Edurne Pasaban celebrates the tenth anniversary of her conquest of the 14 eight-thousanders
It's been 10 years since we heard on all the news as Edurne Pasaban claimed a historic victory without equal. In May 2010, the outstanding Spanish mountaineer would successfully complete her project to conquer the highest mountains on planet earth, thus becoming the first woman in history to crown the 14 eight-thousanders.
After reaching her historic milestone, a goal that Edurne formally set herself in 2007 as a “life goal”, she asked herself: “What now…?” But what seemed like the end of an accomplished goal was nothing but the beginning of a new stage for The Queen of Eight Thousand, who did not lack the desire to continue conquering the world, reach even higher, and to reinvent herself as a person, as a woman and as a mother.
The truth is that Edurne initially did not count her eight thousand, she recounted adventures, peaks and achievements, so it is not surprising that she entered this race very naturally, following her passion for heights and escapades to the mountains.
He unofficially began the race for the 14 eight-thousanders in 2001 with the conquest of Everest, his first eight-thousander, which he reached via the Vía del Collado Sur, together with Silvio Mondinelli, Mario Merelli, Iván Vallejo and Dawa II Sherpa.
Nine years later, Edurne would greatly celebrate her arrival at the summit of Shisha Pangma on May 17, 2010. This would then become his fortieth eight thousand, accompanied by the same illusion that he carried on his first expedition, and also the same lucky shirt that he wore the 14 times.
A STORY OF PERSONAL IMPROVEMENT
But in this extreme world not everything is rosy. The most critical level of this stage for Edurne undoubtedly came with her ascent to K2. “We were lucky to get it up to the first one, but we went down with frostbite. Two fingers were amputated after that," says Pasaban in an interview for El Intermedio. His return home after climbing the most dangerous mountain of all marked a before and after for Edurne: "I began to rethink many things. When I began to recover, I asked myself what I was doing with my life. At 31, my friends had gotten married, were starting to have children. I was out of the pattern."
The mountaineer assures that between 2005 and 2006 she "could not find the answers to the questions of why she did what she did. It was very hard. I always say that my hardest eight thousand was coming out of a depression."
But we do know how this great story that is still being told ends. Edurne "sees the light" and returns to climbing thanks to her desire to improve herself and the help of her friends, who reminded her that this was what made her truly happy.
CHRONOLOGY OF THE 14 EIGHT THOUSANDS OF EDURNE PASSED
- Everest (8848m), China/Nepal, May 23, 2001
- Makalu (8465m), China/Nepal, May 16, 2002
- Cho Oyu (8201 m), China/Nepal, October 5, 2002
- Lhotse (8516 m), China/Nepal, May 26, 2003
- Gasherbrum II (8035 m), China/Pakistan, July 19, 2003
- Gasherbrum I (8068 m), China/Pakistan, July 26, 2003
- K2 (8611 m), China/Pakistan, July 26, 2004
- Nanga Parbat (8125m), Pakistan, July 20, 2005
- Broad Peak (8047m), China/Pakistan, July 12, 2007
- Dhaulagiri (8167m), Nepal, May 1, 2008
- Manaslu (8156 m), Nepal, October 5, 200820
- Kangchenjunga (8598m), India/Nepal, May 18, 2009
- Annapurna (8091m), Nepal, April 17, 2010
- Shisha Pangma (8027m), Tibet, May 17, 2010
MORE THAN A CAREER, A LIFESTYLE
The Himalayas welcomed a 16-year-old Edurne with open arms in 1998, whom she preferred to be at 8.00h at the Dama Verde fountain in Tolosa, Guipúzcoa, (town where she was born) to go climbing with friends instead of dancing in the area gang like the rest of the girls her age, because she felt that there that didn't fit.
He had then joined the Tolosa mountain club, which that year prepared an expedition to Dhaulagiri I, a mountain for professionals that, although he did not conquer it right there, would become the beginning of his career against the forces of nature. "It was my first opportunity to ride an eight thousand, we were inexperienced kids. We chose that mountain without having a clue, because we knew people who had already gone", Edurne stated in a recent interview with @hermanospou on her web show #SpeakPou, in which we found out a little more in confidence than we goes through Edurne Pasaban's mind in 2020, 10 years after her historic achievement.
For Edurne it was a privilege to start her career with the boys from the Tolosa mountaineering club, which she refers to today as “the best mountaineering we had in Spain” and then it was also a great honor to join
Opening a hole in a man's world is not an easy thing, but Edurne shone among them without being too strange. And although she says that perhaps there was some uncomfortable comment, this did not stop her, it even motivated her even more.
Today, Edurne places great value on what she has experienced, and what she has overcome. That if he could, he would not change anything, because he had to live through the most challenging mountaineering era there was, and that today he considers that pure mountaineering is no longer achieved in the same way, that which proposed challenges such as climbing the eight thousand with climbing equipment well formed.
Over the years, Edurne found what she was looking for, reinventing herself as a person after her great success. Through coaching courses, business talks and others, he was introduced to the business world in which a future was raised after that "Now what".
Today, Edurne combines her recognized and admirable sports career with her links to the business world and her role as a mother, working as a lecturer for cultural, sports and educational entities, as well as for companies of all kinds , nationally and internationally.
But Edurne doesn't stop there. Her experience with other cultures and societies has guided her towards philanthropy and the social, where solidarity contact is key for her.
Inspired to give back to the inhabitants of the Himalayas who have given so much to travelers and mountaineers, Edurne creates the private foundation "Mountainers for the Himalayas Edurne Pasaban" which, without profit or religious connotations , brings together mountaineers who stand in solidarity with the boys and girls of the mountains of Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, Pakistan and India in favor of a better education, to guarantee the social, cultural and economic progress of this area.
And it is that, in her own words, Edurne says that if she had a super power “she would have the super power to make a better world”.
Without a doubt, Edurne Pasaban is a woman who has overcome the most challenging conditions, with ups and downs taking her life to the extreme, and making history in the name of humanity, in the name of women and on behalf of herself, with humility, passion, patience and self-improvement.
