People tend to fall into two camps when asked about Everest: those who want to climb it, whether that be a serious goal or more reflective of the lofty idea of grand adventure; and those who believe anyone who holds such thoughts is mentally unwell. Depending on which camp you belong to, the mountain’s name (its English one, at least) may conjure extreme beauty, danger, or a mixture of both. The summit of Everest is, quite literally, a realm of extremes, a physical representation of this particular binary. What drives individuals to leave the comfort of home, of the familiar, to venture into an actual Death Zone? For some, it’s the whisper of the unknown, a simple call to adventure with the promise of standing at the literal top of the world; for others, climbing Everest isn’t about survival but rather escape, a way to leave their mundane (or, in some ways, even more dangerous) daily lives for the lure of the impossible.
Just as Everest itself draws climbers to its slopes, the mountain’s mystique have proven to captivate filmmakers and audiences alike. The appeal of climbing documentaries at large lies in their attempt to capture an inexpressible thing about what raw human spirit looks like when pitted against nature’s most formidable challenges. These films offer a window into the motivations of those who seek out the world’s highest peaks, sharing their stories of ambition, resilience, and a quest for meaning. Through stunning visuals and compelling narratives, the best climbing documentaries allow viewers to experience the awe and danger of these adventures from the safety of their homes, while also probing the curious psychology of why climbers are drawn to these extreme endeavors.
Amid the lofty ambitions and life-threatening journeys surrounding Everest, the Sherpa people necessarily emerge. This community, whose history is intricately woven into the fabric of the mountain, holds lives that are entwined with her harsh yet majestic landscape. For generations, Sherpas have not only survived but thrived in the shadow of Chomolungma, the Tibetan name for Everest. They are the stewards of the “Goddess Mother of the World,” as they know the mountain, guiding both brave and foolhardy climbers with their unparalleled knowledge, skill, and fortitude. The Sherpas’ connection to Everest is profound, rooted in both their cultural heritage and their daily lives, offering a different dimension to viewers’ understanding of Everest narratives.
Lhakpa Sherpa embodies this profound connection, as well the duality of the peak’s allure. Growing up in the shadow of the mountain, she defied societal norms to prove that women could conquer Everest — and then she did it nine more times, more than any other woman. Despite her incredible achievements, Lhakpa’s day-to-day life is far removed from the glory of Everest’s peaks. In Connecticut, she works at a Whole Foods Market, which she compares to prison. An immigrant and a single mother — after enduring an abusive relationship with fellow climber Gheorge Dijmărescu, she now raises her daughters Sunny and Shiny alone — Lhakpa’s story is one of perseverance and strength, a blend of her heritage and her personal quest for meaning and escape. Her connection to Everest, shaped by her birthplace and culture, is spiritual and deeply personal, making her climbs not just feats of impressive ability and endurance, but acts of reclaiming a life and identity. She symbolizes the profound human capacity to overcome both natural and personal obstacles, continuously striving for the summit, literally and metaphorically, to give her and her daughters a better life.
And so, the appeal of Everest — the desire of viewers to experience its heights from their homes — and the story of Lhakpa coalesce here into an inspiring, breathtaking film. Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa captures Lhakpa’s extraordinary journey, the project possessed of both remarkable visual character and a compelling narrative structure. The stunning views of Everest captured during Lhakpa’s 10th climb are complemented by archival footage of her previous ascents. But this footage also features her ex-husband, the man who overshadowed her and abused her for so much of her life. Director Lucy Walker and her crew toggle between stunning on-the-snow-face footage of Lhakpa’s latest ascent, visual records of the past, and interview material where the film’s central figure recounts her life, rife with major achievements that are often understood to be overtaken by a toxic relationship. In this way, Mountain Queen balances the present and the past, moving between the challenges of Lhakpa’s current climb and those of her daily life, upbringing, early climbs, and marriage. It all works wonderfully to underscore this particular woman’s resilience and determination to prove herself as an adventurer, single woman, and mother.
That nature of the film’s material and its inspo-doc sheen can mean that Mountain Queen sometimes borders on the overly saccharine, leaning a bit too heavily into the most emotional aspects of Lhakpa’s story from time to time. While Walker is never shy about the fact that her film’s clear goal is to inspire, this approach nonetheless can occasionally risk overshadowing the raw, unfiltered reality and viscerality of Lhakpa’s experiences. Thankfully, these moments of slippage are mostly minor, and Walker otherwise manages to remain journalistic in her approach, allowing Lhakpa’s own words to carry the film through and imbuing the narrative with an organic rhythm.
Ultimately, and most interestingly, then, Mountain Queen functions to illustrate how those two camps — which see Everest as either danger or adventure, not both — are actually more intertwined than those on either side might believe. For Lhakpa, Everest is not just a distant, dangerous, or even metaphorical peak, but a place of real spiritual significance and personal redemption, outside of narrative function. Her story reveals the ways that the drive to conquer the world’s highest mountain and the struggle to navigate daily life aren’t always far apart things in one’s psyche. Mountain Queen goes beyond either a simple glimpse into the majestic world of Everest or an intimate story of tenacity to realize a more roundly probing and profoundly empathetic portrait of the human spirit’s capacity to endure and overcome.
DIRECTOR: Lucy Walker; CAST: Lhakpa Sherpa; DISTRIBUTOR: Netflix; IN THEATERS: July 26; STREAMING: July 31; RUNTIME: 1 hr. 45 min.
