the end, I didn't feel like I could survive on the helicopter long line rescue work. We only get paid when we do a rescue, and the long line rescue calls are rare. So then I changed to guiding.
[](https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/dbpage.php?id=473447)
On the Renjo-La pass with clients Elise and Jo-jo from France
© Nuru Sherpa
#### How did you get into climbing and guiding in the high mountain?
Through my work, I got to know many rescuers, who were not just rescuers, but they were also mountaineers who had climbed Everest many times. That was when I realised – wow – there is a mountaineering world also! I was born and raised in the high Himalaya, but my community does not practice mountaineering.
After meeting all these people, and needing more work, I trained and became a guide.
#### So you got into climbing and trained to become a guide because you needed to make enough money to survive?
Yes. It's not only me – I'm an independent mother and I have to make enough money to take care of my daughter. So that's why it is difficult and that's why I needed to change.
But I respect the helicopter rescue work, and I am who I am today because of the long line rescue. I still work for the helicopter company.
#### When did you become a guide?
I started mountaineering in 2015, when I was 25 years old.
#### Did you experience any challenges as a woman?
Yes there were so many challenges. It is not easy. In Nepal 95% of trekking guides and high mountain guides are male. In the company I work for, there are eighty-two male guides, and I am the only female guide.
Sometimes I feel, not exactly dominated, but that people are not happy with me being there. But I always say, the mountain, Everest, does not care whether you are a man or a woman. There is one summit and I am working for the mountain, not the people. So I do not see what the people say as so important.
Now I am doing well, people respect me and they are proud of me that I am doing so well. But it took around six, seven, eight years to earn that respect.
And still there is a challenge around accidents. If the client of a male guide has an accident, they say 'oh that's the mountain, that's Everest', but if one of my clients has an accident, they say it's because of the female guide, that's why they had the accident. This is a big challenge for me.
#### Do you like working as a mountain guide?
Yes. At the moment I feel so blessed to be working as a mountain guide because I was born and raised in the Himalaya. I feel very blessed to be working here.
[](https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/dbpage.php?id=473446)
On the Cho La pass with clients Elise and Jo-jo from France
© Nuru Sherpa
When I was a young girl and herding yaks on the high Himalaya with my grandfather it was difficult to see five to ten people in a year. Now I am guiding people from all over the world! I feel so blessed. If I had not found climbing I am sure I would be living very far away, in another country somewhere, not in Nepal, and very far from away from nature and mountain.
#### What do you like about climbing and being in the mountains?
When I go to the mountain it feels like meditation. When I'm in Kathmandu, there are so many things, buying groceries, meeting someone, taking my daughter somewhere, many things, but when I go to the mountain there is only one responsibility: taking care of my client very well. That's it. So it's a meditation for me. There's not so many choices in the mountain. You can live life very simply.
One thing that I love about mountain, is that when we're in the city, or the gym, when we're training, we always push-push-push, but in the mountain, you can push yourself, but you can't push the mountain. You can't push nature. I love that the mountain makes the limit, you know, be grounded on the centre. When I go to the mountain I always go with respect. I always listen to what the mountain is saying.
#### **What do you call Everest? The mountain has several names, like Sagarmatha and Chomolungma.**
It depends. Because we are guides, if we are talking with Western people we say Everest, if we are talking with Nepali we say Sagarmatha. When we talk with Tibetan, or in our Himalayan culture, we say Chomolungma. For me, with a Tibetan background, we say Chomolungma. It means Mother Goddess.
[](https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/dbpage.php?id=473450)
Phunjo at Pumori High Camp. She climbed here from Basecamp everyday in training for her Everest speed ascent in 2024
© Nuru Sherpa
#### **And do you see the mountain as that – is the mountain the mother goddess to you?**
Yes. Not only in Nepal, but for people across the Himalayas, we see the mountains, not only Everest, as goddesses. All of them. All mountains. In my grandfather's time they did Puja for the mountain. We strongly believe in the goddess. The female god.
#### As a mother goddess, is she protective or dangerous, do you have to respect her?
I never feel danger. A lot of people say 'Oh Phunjo why are you climbing, Everest is so dangerous', but for me I feel more danger in the city. I don't feel danger in the mountain. In the mountain you go with respect, follow the process, and if you go with respect, I think the mountain will protect us. I feel really safe in the mountain.
#### What do you think about the commercialisation of Everest? So many people on the mountain?
I don't know if it's a problem or if we should be happy. We can manage with the people, some people say the government should limit the numbers of people, but if you do that, then you are controlling, and how do you decide who can and can't?
Everest is for everyone, and everyone has a right to go in the nature. For us as guides, people have to come with respect and preparation. That makes our life as a guide safe, and their own life safe, too.
#### What is happening with climate change and the changing weather in the Himalaya?
Guiding should get easier each year because you have more experience, but it is becoming harder because the weather is changing so much. Especially in the Khumbu Icefall. After you put on the crampons, there is a small river. In 2018, it was a very small river that you could hardly see. In 2024, the river was so big. We guides were worried and were saying if this river gets any bigger we will need to put a big bridge on the Khumbu Icefall.
Last year I was guiding and we did summit push on 12–13 May, and when we came down on 18 May, crossing this river was so difficult. It takes one hour, the river was so big.
The weather is changing a lot. The forecast might say tomorrow is good, clear sky and light wind, so everyone does summit push. But then that day the weather is completely different, it is snowing. So the weather is changing, the forecasts are not accurate.
[](https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/dbpage.php?id=473453)
Phunjo at Everest Camp 1 in 2025
© Dawa Jangbu Sherpa
#### What can we do to protect the mountain and the environment?
As Buddhists we pray and do religious things. Otherwise, so many things are out of our hands for the environment. The weather is out of our hands. Khumbu Icefall is melting so fast, and that is out of our hands, but we can take out the rubbish: that kind of thing is in our hands.
#### What do you tell your daughter about climbing?
I am an independent mother, I have one daughter, she is fourteen, and I always say, 'you have to be independent yourself because I am going to climb the mountain, I may come back, I may not'.
In 2019, I went on a K2 expedition, she was around seven or eight, and she said to me, 'OK mum you are going to K2, a dangerous mountain, you will come back or not, I just want to know, how much money you have in your bank account, do you owe anyone money or do they owe you?'
I replied, 'Oh you love me or my money?' But she says she just wants to know the reality. In Nepal our insurance is our community. We borrow and lend to each other. Now my daughter is very independent.
#### Does she want to be a climber like you?
Yes. Her dream, before she goes to university, is she wants to climb Mount Everest. In 2024, after my speed record, I called her from Basecamp, thinking she is my small child, I will tell her I have climbed Everest in less than 15 hours.
I called her and she said, 'Mum, you don't need to tell me, I got all the information from BBC, CNN, and Himalayan Times'. My twelve year old daughter reads the news! And she said, 'Mum, I will break your record'. I said, 'Are you sure?' and she said yes, 'but mum, I need your support. With your support, I am the one who will break your record'.
#### Will you support your daughter to climb Everest?
Yes. Lots of mountaineers and guides don't want to see their kids becoming a guide or mountaineer. I know my daughter won't be a guide, but I want to see her climb a mountain. I want her to know what her mother's job is like, and how hard it is when we go to the mountain. It is really important, she has to know.
Lots of parents don't share their hardships with their kids, but me, I share all the time. Good things, bad things, everything I share with her. She knows all my hard work. Because their life is just starting, if we don't share with them then they think it's easy. When children are young we provide everything for them – if they're hungry we give food, we provide clothes – and they think this is life, but actually parents are working so hard. They have to know.
#### What are your ambitions and dreams for the future?
I want my daughter to go to university and study and have the education that I never had. As a guide, to share the beautiful country of Nepal with people and to make them strong and happy, because my job as a guide is to make people happy. I also want to study and improve my English.
[](https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/dbpage.php?id=473454)
On the summit of Lobuche with client Angela from Australia
© Nawang Sherpa
#### **And do you have goals in the mountains?**
Next year, 2027, I want to attempt K2. Not only to reach the summit, but to set the speed record from basecamp to basecamp. I can't talk about this too much now before doing. I feel a bit embarrassed to share before I do it. Some people are very good at talking and telling the story before, but I like to share the story after. In Nepali culture, we feel very embarrassed if we talk a lot about something before doing it. As guides, we always say, less talk more action.
#### What message would you like to give to women?
When you get an opportunity, just do it. Everyone has their own everyday Mount Everest to climb.
Sometimes you need to walk away from your everyday Mount Everest and do some trekking or mountaineering, because mountain and nature will teach us how to face a challenge or a problem. After facing challenges like that, in our life, the small problems will feel like nothing.
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