Australian mountaineer Allie Pepper is setting out to do what Edmund Viesturs (USA) and Veikka Gustafsson (Finland) could only achieve in more than a decade. Also, only 6 people globally have achieved this miraculous feat of endurance.
She is on a mission to create a new World Record by pursuing her dream of completing all 14 eight thousand meters peaks (to their true summits) without supplementary oxygen, within a staggering 2 years and looks on track to achieve it.
She has now reached the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) at 4,215 meters with her guide Mingtemba Sherpa.
With their tents now set up, the duo plans to rest at the ABC for a few days, before heading for a higher altitude.
According to Sherpa, the plan is to make a few acclimatization rotations to camp-I and above before going for the summit push by mid-April.
Earlier, Pepper had arrived at Kathmandu with a plan to scale Mt Annapurna-I, Makalu, and Kanchenjunga this spring climbing season.
“Having reached ABC today, we plan to rest here for two days. We are looking to summit Annapurna-I on April 14 or 15 if weather conditions remain fine,” he said.
Meanwhile, Pepper said, “We are excited for the Annapurna expedition. We will be heading toward camp-I, camp-II, camp-III, camp-IV gradually to acclimate ourselves before going for the summit push.”
Fully aware that Annapurna-I is the deadliest mountain in the world (it claims 1 in three lives that have attempted her true summit), Pepper’s team is taking every precaution to achieve this milestone safely.
In addition to their mountaineering challenge, they will be self-directing and filming their project after training by their production team in Kathmandu a few weeks ago. The films and progress can be viewed at;
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@alliepepper
https://www.instagram.com/alliepepperadventures
Following her Annapurna-I, Makalu, and Kanchenjunga expeditions, Pepper will head to Pakistan to climb Nanga Parbat & K2. In Autumn, she aims to climb Mt Shishapangma and Mt Cho Oyu followed by Gasherbrum-II, Gasherbrum-I, Dhaulagiri, Lhotse & Everest expeditions in 2025. For her expedition, she has chosen expedition company Seven Summit Treks, renowned as one of the best in the world.
Before heading to Annapurna base camp Pepper did 4 days of treks to Langtang Valley trek with her high-altitude guide & climbing partner, Mingtemba Sherpa. This was to fine-tune their filming skills and to gain valuable time at altitude to acclimatize for the coming season.
Pepper is the first Australian woman to summit Broad Peak (8,051m) on July 15, 2023, the 12th highest mountain in the world, without supplemental oxygen, and Mt Manaslu (8,163m) the 8th highest mountain in the world, without the use of supplemental oxygen on September 28, 2023.
No stranger to mountaineering and adventure, she started climbing 8000m mountains in 2007 when she summited Mt Cho Oyu, also without bottled oxygen.
With this, 48-year-old Pepper aims to encourage women across the world to face challenges to conquer their own mountains.
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