On Thursday evening, Aug. 13, Paepcke Auditorium in Aspen will host an extraordinary event: “Summit of Hope: An Evening with Lhakpa Sherpa,” featuring the world-renowned mountaineer.
In 2000, Lhakpa was the first Nepali woman to successfully summit and return from Mount Everest. She has subsequently climbed the mountain numerous times, completing her 11th ascent — the most by any woman — this past May. She is also the survivor of domestic abuse, which she credits with furthering her resolve to pursue climbing and other challenges.
The event is being sponsored by the nonprofit Response, which serves survivors of domestic and sexual abuse in the Roaring Fork Valley and surrounding communities. Founded in 1983, the organization offers a variety of programs and includes a new secure shelter at its Basalt headquarters that can accommodate up to nine adults and 15 children at a time.
“Summit of Hope is an opportunity for our community to hear directly from a world-class athlete and survivor,” said Shannon Meyer, Response’s executive director, in a press release. She continued, “Lhakpa Sherpa’s story is not only inspiring because of what she accomplished on Mount Everest, but because of the resilience and strength she showed in rebuilding her life after abuse.”
Lhakpa Sherpa
Lhakpa Sherpa was born in 1973 in Makalu, in the Himalayas of northeastern Nepal, the middle sibling of 11 children. Her love of climbing began early, and by her teens she was accompanying her father as a porter on expeditions in the region’s high peaks — even though Sherpa women traditionally did not climb. Back then, they also did not go to school. She still is unable to read.
On May 18, 2000, Lhakpa completed her first summit of Everest; another Nepali woman had reached the top several years earlier but had perished during the descent. Working as a guide, she continued to climb until 2006, each time breaking her own record for the most ascents by a woman. She then took a nearly 10-year break from climbing.
Lhakpa met Romanian-American climber Gheorghe (George) Dijmărescu in 2000. The couple married two years later and moved to Connecticut. There they had two daughters, but the relationship became strained, with Dijmărescu becoming increasingly abusive. They finally separated in 2012 and divorced two years later. Dijmărescu died in 2020.
During her climbing hiatus while raising her children in Connecticut, Lhakpa worked a number of basic jobs to support her family, including cleaning houses and dishwashing at a Whole Foods store. By 2015, however, she was ready to return to mountaineering, summiting Everest five more times between 2016 and this year — each, again, another record.
She also successfully scaled K2 in 2023, which she said was her “proudest accomplishment,” as quoted in Response’s July 2026 newsletter. She continued, “K2 is an extremely difficult and technical mountain, and getting to the top felt like I graduated in the sport of mountaineering.”
The documentary
Lhakpa was approached by British documentary filmmaker Lucy Walker to profile her mountaineering and personal life, including her 10th summit of Everest in 2022. She agreed to the project but was initially reluctant to delve into her difficult private life with Dijmărescu, especially when it came to light that video and photographs existed of a particularly brutal assault by Dijmărescu when the two of them were on an Everest expedition in 2004.
However, at the urging of her children, she agreed to include that painful period in the film. As they said to the BBC in 2024, “The struggle we have been through as a family, and how we have used it to strengthen not weaken us, is such a crucial part of our mother’s story.” And, indeed, it became one of the most poignant aspects of the documentary.
The film, “Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa,” was released for festival viewing in 2023 and on Netflix in 2024. Response’s Meyer, who had trekked in Nepal, watched the film. She realized, “It’s not only a story about mountaineering and mountains; it’s about survivorship,” and contacted Lhakpa about speaking here.
She continued, “This is a perfect fit for our Valley and our nonprofit, because, obviously [the] mission connection, because she is a survivor, but … what a great way to get people into a conversation that’s about being a survivor of domestic violence in the context of someone who does amazing cool things in the world of mountains.”
As Lhakpa said to Response, “The mountains taught me the meaning of strength and endurance. I have hurt a lot throughout my life, and the mountains helped me persevere through everything. They taught me to work very hard and to never give up.” And to the Valley, she added, “My message to people is that everyone hurts one way or another. Try your best to stay healthy, stay happy and go outside into nature to heal your soul.”
The Summit of Hope program will kick off by screening the documentary, followed by a conversation with Lhakpa Sherpa and moderators Meyer and Alison Osius. The doors open at 6pm, with the event beginning at 6:30pm.
For more information on Summit of Hope and the Response organization and its mission, visit responsehelps.org