Conquering the World's Highest Peaks

Climbing Everest is an adventurer’s dream. But for Spanish mountaineer, Edurne Pasaban, it wasn't enough. She wanted to become the first woman to climb all “eight-thousanders”, the world’s highest peaks, above 8,000 metres. So, one down and thirteen more to go... 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Climbing Mount Everest is an adventurer's dream, and Spanish mountaineer
Adern Passerbahn has just arrived at at South Coal. That's
the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks.
Adern has about eight hundred meters to go before she
reaches the top, but she's been here before. It's her
third attempt to conquer Mount Everest, and spoiler alert, she

(00:25):
goes on to do it. Climbing the world's highest mountain
is obviously no small feat, but for the most dedicated
mountaineers like a Deern, it's not enough. She wanted to
become the first woman to climb all eight thousanders, the

(00:46):
world's highest peaks above eight thousand meters. So one down
and thirteen more to go. Hey, I'm Tony Armstrong and
this is the ballroom where we celebrate the winners, losers

(01:08):
and the weird stuff between. Adern Passerbahm was born in

(01:29):
nineteen seventy three in the quaint Spanish town of Tolosa,
Nestled under a small mountain. It was a fitting birthplace
for a future climber. Adern didn't grow up with ambitions
to conquer the world's highest peaks, but she always loved
an adventure. At fifteen, she started rock climbing for fun

(01:54):
with her cousin, which was her first taste of extreme sports.
From there, her teenage years were of overseas troops and
daring hikes. Gradually, Adern started to climb higher and higher
mountains four thousand meters six thousand meters. She climbed the
Alps and the Pyrenees. She scaled the Andes and a

(02:14):
volcano in Ecuador. But when she eventually finished school, a
gap year was probably the furthest thing from her mind.
Adern jumped straight into university. She studied engineering and began
her career working in the family tool making business. Then
Adern found her own entrepreneurial streak, establishing a hotel and

(02:36):
restaurant in the north of Spain. Outside of work, mountaineering
remained her passion, but she was also ready to turn
things up a notch. In nineteen ninety eight, Adern headed
to the Himalayas to climb one of the eight thousanders

(02:56):
dow Lagiri. She was less than three hundred meter from
the summer when she was forced to abandon the climb
because of heavy snowfall. It was merely a minor stepback.
The next year, Adern turned her attention to Mount Everest.

(03:17):
Never won to shy away from a challenge, she decided
to climb without the support of oxygen. And maybe that
was a step too far because Adern failed to reach
the summer on two separate occasions in ninety nine and
two thousand, but she was able to learn from those experiences.
In two thousand and one, Adurn successfully conquered Everest alongside

(03:40):
three other climbers. It's an achievement that so many mountaineers
never reach, and it only motivated Addurn further. She must
have felt like she could take on the world, and well,
that's exactly what she decided to do. Fourteen of the
world's highest mountains are greater than eight thousand meters above

(04:03):
sea level, and their summits are located in what's called
the death zone, not a minus at all. At these
high altitudes, people can't survive for very long without an
additional oxygen supply. But for a Durned Passerbahn, it became
a case of if you've climbed one, you've climbed them are.

(04:24):
In two thousand and two, a Durn plan to climb
not one, but two mountain peaks. In May, she took
on Macarlou and in October to Olu, the fifth and
sixth highest mountains, respectively. Feeling unstoppable. The following year, she
scaled three more eight thousand ers Lotze in Tibet and

(04:45):
the dual peaks Gasherbrum one and two. Incredibly, Adurn continued
at this relentless pace for the next seven years. She
only took a year off in six In twenty ten,
she knocked off the final two mountains, an A Purna
and Shishapangma, in a remarkable feat of human strength and endurance.

(05:06):
A Deern had become the first woman in the world
to climb all fourteen summits, or had she. It turns
out that Adern's incredible achievement was disputed. Another climber was
contesting her mountaineering record. The process of verifying whether someone
has in fact climbed a mountain can be difficult. In

(05:30):
the world of sport, people sometimes lie and cheat their
way to success, and mountain climbing is no different. But
unlike organized sports, there's no governing body or ruling authority.
For decades now, mountaineering has relied on something called the
Himalayan Database, a public record and extensive archive of expeditions

(05:51):
in the region. The database was the work of American
journalist Elizabeth Hawley, who lived much of her life in Katmandu.
If climbersted Elizabeth's tick of approval, they needed to provide
numerous pieces of evidence, including photos. They also had to
undergo a rigorous interview process. Elizabeth would speak with their

(06:13):
companions on the expedition, like fellow climbers and shirpers and
other eyewitnesses on the mountain. But even with these checks
and balances, there are still disputes, and in twenty ten,
Adern Pazzerbahan's record was called into question when a Korean
climber said that she'd conquered the fourteen peaks first. O

(06:35):
Yun Son said she'd completed her final eight thousand a
month before Adern in April of twenty ten, But then
a Durn hit back disputing ozacent of Kenshenjuga Mountain. In
two thousand and nine, Elizabeth Hawley was called in to
settle the matter. She got to work interviewing the parties

(06:56):
involved and analyzing all the evidence. Adern claimed that Sherpa's
on O's expedition had informed her she hadn't made it
to the peak of Kenshenjunga. It was a lengthy investigation.
At one point Adern conceded, but eventually the truth was uncovered.

(07:19):
It was determined that Oh had in fact stopped a
few hundred meters short of the summer due to bad weather.
Seven months after Adern had completed her final assent, she
was once again recognized as the first woman to conquer
all fourteen of the world's highest mountains. While O's expedition
remains on record in the Himalayan database, it will forever

(07:41):
be marked as disputed. These days, Adern Passerban is a
successful businesswoman, lecturer, and public speaker. She travels the world
inspiring others with her courageous and motivational story. I reckon
we can all learn a little something from this all

(08:03):
conquering woman. Thanks for hanging out in the pool room.
I'm Tony Armstrong and this has been an iHeart production.

(08:26):
I'll speak to you next time for another brilliant sports story.
Have a good one.