[2] In 2016, she was named National Geographic's People’s Choice Adventurer of the Year,[3][4] and was presented with the 45th International Alpine Solidarity Award in Pinzolo, Italy.
[1] After the April 2015 Nepal earthquake, she worked in the relief efforts, distributing blankets, helping make shelters for people that the earthquake had left homeless,[3] organizing temporary medical facilities,[5] coordinating relief convoys, and preventing trafficking of victims.
[3] She has also earned a diploma in mountaineering from the École nationale du ski et de l’alpinisme [fr] (ENSA) in Chamonix.
[14] She was given her full name after the earlier Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to climb Everest, whom she takes as a role model.
[8] The surname Akita comes from her husband, a Nepali physical therapist of Japanese descent whom she met while recovering from a climbing hip injury and married in 2010.