Courtesy of Netflix
Now based in West Hartford, Connecticut, with her two daughters, Sherpa has lived a double life of sorts since she moved to the US at 28.
Whenever she could go back to Nepal, she guided expeditions alongside her brother and then-husband.
But it wasn’t enough to make ends meet. As a Nepalese citizen, Sherpa has to pay only a fraction of the $11,000 foreigners are required to spend on Everest climbing permits.
Even though she thinks mountain guides are compensated fairly, Sherpa said that income had never been enough to sustain her and her kids. She always had additional jobs, like working at Whole Foods.
All along, the documentary reveals, she was battling abuse by her ex-husband.
These days, Sherpa told BI, she cleans houses for “rich people,” some of whom may only now realize what the woman mopping their floors is capable of.
But Sherpa said she doesn’t mind when people don’t recognize her for her climbing feats. She didn’t summit Everest for fame, but to challenge herself and others not to give up.
“Follow the dream,” she said. “You can reach your mountain.”
Sherpa defied the odds to climb Everest 10 times
Sherpa was born in a Nepalese village in the 1970s, when the idea of a woman climbing Everest was unheard of. (Most Sherpas have the last name Sherpa.)
She got her first mountaineering job — as a porter carrying hundreds of pounds of climbing equipment to base camp — because she chopped off her hair and pretended to be a boy.
Her family didn’t approve, but Sherpa fell in love with the mountain.
Courtesy of Netflix
Sherpa and Dijmarescu, who was also a climber, met in Kathmandu in 2000. When the relationship became romantic, she moved to Connecticut, where they married and had daughters Sunny, now 22, and Shiny, 17.
In the film, Sherpa said Dijmarescu became physically aggressive during their marriage, making her feel like a “house sherpa” who only cooked, cleaned, and looked after the kids.
After a particularly violent episode in 2011, when Dijmarescu beat Sherpa to the point she needed to be taken to the hospital, she gathered the courage to leave him for good.
Matthew Irving/Courtesy of Netflix
A year later, Sherpa’s goals have changed again.
While she isn’t ruling out returning to Everest — perhaps accompanied by her daughters — she’s keen to explore mountains within the US.
She dreams of being a full-time climbing guide and working with kids, who she believes would benefit from less time on their phones and more time outdoors.
But doing that, on top of rent and saving to put her girls through college, requires money.
The documentary about her on the world’s largest streaming platform will, Sherpa thinks, help with that part.
Just as she’s helped people avoid death on Everest, Sherpa said, she hopes her story will reach people who might be able to assist during her own time of need.