Reaching New Heights

Dawa Yangzum Sherpa, a Rolex Testimonee and pioneering Nepali mountaineer, shares how she is empowering other female climbers in a male-dominated community.

- WINDY AULIA

Growing up in Nepal's G rural village 4,200m above sea level and surrounded by the country's iconic mountains, Dawa Yangzum was not expected to follow in the footsteps of 70 notable male mountaineers who have come from the region. However, in 2012, at just 21 years of age, she scaled the highest summit on earth, Mount Everest. And by the age of 27, she became the first Nepali woman to earn mountaineering's most elite title, the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations (IFMGA) certification.