Dawa Yangzum: Breaking barriers and becoming the first IFMGA female international mountain guide in Nepal

Dawa Yangzum Sherpa is one of the few IFMGA-certified female mountain guides in Nepal. Photo credit: Shankar Giri

When Dawa Yangzum Sherpa told her family that she wanted to be a mountaineer, everyone thought it was a joke. Although many men in her village went on Everest expeditions, it was too far-fetched for her, a woman, to even think about.

She was told by her family to stay at home, grow potatoes, collect cow dung, and help her parents with farm work. Yangzong said: "Life is too monotonous. I feel like I am trapped in a circle, and I want to get out."

In order not to be trapped in this circle, she left when she was 13 years old She left her village and since then, she has never looked back. Over the past 17 years, she has made quite a name for herself. Dawa Yangzong fulfilled her lifelong dream of climbing Mount Everest, leading an international expedition and becoming the first internationally recognized (IFMGA) female mountain guide in South Asia. In 2019, she also joined the North Face Group as an athlete and climbed with legends such as Conrad Anker.

Now, Dawa Yangzum hopes to pave the way for a younger generation of female climbers, those from remote areas of Nepal, who will no longer experience the problems she experienced.

"I will do whatever I can to help these girls," she said.

Dawa Yangzong climbed Mount Everest for the first time with National Geographic magazine and the North Face Group. Picture source: Dawa Yangzong

Dawa Yangzong was born in Na, a small village in the Ruowaling Valley of Nepal. At the age of 6, she moved to Kathmandu, where she spent her childhood with her uncle. However, when she was 10 years old, due to unavoidable factors, she returned to Nacun.

She has been very curious since she was a child. After living in Kathmandu, country life became too primitive for her. She wanted to escape, play, and travel, but the mountain village was surrounded by mountains. She had nowhere to go and only housework at hand.

"Growing up in Nacun, I started to hate the mountains. We had no running water or electricity. Life was so boring and I wanted an adventure."

Finally this Adventure occurs. At that time, a hiking team was heading to the Khumbu Mountains via the Tashi Lapcha Pass, and they needed a porter. Dawa Yangzum said she could be a porter, then lied to her parents and left to join the team.

Although she is young, she is very strong, and rural life has given her good training opportunities. However, hiking in mountains above 5,000 meters is not easy, and she also suffered from mild altitude sickness. This time she earned enough money to leave her village and buy a ticket to Kathmandu.

In Kathmandu, she lives with her cousins. She went to school but soon dropped out because she had no interest in school life. She saw how respected and admired trekking guides were, and she made up her mind to become a trekking guide. She knew she needed to improve her communication skills, and to do so, she took English classes.

Dawa Yangzong got her first chance at the age of 18, when she was assigned to her first hiking group, a team from France.

"It's great to hike with a group. My friends call me sardar (leader). They are impressed with what I can do."

But, she longs for it More. She started running cross country. Then she realized that the future of trail running was pretty slim, and after that she stopped trail running and continued working as a hiking guide.

"After a while, being a hiking guide became a bit boring, because I knew many people who liked mountaineering, so I started to take mountaineering courses."

Dawa· Yangzong once served as a national park ranger in Mount Rainier in the United States. Photo source: Dawa Yangzong

Dawa Yangzong first received training from the Nepal Mountaineering Association in 2009. In 2010 she discovered Khumbu Climbing Center and joined their ice climbing and rock climbing training. There she caught the attention of KCC founder, adventurer Conrad Anker. He asked her if she would be interested in climbing Everest with members of the North Face and National Geographic teams. Since she was a child, she had dreamed of climbing Mount Everest, so she accepted the offer without hesitation.

In the spring of 2012, Dawa Yangzong and the mountaineering team easily reached the summit, and this job also made her the first pot of gold in her life. "I didn't know who they were. To me, they were just customers who paid me to climb Everest. But then I learned how great they were."

Although Everest is tough, But it's not that intimidating. Dawa Yangzum had previously climbed mountains like Amma Dablam as a training ground. But Everest gave her a different perspective. She is one of the few Nepali women to reach the summit of Mount Everest. This also inspired her to want to be the best female climber in Nepal and decided to start her journey to become a mountain guide.

"I make more than my friends who are nurses. They would tell me to invest the money in gold or stocks, but I decided to invest the money in myself to become a better mountain climber ”

After climbing Mount Everest, Dawa Yangzong traveled to the United States to work with rangers on Mount Rainier. There, she learned about IFMGA and why people pay thousands of dollars to take the course.

"It's obvious, I just want to train."

Dawa Yangzong's daily training. Picture source: Mingma G

In 2013, she participated in the first part of the training. But while climbing Langshisha Ri, Dawa Yangzong made a mistake that left her devastated. She is taking the final exam for her course, which is part of her IFMGA training. She was climbing to the top with her client and everything was going great.

"I am very nervous because if I pass this exam, it means that I need to pass another exam to become the first IFMGA-certified female international mountain guide in Nepal."

However, fate had other plans. She almost failed because she left her ice ax on the top of the mountain, which was a huge penalty point.

"I was very angry, it was very frustrating."

A disappointed Dawa Yangzong knew she had to go back. But, before that, she had other plans - Savage Giant Peak K2. Although people advised her not to go, she climbed K2 with Pasang Lamu Sherpa Akita and Maya Sherpa, who became the first all-female team to summit K2 in the summer of 2014 Team.

Climbing K2 gave Dawa Yangzum new energy and made her more hopeful to complete the IFMGA course and become the first internationally recognized female mountain guide in Nepal. In the fall, she completed the test she had failed before. However, in order to complete the entire course, she still needed to take a 21-day final exam.

In 2015, she spent most of her time in the United States, constantly changing jobs to pay for her tuition. At this point, she was far away from climbing a mountain, but the climber deep inside her didn't let her give up.

“I could have given up like most people do. But, I still wanted to achieve more.

”

In 2015, she heard that Alpine Ascens International, a Seattle-based adventure agency, was hiring mountain guides, so she applied for their audition. Although she screwed up a few times , the company gave her the job anyway, and she has been working with them ever since.

However, Dawa Yangzong still had to complete her final training at IFMGA, which she completed in 2017. All classes, finally making history

“I’m so excited that all the struggle and hard work has paid off. ”

She has been working as a guide on the mountain since then. In 2019, she climbed Makalu, becoming the first Nepalese woman to climb the world’s fifth highest mountain. In the same year, she joined the The North Face Group and going on adventures with the group

“Life is good right now. But getting to this point wasn't easy. ”

This spring, Dawa Yangzong joined the Imagine Nepal team and climbed Annapurna without oxygen with Mingma G. Later, she climbed Dhaulagiri and Lhotse.

This fall, she climbed the true summit of Manaslu with Mingma G, setting a women’s speed record in the process, all while skiing last year. Completed despite a cruciate ligament injury.

Dawa Yangzong (middle blue-purple hat) and the Imagine Nepal team at the Annapurna Summit. p> Photos of the team celebrating after Dawa Yangzong reached the summit of Lhotse Peak

On September 27, 2021, Mingma G (left), Kili Pemba (middle) and Dawa Yangzong (right). ) on the true summit of Manaslu.

Now, Dawa Yangzong wants to help more female climbers. Recently, she took the girls to Yalung Ri Peak in Ruowa Ridge. Climbing.

Dawa Yangzong and the girls she wants to help climb Yalung Ri. Photo credit: Dawa Yangzong

“I want these girls to know. Where I come from. I want to give them hope that if a guy like me from a remote mountain village can accomplish something like this, they can too. "

Dawa Yangzong said she has been helping poor girls and hopes to use the funds she received from the North Face Group and other sponsors to help them.

"I I have received help from many people and now I want to give back to society. ”