KATHMANDU, Nepal -- Call her the "Slurpee Sherpa." A convenience store worker from West Hartford, Conn., scaled Mount Everest on May 20 for a seventh time, breaking her own record as the most successful female climber of the world's highest peak.
Lhakpa Sherpa was among 18 climbers who reached the peak Friday morning from the northern side in Tibet, Rajeeb Shrestha of the 7 Summits Adventure agency based in Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, told The Associated Press.
She climbed Everest six times between 2000 and 2006 before moving to the United States, where she is a permanent resident. She has a son and two daughters and works as a cashier at a West Hartford 7-Eleven.
“Climbing a mountain like Everest is a huge accomplishment," a 7-Eleven spokesperson told CSP Daily News. "Congratulations, Lhakpa Sherpa.”
Sherpa, 42, was born in Nepal and took up mountaineering as a profession. Her brother Mingma Gelu has already climbed Everest eight times, and her sister Ming Kipa was once the youngest female Everest climber.
Favorable weather has allowed hundreds of climbers to scale the 29,035-foot mountain since last week. More than 330 climbers reached the summit from Nepal since May 11. Several more climbers have done the same from northern routes in Tibet.
Sherpa as a surname appears to be the result of the Nepalese government census takers. Last names are not part of the Sherpa ethnic group's culture. The census takers wrote the word on forms in the space for last name. Sherpas are highly regarded as elite mountaineers and experts in their local area. The term is often used by foreigners to refer to almost any guide, climbing supporter or porter hired for mountaineering expeditions in the Himalayas, regardless of their ethnicity.
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