Edurne Pasaban

Edurne Pasaban Lizarribar (born August 1, 1973) is a Basque Spanish mountaineer. On May 17, 2010, she became the first woman to climb all 14 of the eight-thousanders – and the 21st person to do so. Her first 8,000 peak had been achieved 9 years earlier, on May 23, 2001, when she reached the summit of Mount Everest. She has also completed the seven summits.

Life and career Pasaban was born in Tolosa in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain.

Climbing She summited her ninth eight-thousander, Broad Peak, on July 12, 2007, together with the Austrian climber Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner. On May 1, 2008, Pasaban summited Dhaulagiri, as did Kaltenbrunner the same day again. Both downplayed the aspect of a race between them for the first woman to climb all 14 eight-thousanders. On May 18, 2009, Pasaban climbed Kangchenjunga with, among others, Juanito Oiarzabal and the Polish climber Kinga Baranowska. With that she exceeded Kaltenbrunner and Nives Meroi and she became the first woman to climb twelve eight-thousanders. Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner equaled her two days later when summited Lhotse. Nives Meroi, an Italian climber, then tried to reach the summit of Kangchenjunga, but was forced to abandon the climb when her husband and fellow climber, Romano Benet, began suffering health problems during the ascent.

On April 17, 2010, she added Annapurna to her record, and proceeded directly thereafter to climb Shishapangma, where she completed her quest on May 17.

Temporary Dispute Over 14 Peaks Record On April 27, 2010, it was announced that Pasaban might have lost out on becoming the first woman to climb all 14 8,000 meter peaks to Korean climber Oh Eun-sun. However, Pasaban and other experts disputed Oh's summit of Kangchenjunga. Following a conversation between Elizabeth Hawley and Pasaban, Hawley announced that Oh's summit would be marked as "disputed" in future editions of her Himalayan database. On May 3, Oh had an hour long discussion with Hawley in Kathmandu, in which she asked Oh about the details of her Kangchenjunga climb. "Oh will be credited for her climb to Kangchenjunga but the ascent will be marked as disputed," Hawley later told the press. Rejecting Pasaban's claims, Oh added, "I believe that according to Pasaban, some Sherpas told her that I hadn't climbed Kangchenjunga. But no names of the Sherpas have been mentioned. Why?" She declined to give these names earlier as these Sherpas were still working for the Korean climber. Later Pasaban conceded that she was the second woman to climb the 14 highest peaks, but questioned whether Oh Eun-sun had actually conquered them all.

However, on August 29, 2010, it was announced that the South Korean Hiking Federation, after examining the proofs presented by Oh, had refused to acknowledge her Kangchenjunga ascent, accepting the sherpas' version according to which Oh was not able to complete the ascent due to bad weather conditions. Oh later admitted that she had to stop a few hundred meters below the Kangchenjunga summit, and the mountaineering site ExplorersWeb considered on December 10, 2010 that Edurne Pasaban is the first woman that has climbed all fourteen peaks,

Eight-thousanders climbed

2010, May 17 – Shishapangma 2010, April 17 – Annapurna 2009, May 18 – Kangchenjunga 2008, October 5 – Manaslu 2008, May 1 – Dhaulagiri 2007, July 12 – Broad Peak 2005, July 20 – Nanga Parbat 2004, July 26 – K2 2003, July 26 – Gasherbrum I 2003, July 19 – Gasherbrum II 2003, May 26 – Lhotse 2002, October 5 – Cho Oyu 2002, May 16 – Makalu 2001, May 23 – Mount Everest