 Hi
Top Women
Yes, that's me on the summit of Aconcagua. I know
- what a dork. I don't have many photos of real women
climbers, so I
thought I'd attach a really bad one of me. BTW,
Excedrin is the only
high altitude headache medication that's worked every
time within minutes (for me). LOVE IT. Moving on...
Most people have heard about famous male
climbers but very few have heard about female
mountain climbers. Two of my personal favorites
are Alison Hargreaves of the UK and
Wanda Rutkiewicz
of Poland. They were not just great female
climbers; they were great climbers.
In
1995,
Alison Hargreaves
(British) was the first woman to climb Everest
unsupported by oxygen and Sherpas. Just three
months later, she and others died in a huge wind storm
while descending from the summit of
K2. Hargreaves, wife and
mother of two, was unfairly accused of being irresponsible to
attempt life-threatening climbs, igniting a controversy
that likely made her death even harder on her family.
Alison Hargreaves' solo climbs in the Alps were amazing
to say the least. I had never heard of her until my friend
mentioned that he got to know her while climbing the
north side of Everest in 1995. He said she was a
very warm and likeable person, and talked about her with
such respect and admiration (and sadness) that I decided
to learn about her. So I read
Regions of the Heart
(David Rose, Ed Douglas) and could not put it down. Her story should be a movie...Clint Eastwood?
In 1978,
Wanda Rutkiewicz became the first
Polish woman and third woman in the world to reach the
summit of Mount Everest. She was the first woman
to climb K2 (and live) in 1986. Between 1985 and 1991
she climbed eight of the summits over 8,000 meters. She
died during an expedition to Kanchenjunga in 1992. Born
in 1943, Wanda Rutkiewicz was a climber in the early years when very
few women were even allowed to join expeditions, making
her accomplishments that much more remarkable. For
more information, read
Wanda
Rutkiewicz: A Caravan of Dreams (Gertrude Reinisch).
See
8000 Meter Peaks for a list of the fourteen
highest mountains in the world. A woman has not
yet reached the summit of all fourteen peaks. Gerlinde
Kaltenbrunner (Austria) has summited eleven (she has
Everest, K2 and Lhotse left). Nives Meroi (Italy)
has summited ten (she has Kanchenjunga, Makalu, Manaslu
and Annapurna left). Edurne Pasaban
(Basque Country) has summited ten (she has Kanchenjunga, Manaslu, Annapurna and Shishapangma left).
Nives and
Edurne both reached the summit of Manaslu in Oct 2008,
so they all have three left.
There is so much more to say about these climbers
that simply leaving a peak "to-do" list seems unfair and
ridiculous (even though, pretty much everyone, including
them, keeps these lists) but I did it anyway, in the hopes that I will
add more meaningful information later. I believe Gerlinde and Nives
climbed all peaks without using supplemental oxygen (not
sure about Edurne) and they all probably climbed the tougher, more remote
routes.
What I consider as my
own personal accomplishments in the mountains are
chicken scratch to these women. One of them could
probably carry me to the summit of Denali with her eyes
closed and a broken leg (only
if the weather permitted) up the Cassin Ridge.
If
you see yourself as trying to beat the mountain,
eventually the mountain will win. You don't
conquer mountains, you cooperate with them.
Stacy
Allison
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