Kriti Mehrotra
Although Nepali mountaineer Lhakpa Sherpa has had more than her fair share of ups and downs in life, her care for her three children has always been utterly unwavering in every sense. It’s actually for them — for Nima Sherpa, Sunny Dijmărescu and Shiny Dijmărescu — that she has served as a cleaner and worked at Whole Foods while also pursuing her passion for climbing for most of her adult life. This much has actually even been explored in Netflix’s ‘Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa,’ which follows her journey of trying her best to build a better life for her loving kids.
Nima Sherpa Leads a Relatively Private Life These Days
It was reportedly back in the late 1990s that Nima was born as a result of a short relationship Lhakpa had while residing in Kathmandu, Nepal, unaware he’d betray her in the worst of ways. “He wasn’t faithful to me,” she once candidly stated, per the original production. “He hung around with other girls. He looked down on me because I grew up in the wrong [smaller] village.” She thus raised her son all by herself before also ensuring he received a green card to relocate to Hartford, Connecticut, for good once she settled there alongside her husband in the 2000s.
However, owing to the unfortunate domestic violence in the Dijmărescu household, it quickly became apparent Nima would primarily have to reside with an uncle nearby, and that’s what he did. He still managed to maintain a great connection with his mother plus younger sisters, though, resulting in him, in turn, feeling a sense of indescribable perpetual support as a science enthusiast. So, at 28, it appears as if the community college graduate is now based in New York, where he not only serves as an Auto Fleet Mechanic but also enjoys varied interests like sports, movies, etc. It was actually he who convinced Lhakpa to do this Netflix project upon carefully researching all of director Lucy Walker’s previous works.
Sunny Dijmărescu is a Hard-Working Hartford Native
As per the documentary, since Sunny was born in 2002 as the elder daughter of Lhakpa Sherpa and George Dijmărescu, unfortunately, she witnessed a lot of her father’s alleged domestic violence. In fact, it ostensibly extended to her too, particularly in the form of hair pulling as well as verbal nagging, which is why she even testified against him during custody hearings in the mid-2010s. Hence, her parents’ separation was incredibly hard on her, and the fact they never openly spoke of their traumas as a family also affected her a lot — she admittedly became closed off for a few years.
However, following Lhakpa’s tenth Mount Everest Summit in May 2022 and them revisiting their past to truly heal from it, as explored in the film, Sunny has seemingly been doing much better. In fact, this 2021 Conard High School graduate, who specialized in photo-video art, now understands her mother at a much deeper, loving level and even essentially serves as her manager. As if that’s not enough, this 22-year-old part-time Hostess at the Ichiro Japanese Restaurant in West Hartford is also preparing to climb mountains alongside her one day soon; it appears as if she wants to carry on Lhakpa’s legacy with her younger sister Shiny.
Shiny Dijmărescu is Still a High School Student
While Shiny purportedly had a much different personal equation with her father than her sister, half-brother, or mother, she can not deny that he was quite abusive, per the Netflix show. In fact, it was she who tried to protect Lhakpa in 2012 when he apparently lost his cool over alcohol during Sunny’s 10th birthday, which ultimately led to the mountaineer’s hospitalization plus the couple’s legal separation. In other words, this 17-year-old Conard High School student has always been quite protective of Lhakpa, a quality that has persisted till today, which is just part of why they often hike/climb different peaks together.
In fact, they recently conquered Mt. Washington, and it seems like they are preparing to climb Mt. Everest next, right alongside elder sister Sunny. The Sherpa-Dijmărescus truly are a tight-knit family today, with the children realizing the extent of Lhakpa’s struggles as a professional climber without any formal education, and thus, doing everything in their power to build her up, guide her, as well as simply support her.
