Speaker 1: Climbing Mount Everest is an adventurer's dream, and Spanish mountaineer
Speaker 1: Adern Passerbahn has just arrived at at South Coal. That's
Speaker 1: the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks.
Speaker 1: Adern has about eight hundred meters to go before she
Speaker 1: reaches the top, but she's been here before. It's her
Speaker 1: third attempt to conquer Mount Everest, and spoiler alert, she
Speaker 1: goes on to do it. Climbing the world's highest mountain
Speaker 1: is obviously no small feat, but for the most dedicated
Speaker 1: mountaineers like a Deern, it's not enough. She wanted to
Speaker 1: become the first woman to climb all eight thousanders, the
Speaker 1: world's highest peaks above eight thousand meters. So one down
Speaker 1: and thirteen more to go. Hey, I'm Tony Armstrong and
Speaker 1: this is the ballroom where we celebrate the winners, losers
Speaker 1: and the weird stuff between. Adern Passerbahm was born in
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy three in the quaint Spanish town of Tolosa,
Speaker 1: Nestled under a small mountain. It was a fitting birthplace
Speaker 1: for a future climber. Adern didn't grow up with ambitions
Speaker 1: to conquer the world's highest peaks, but she always loved
Speaker 1: an adventure. At fifteen, she started rock climbing for fun
Speaker 1: with her cousin, which was her first taste of extreme sports.
Speaker 1: From there, her teenage years were of overseas troops and
Speaker 1: daring hikes. Gradually, Adern started to climb higher and higher
Speaker 1: mountains four thousand meters six thousand meters. She climbed the
Speaker 1: Alps and the Pyrenees. She scaled the Andes and a
Speaker 1: volcano in Ecuador. But when she eventually finished school, a
Speaker 1: gap year was probably the furthest thing from her mind.
Speaker 1: Adern jumped straight into university. She studied engineering and began
Speaker 1: her career working in the family tool making business. Then
Speaker 1: Adern found her own entrepreneurial streak, establishing a hotel and
Speaker 1: restaurant in the north of Spain. Outside of work, mountaineering
Speaker 1: remained her passion, but she was also ready to turn
Speaker 1: things up a notch. In nineteen ninety eight, Adern headed
Speaker 1: to the Himalayas to climb one of the eight thousanders
Speaker 1: dow Lagiri. She was less than three hundred meter from
Speaker 1: the summer when she was forced to abandon the climb
Speaker 1: because of heavy snowfall. It was merely a minor stepback.
Speaker 1: The next year, Adern turned her attention to Mount Everest.
Speaker 1: Never won to shy away from a challenge, she decided
Speaker 1: to climb without the support of oxygen. And maybe that
Speaker 1: was a step too far because Adern failed to reach
Speaker 1: the summer on two separate occasions in ninety nine and
Speaker 1: two thousand, but she was able to learn from those experiences.
Speaker 1: In two thousand and one, Adurn successfully conquered Everest alongside
Speaker 1: three other climbers. It's an achievement that so many mountaineers
Speaker 1: never reach, and it only motivated Addurn further. She must
Speaker 1: have felt like she could take on the world, and well,
Speaker 1: that's exactly what she decided to do. Fourteen of the
Speaker 1: world's highest mountains are greater than eight thousand meters above
Speaker 1: sea level, and their summits are located in what's called
Speaker 1: the death zone, not a minus at all. At these
Speaker 1: high altitudes, people can't survive for very long without an
Speaker 1: additional oxygen supply. But for a Durned Passerbahn, it became
Speaker 1: a case of if you've climbed one, you've climbed them are.
Speaker 1: In two thousand and two, a Durn plan to climb
Speaker 1: not one, but two mountain peaks. In May, she took
Speaker 1: on Macarlou and in October to Olu, the fifth and
Speaker 1: sixth highest mountains, respectively. Feeling unstoppable. The following year, she
Speaker 1: scaled three more eight thousand ers Lotze in Tibet and
Speaker 1: the dual peaks Gasherbrum one and two. Incredibly, Adurn continued
Speaker 1: at this relentless pace for the next seven years. She
Speaker 1: only took a year off in six In twenty ten,
Speaker 1: she knocked off the final two mountains, an A Purna
Speaker 1: and Shishapangma, in a remarkable feat of human strength and endurance.
Speaker 1: A Deern had become the first woman in the world
Speaker 1: to climb all fourteen summits, or had she. It turns
Speaker 1: out that Adern's incredible achievement was disputed. Another climber was
Speaker 1: contesting her mountaineering record. The process of verifying whether someone
Speaker 1: has in fact climbed a mountain can be difficult. In
Speaker 1: the world of sport, people sometimes lie and cheat their
Speaker 1: way to success, and mountain climbing is no different. But
Speaker 1: unlike organized sports, there's no governing body or ruling authority.
Speaker 1: For decades now, mountaineering has relied on something called the
Speaker 1: Himalayan Database, a public record and extensive archive of expeditions
Speaker 1: in the region. The database was the work of American
Speaker 1: journalist Elizabeth Hawley, who lived much of her life in Katmandu.
Speaker 1: If climbersted Elizabeth's tick of approval, they needed to provide
Speaker 1: numerous pieces of evidence, including photos. They also had to
Speaker 1: undergo a rigorous interview process. Elizabeth would speak with their
Speaker 1: companions on the expedition, like fellow climbers and shirpers and
Speaker 1: other eyewitnesses on the mountain. But even with these checks
Speaker 1: and balances, there are still disputes, and in twenty ten,
Speaker 1: Adern Pazzerbahan's record was called into question when a Korean
Speaker 1: climber said that she'd conquered the fourteen peaks first. O
Speaker 1: Yun Son said she'd completed her final eight thousand a
Speaker 1: month before Adern in April of twenty ten, But then
Speaker 1: a Durn hit back disputing ozacent of Kenshenjuga Mountain. In
Speaker 1: two thousand and nine, Elizabeth Hawley was called in to
Speaker 1: settle the matter. She got to work interviewing the parties
Speaker 1: involved and analyzing all the evidence. Adern claimed that Sherpa's
Speaker 1: on O's expedition had informed her she hadn't made it
Speaker 1: to the peak of Kenshenjunga. It was a lengthy investigation.
Speaker 1: At one point Adern conceded, but eventually the truth was uncovered.
Speaker 1: It was determined that Oh had in fact stopped a
Speaker 1: few hundred meters short of the summer due to bad weather.
Speaker 1: Seven months after Adern had completed her final assent, she
Speaker 1: was once again recognized as the first woman to conquer
Speaker 1: all fourteen of the world's highest mountains. While O's expedition
Speaker 1: remains on record in the Himalayan database, it will forever
Speaker 1: be marked as disputed. These days, Adern Passerban is a
Speaker 1: successful businesswoman, lecturer, and public speaker. She travels the world
Speaker 1: inspiring others with her courageous and motivational story. I reckon
Speaker 1: we can all learn a little something from this all
Speaker 1: conquering woman. Thanks for hanging out in the pool room.
Speaker 1: I'm Tony Armstrong and this has been an iHeart production.
Speaker 1: I'll speak to you next time for another brilliant sports story.
Speaker 1: Have a good one.