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Women on High
12:40 p.m. EDT Sep 1, 2003
Yesterday K2Climb.net ran an update on Edurne Pasaban who is going for K2 next year. Women are seriously joining the world of Mountaineering - just recently with several high-speed hat trick ascents in Pakistan: Edurne Pasaban, the Spanish female climber summited three 8,000m peaks in 61 days this summer.
Italian Nives Meroi is just off a stunning grand slam success in the Karakorums: Together with husband Romano Benet and fellow climber Luca Vuerich, she reached the summits of GI, GII and Broad Peak in a mere 20 days.
Polish Anna Czerwińska’s summit of GII on August 2 was her fifth 8000m peak, but just one of many mountains she’s climbed throughout the past 34 years.
Legends that lost their lives to the mountains were Wanda Rutkiewicz, a Polish climber who went to the top of eight of the world’s highest peaks, but tragically lost her life on Kangchenjunga in 1992.
French climber Chantal Mauduit summited six 8,000 m peaks until an avalanche on Dhaulagiri claimed her life in 1998.
Liliane Barrard and Julie Tullis perished on K2’s in deadliest season in 1986, when the mountain claimed thirteen lives. Alison Hargreaves, died on her descent of K2's summit in 1995, only three months after she had become the first woman to reach the summit of Everest alone, unsupported and without bottled oxygen.
If you would like to read about other female climbers, you could check "Women on High: Pioneers of Mountaineering". New in Chesslers collection, By Rebecca Brown in 2003.
Writes Michael: "This excellently researched and written history of women in climbing concentrates on the 19th and early 20th century greats such as Fanny Workman and Miriam Underhill, and is a delightful addition to the chronicles of women in the high peaks of the world. 258 pp, photos, maps. $22.95 Book # BK1859
Order from Chessler Books, P.O. Box 4359, Evergreen, Colorado 80437 USA
(800) 654-8502 FAX (303) 670-9727
(303) 670-0093 E-mail: chesslerbk@aol.com
Image courtesy of Edurne Pasaban
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