Pasang Lhamu
Women You Should Know
I’m going to post my voice note later this afternoon (available only to paid subscribers). I wanted to do one last night, but we were so exhausted after arriving in Namche (the world’s highest trading town!) that it was just dinner and bed for us. So much to reflect on! Tonight’s VN will probably also be slightly less EMOTIONAL (although I can never guarantee that.)
In the meantime, I wanted to share these photos from the Pasang Lhamu memorial that marks the start of the trek in Lukla and continues all the way to base camp. Pasang was the first Nepalese woman to reach the summit of Sagarmāthā/Everest. It was her fourth attempt, and she very sadly perished in poor weather on the descent. But she’s considered a Nepalese hero, and the memorial museum is a beautiful tribute to her.
Everything so far has been exhilarating and beautiful. I think one of the most powerful parts about my experience so far has been doing it with a group of 18 women. There have been so many wonderful conversations, so much laughter and so much generous and genuine support. I can see how lonely and challenging a trek of this nature would be if you were doing it without that level of solidarity and support.
To add to that, we have the most experience and generous guides leading us - Take On Nepal were the first trekking company in Nepal to train women to be guides, and they’ve really led the way in regards to pushing for change here. Som Tamang grew up in the mountains here, and a lot of the work Take On Nepal does is symbiotic with Som’s foundation, Friends of Himalayan Children. One of our lead trekking guides, Anil, was able to go to school because of FOHC - not only is he working as a lead guide, he’s also now President of the foundation and so, like Som, brings that direct experience and knowledge to the work done by Take On Nepal. It’s an incredible privilege to be able to walk with these guides, knowing they’re taking exceptional care of everyone and learning from them every day.
In my voice note, I’m going to talk a bit about the gender dynamics of hiking and the different energy that seems to exist in so many men taking on this challenge - especially those who refuse to pay for local guides because they believe they can (or even should) do it by themselves.
We’re acclimatising in Namche today. This morning, we ascended a further 400m high up to Hotel Everest to have a cup of tea and gaze at the Himalayas (albeit cloud covered) and now it’s lunch and exploring Namche Bazaar.
Photos to come! Wifi is bad right now.
Lunch now then off to explore the world’s highest trading town!
Clem x