--- title: Woman with Most Everest Climbs: Lhakpa Sherpa description: Lhakpa Sherpa, a housekeeper in Hartford, Connecticut, holds the record for most Everest summits completed by a woman: 6. But up until Outside told her story, she went almost completely unnoticed. canonical: https://time.com/4329140/female-everest-climber-lhakpa-sherpa/ author: Megan Lasher article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-13T18:39:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:39:16.876Z og:title: Why You Probably Haven't Heard of the Woman Who Holds the Record for Most Mount Everest Ascents og:description: She’s summitted 6 times and is now a housekeeper in Connecticut og:url: https://time.com/4329140/female-everest-climber-lhakpa-sherpa/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd842370866fb1ec6/69889316f887dc571ce95d81/everest-success-female.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The mountain Mt. Everest (8848m) with a white cloud on top, og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why You Probably Haven't Heard of the Woman Who Holds the Record for Most Mount Everest Ascents twitter:description: She’s summitted 6 times and is now a housekeeper in Connecticut twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd842370866fb1ec6/69889316f887dc571ce95d81/everest-success-female.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why You Probably Haven't Heard of the Woman Who Holds the Record for Most Mount Everest Ascents by [Megan Lasher](https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/) ## Megan Lasher May 13, 2016 6:39 PM UTC  The mountain Mt. Everest (8848m) with a white cloud on top, seen from Gokyo Ri (5360m) at sunset. The mountain Mt. Everest (8848m) with a white cloud on top, seen from Gokyo Ri (5360m) at sunset.Frank Bienewald—LightRocket/Getty Images by [Megan Lasher](https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/) ## Megan Lasher May 13, 2016 6:39 PM UTC Lhakpa Sherpa, a housekeeper in Hartford, Conn., holds the record for most Everest summits completed by a woman: Six. But until [_Outside_ told her story](http://www.outsideonline.com/2078361/most-successful-female-everest-climber-all-time-housekeeper-hartford-connecticut) Tuesday, her accomplishments had gone largely unrecognized. “The Wikipedia page that catalogs Everest records contains listings as specific as ‘first twins to climb Mount Everest together,’ but there’s no mention of Lhakpa,” _Outside_ editor Grayson Schaffer writes in the article. “A 2013 [ESPN.com article](http://espn.go.com/espnw/athletes-life/article/9966961/espnw-melissa-arnot-conquered-mount-everest-five-times-american-hailed-hero-playing-peacemaker-mountain-slopes) on five-time Everest summiter Melissa Arnot mentioned Lhakpa as an aside, calling Arnot ‘either the most accomplished female Everest climber ever or the most accomplished non-Sherpa woman. (A Nepali named Lhakpa Sherpa is said to have from four to six Everest summits.)'” Schaffer brought attention to Lhakpa’s story by profiling her—and it’s already been shared more than 56,000 times, according to the site. The article delves into Lhakpa’s home and marital life, too: She and her ex-husband met after she first summited Everest in 2000, and they later climbed the mountain together.  Nepalese mountaineer Lakpa Sherpa during an interview with AFP in Kathmandu on Apr. 13, 2016. Prakash Mathema—AFP/Getty Images During one of their trips along the mountain, fellow climbers reported they witnessed domestic violence (Lhakpa said she was allegedly hit on the head). Lhakpa’s marriage ultimately ended in divorce, alleged death threats and custody battles. In the article, Schaffer also revisits Lhakpa’s early life in Asia as a tomboy among 12 children. “I am very different kind of girl,” she told him. “I have seven sisters, but my mama say I mostly look like a boy. ‘Whatever boy doing, you doing. You never doing girl things. Mostly you’re doing boy things.’” Lhakpa didn’t need to train for her Everest climbs, she told Schaffer, because she spent so much of her life doing manual labor. “She was born and raised above 13,000 feet and believes her strong will and genetics will get her to the top of the mountain, just as they have in the past,” Schaffer says of Lhakpa’s upcoming attempt at a seventh summit.”She has summited in fierce winds, in whiteouts and eight months after the birth of her first daughter. She went back up Everest when she was two months pregnant with her second child, a fact the younger daughter holds firmly over her big sister’s head.” “Even if she succeeds in nabbing her seventh summit, she’ll almost certainly return to housekeeping in a world that is slow to validate her accomplishments,” wrote Schaffer, who notes that she ultimately hopes to be the subject of a movie and that she “desperately wants to meet Oprah Winfrey.” Read[ the full profile of Lhakpa over at _Outsider_](http://www.outsideonline.com/2078361/most-successful-female-everest-climber-all-time-housekeeper-hartford-connecticut). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4329140/female-everest-climber-lhakpa-sherpa/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4329140/female-everest-climber-lhakpa-sherpa/"},"headline":"Why You Probably Haven't Heard of the Woman Who Holds the Record for Most Mount Everest Ascents","datePublished":"2016-05-13T18:39:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:39:16.876Z","description":"She’s summitted 6 times and is now a housekeeper in Connecticut","url":"https://time.com/4329140/female-everest-climber-lhakpa-sherpa/","keywords":["motto","News"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd842370866fb1ec6/69889316f887dc571ce95d81/everest-success-female.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan Lasher","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd842370866fb1ec6/69889316f887dc571ce95d81/everest-success-female.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The mountain Mt. 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