The Nepal Woman Hero

The Nepali photojournalist from Arughat, Gorkha, became the first woman on record to summit Mount Everest three times in a single climbing season. She reached the 8,848.86-meter summit on May 12, May 19, and May 25, 2024—a feat later recognized by Guinness World Records.

What makes her journey especially interesting is that Purnima never grew up expecting to become a mountaineer.

She was already working as a photojournalist when a 2017 assignment took her to Everest Base Camp to photograph the Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon. She actually became ill from the altitude after flying directly to base camp...