PBS News

Female feat: Nepalese climbers celebrate peak performance

A team of women in Nepal has achieved a mountaineering first, scaling seven of the world’s highest peaks on seven continents.

Their aim was to show other women in Nepal that climbing isn’t just a sport for men, so they set out on the quest in 2008, starting with Mount Everest in their own backyard. Their goal was realized in late December when four of the women made it to the top of Mount Vinson in Antarctica.

Today, the team returned home to a hero’s welcome.

ESPN Coverage

After The Seven Summits

“People said we were too ordinary and Everest too extraordinary,” Shailee says. “We knew Everest would not grow a new path for us because we’re short or because we were inexperienced. We had to be as good as the goal demanded us to be.”

On Toastmasters International Magazine Cover

Reaching Higher After Everest

Basnet’s story, rather, is of a dynamic speaker who, through hard work, became even better, a sentiment echoed by those who’ve watched her grow. Richard Ragan is a United Nations diplomat who supported the First Inclusive Women Sagarmatha Expedition. He says, “I’ve put her in a movie, given speeches standing beside her, and watched her stand in front of scores of people and talk passionately about her dreams and accomplishments. I’ve seen her grow from being good to great. She is a natural leader and someone who is going to achieve tremendous things throughout her lifetime.”

On The BBC Outlook

The Nepalese Women Conquering the World’s Highest Peaks

A Nepalese climbing team has become the first female team to conquer the highest mountains on all seven continents. Team leader Shailee Basnet talks about the physical and emotional challenges.

ESPN 

After climbing the Seven Summits, Shailee Basnet is conquering the eighth: New York’s comedy scene

“It’s all happened so fast,” says Basnet, who came to New York this June to take a six-week comedy class and was prepared to fly home to Kathmandu at the end of August. “It’s New York. You don’t get a break like this.” She has yet to book a return flight.

“Tonight, she’s performing with three guys I think are some of the best in the industry, on a Friday in prime time,” says Julius Donat, the club’s producer. “…it’s big.”

United Nations News

UN-backed team celebrates International Women’s Day atop Mount Kilimanjaro

An all-female climbing team supported by the United Nations today reached the summit of Africa’s tallest mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania, in celebration of International Women’s Day, which will be observed on 8 March.