Vanessa O'Brien

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Vanessa O'Brien

Vanessa Audi Rhys O'Brien , FRGS (born December 2, 1964 in Grosse Pointe , Michigan ) is a British - American mountaineer and former finance manager . In 2013, she became the first woman to complete the Explorers Grand Slam within a year. In 2017, she became both the first British woman and the first American woman to climb the K2 summit .

biography

education and profession

Vanessa Audi Rhys grew up in Wayne County near Detroit . She first earned a BA in Economics from New York University . She then studied at the renowned Stern School of Business and completed the finance course with an MBA . In the following years she worked as a business executive for various financial service providers in several US states . The mid-90s she met in London the attorney Jonathan O'Brien, her future husband know. In 1999 she moved to the financial metropolis herself and worked for Morgan Stanley for three years, among other things on the launch of an international credit card . Between November 2002 and December 2005, she was Finance Director at Barclays and then Commercial Director at Bank of America for a good year . Her last engagement was as managing director of a financial service provider based in Hong Kong .

Disappointed and unsettled by the financial crisis , she left the business in 2010 and devoted herself fully to mountaineering . She is an ambassador for several organizations and gives lectures on leadership and teamwork. She has lived in Boston with her British husband since 2011 . The couple have no children. In 2017 she took part in the Boston Marathon for the American Red Cross .

Expeditions

After O'Brien had already climbed Kilimanjaro in 2005 , she first toyed with the idea of trying her hand at Mount Everest in 2010 . With a course and months of training, she began to prepare for the expedition. On her first attempt, she suffered pulmonary edema and had to give up at base camp . After that, she trained harder, acquired important knowledge of altitude medicine and in 2011 climbed the eight-thousanders Shishapangma and Cho Oyu . On May 19, 2012, she finally stood on the highest mountain on earth. In the following eleven months, she climbed the remaining Seven Summits and reached the two poles on skis, each starting from 89 ° latitude . On April 16, 2013, after 295 days, she finished this so-called Explorers Grand Slam at the North Pole and was the first woman to do so within a year. Previously, only former Welsh rugby player Richard Parks had been faster.

O'Brien at the summit of K2

In 2014, O'Brien climbed another eight-thousander with the Manaslu . Her next target was K2, which is considered particularly dangerous with a death rate of around 25% . Due to the increased risk of avalanches , the first expedition had to be canceled in 2015 in the second camp ( 6760  m ). The second attempt failed a year later in camp three ( 7450  m ) after an avalanche had buried the equipment. Since she had almost used up her private expedition budget, O'Brien decided to try one last time in June 2017. After weeks of bad weather, a team of twelve, including six Sherpas , was finally able to climb on July 28th . The ascent from the last camp over the Abruzzi spur took 16 hours due to the extreme snow conditions. O'Brien was the first American and British woman to reach the second highest mountain on earth and the 20th woman in total. On this occasion, she hoisted the United Nations women's flag in addition to her two national flags . In addition, at 52 years of age, she was the oldest female climber to date.

Vanessa O'Brien is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and does scientific fieldwork in various fields. For example, she collected data on nocturnal hypoxic exposure and took samples of radiogenic isotopes from the Godwin-Austen glacier . For the project 25zero she helped during the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in documenting the glaciers retreated . The Scientific Exploration Society (SES) named it “Explorer of the Year” in 2018.

successes

Explorers Grand Slam

  1. Mount Everest ( Asia ) - May 19, 2012
  2. Denali ( North America ) - June 19, 2012
  3. Elbrus ( Europe ) - July 15, 2012
  4. Carstensz Pyramid ( Australia ) * - September 23, 2012
  5. Mount Kosciuszko (Australia) - October 3, 2012
  6. Mount Vinson ( Antarctica ) - Dec 5, 2012
  7. South Pole - December 15, 2012
  8. Aconcagua ( South America ) - January 20, 2013
  9. Kilimanjaro ( Africa ) - March 10, 2013
  10. North Pole - April 16, 2013

* Dick Bass names Mount Kosciuszko, Reinhold Messner the Carstensz pyramid as the highest peak in Australia.

More expeditions

Awards

  • Bank of America Spirit Award
  • GE Pinnacle Award for Outstanding Achievement
  • Explorer of the Year 2018, Scientific Exploration Society (SES)

Web links

Commons : Vanessa O'Brien  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Resume: Professional. Vanessa O'Brien, accessed January 31, 2019 .
  2. ^ A b James H. Burnett III: Boston woman tackling peaks at a record pace. Boston Globe , April 3, 2013, accessed January 30, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Phoebe Jackson-Edwards: Former banker, 50, who has conquered SEVEN peaks including Everest says she can afford to climb mountains because she has no 'expensive children' to fund. Daily Mail , September 10, 2015, accessed January 30, 2019 .
  4. ^ Boston Marathon. Vanessa O'Brien, accessed January 31, 2019 .
  5. ↑ a b Elizabeth Archer: K2 mountain survivor reveals why it was all worth the danger. Express , October 26, 2017, accessed January 30, 2019 .
  6. ↑ a b David Strege: Woman does Explorers Grand Slam in record time. Adventure Sports Network, May 10, 2013, accessed January 30, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Jim Clash: Vanessa O'Brien Becomes First American Woman To Scale Treacherous K2. Forbes , July 29, 2017, accessed January 30, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Jim Clash: Exclusive Interview With Vanessa O'Brien, First American Woman Up 28,251-Foot Killer K2. Forbes , August 10, 2017, accessed January 30, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Jim Clash: Exclusive Interview With American K2 Summiteer Vanessa O'Brien: Part 2. Forbes , August 14, 2017, accessed January 30, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Resume: Climbing. Vanessa O'Brien, accessed January 31, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME O'Brien, Vanessa
ALTERNATIVE NAMES O'Brien, Vanessa Audi Rhys (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British-American mountaineer and former finance manager
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd December 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH Grosse Pointe , Michigan