The documentary feature film Pasang: In the Shadow of Everest brings to life the untold and inspiring story of Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to summit Mt. Everest who, in her quest, awakened her country to the entrenched inequalities confronted and endured by women and in Nepal.

As an uneducated, indigenous woman and a Buddhist in a Hindu kingdom, Pasang’s dream to scale the legendary mountain pit her against family, foreign climbers, her own government, and nature itself. The film follows Pasang as she works tirelessly to pull together the financial and structural support to try for Everest, and the ensuing obstacles and disappointments she had to face and overcome along the way. Her determined pursuit of Everest plays out within the context of her nation’s struggle for democracy and the emergence of a booming commercial climbing industry in the Himalaya. As told by the Nepalis who knew her, by some of the world’s most notable alpinists, and by Pasang herself, the film reveals the intransigence of the forces who opposed her, and the great burdens and personal costs she endured to gain her rightful chance to try for Everest.

On her fourth attempt at Everest in 1993, Pasang succeeded in reaching the peak, but her death on the mountain during her descent would shock and change her nation, sparking new movements among women and underrepresented people in Nepal to reach for their rights. The documentary probes the fault lines under the surface of the worlds in which Pasang had been laboring while simultaneously illuminating the high points of her legacy-- the scores of triumphant Nepali women mountain climbers who have carried her torch and since reached Everest’s peak.