Meet Anshu Jamsenpa: First woman to summit Mount Everest twice in 5 days
The 38-year-old mother of two broke a world record becoming the first woman to conquer the 8,848 meter Himalayan giant twice in five days.
(Web Desk) – An Indian woman has made headlines across the world by becoming the first woman to conquer Mount Everest twice in five days.
Anshu Jamsenpa, a 38-year-old mother of two scaled Mount Everest five times all from the South Col route on the Nepalese side of the largest peak in the world – an incredible feat for any mountaineer.
According to CNN, Jamsenpa broke a world record this year becoming the first woman to conquer the 29, 028-feet-tall (8,848 meter) Himalayan giant twice in five days - first on May 16, and then again on May 21.
Despite suffering from the effects of a malfunctioning oxygen mask, Jamsenpa managed to break her own record with her double ascent in 2017. Photo: CNN
Amazingly, this wasn’t the first time she scaled twice on a single trip.
The mountaineer in 2011 summited the tallest mountain in the world on May 12 and May 21. She subsequently made a single summit in 2013.
She attributes her achievements of climbing Everest to her strong faith. "I always think that I am very close to God, I am getting a blessing," Jamsenpa stated emotionally while on the mountain. "I only feel that whenever I am at the top."
Jamsenpa was born in Dirang, a remote mountain town in northern part of India which borders Bhutan and Tibet. She states that living in a small town has many advantages, “you’re surrounded by nature” referring to a nearby Bomdila where she moved to as a child. However, Jamsenpa explains that the area lacks opportunities and exposure from the outside world.
Jamsenpa says she always knew she was different from her siblings. Her father was Indo Tibetan Border Police officer and her mother was a nurse.
"When I was small, my family used to watch TV in one room, and I would go to another room, sit quietly, draw the curtains and listen to music. I used to think differently."
Jamsenpa grew up dreaming of becoming a journalist but she didn’t attend university. She met her future husband when she was only 16 and fate steered her down a different path. In 2000, when Jamsenpa was 21, she got married.
It was her husband’s entrepreneurial spirit that pushed Jamsenpa towards Everest. Jamsenpa’s husband Wange founded a travel agency that organised trekking expeditions in Northern India and Bhutan, called Himalayan Holidays.
After her second pregnancy Jamsenpa in 2003 began working full-time with her husband’s travel business.
"When I started doing the accounting, I realised he was running the business at a loss," she says. "He was a workaholic, he just had to work -- but he never maintained the accounts."
Wange despite being the president of All Arunachal Pradesh Mountaineering and Adventure Sports Association, never had the opportunity to scale mountains himself, but his wife Jamsenpa was hands-on.
Jamsenpa trained for two years before her first attempt at climbing the Everest. Photo: CNN
Jamsenpa started taking clients on trekking and river-crossing expeditions around the Himalayas. It was during these expeditions when a customer suggested her to train professionally.
"He told me: You have the courage, and your fitness (level) is also very good…so why don t you go for a professional course?
"After that, I immediately I went for an advanced adventure course. Once I started, I never looked back."
After rigorous training Jamsenpa joined a group of nine climbers which were heading to Everest.
"Everything happened at the last moment. I didn t have much time to prepare for this expedition, because I was working on (getting) sponsorship," she says. "I reached base camp and couldn t register in my mind that I had actually planned to climb Everest."
The biggest challenge for Jamsenpa was leaving behind her two daughters who were 5 and 10 years old.
"(Leaving them) was the hardest part ... What I decided was this was a time, in my absence, for them to bond with their father."
Her expedition of 2011 didn’t get her in the record books. In 2014, she attempted another double ascent - but the devastating avalanche in April that year, which claimed the lives of 16 sherpas, ended the climbing season.
In 2015, the Nepal earthquake thwarted her ambition.
Jamsenpa finally succeeded her expedition this year, describing the experience as "the most beautiful moment in my whole life."
On April 4 she began her journey and in a month’s time on May 16 she unfurled the Indian flag atop Everest.
She began her second climb after three days and on May 21 Jamsenpa safely achieved her dream: she broke the record for the fastest double ascent of Everest by a woman in just five days.
"This year, I found it more difficult, because the weather was very bad," she says. "And there were so many people there - there was traffic."
Jamsenpa and her husband travel frequently -- although they still have a base in Bomdila, India. Photo: CNN
It didn t help that during her first summit this year she had issues with her oxygen mask: "I ended up losing a lot of energy."
Jamsenpa has faced much criticism as a mother and a wife for undertaking such a risky path."(People) used to tell me: Why are you wasting your money, time and energy?’” she says. "(They were) telling my husband: Why did you allow your wife to go? She might leave you! "
