Born into a family of subsistence farmers in the tiny village of Arughat, Nepal, Purnima Shrestha thought that the mountains around her were out of reach. Her village is a stop on the Manaslu Circuit, en route to the eponymous 8,000-meter peak, but Shrestha鈥檚 family didn鈥檛 even have running water. As a woman, she was expected to marry young, raise children, and keep the house.
Shrestha decided early that this path wasn鈥檛 for her. First she broke from tradition by moving to Kathmandu at 16 to pursue her education. She stayed with relatives until she graduated from secondary school, then enrolled in college to study communications. Later she landed an internship with Hospitality, Food and Wine, kick-starting a career in publishing.
While covering the 2017 Everest Marathon, Shrestha became enthralled with the world鈥檚 highest summit. To her it represented a pinnacle of human achievement. 鈥淚n Nepal and around the world, everyone thinks of Everest when they think of mountains,鈥 she said. The 29,032-foot summit was an outsize goal for the daughter of poor farmers, but Shrestha took it a step at a time. 鈥淚n the beginning I had nothing,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 had no experience. No money. I wasn鈥檛 even athletic. I had no idea how strong my body was, but I wanted to try.鈥
So Shrestha took out some loans, started training, and committed herself to climbing. In the seven years since, she has summited eight of the world鈥檚 8,000-meter peaks. This year the 34-year-old became the first woman in history to summit Everest three times in a single season, between May 12 and May 25.
Shrestha didn鈥檛 set out to break records. Everest was just the highest, hardest goal she could imagine. 鈥淚 wanted to see what I was capable of,鈥 she said. After she summited once, she said, 鈥淎ll of my dreams centered on climbing it again. I prayed for a reason to go back.鈥
With her newfound visibility, Shrestha feels an obligation to be a beacon for change. Through her work, she has witnessed the problems facing her country鈥檚 mountaineering industry. Chief among them are the backbreaking labor Sherpa guides, porters, and other mountain workers undertake, along with the physical risks and scant benefits. 鈥淵ou can only do this job as long as your body allows,鈥 Shrestha said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 difficult, and there鈥檚 no security or insurance. This generation of mountain workers don鈥檛 want the next generations to get into the industry. It鈥檚 not sustainable.鈥 Shrestha says that she hopes the Nepalese government will consider providing insurance and other benefits, such as a retirement fund, for mountain workers.
Success isn鈥檛 guaranteed when it comes to the world鈥檚 highest peaks, where avalanches, storms, and altitude can stymie the most capacious lungs and ironclad wills, but 鈥渢he important thing is to try,鈥 said Shrestha, particularly as a female climber. 鈥淧eople always make women feel weak, and we internalize this. We convince ourselves we can鈥檛 do things, that we鈥檒l fail. I want to tell other women that there鈥檚 nothing that limits us.鈥