Adriana Brownlee – 14 Peaks
In this blog we meet Adriana Brownlee, who is aiming to climb all 14 8000m peaks in her 20s! Adriana is only 21 years old and has already summited 10 of the 14!
Read on for Adriana’s story so far…
My name is Adriana Brownlee and I am a 21 year old mountaineer from the UK.
I’m currently on a mission to summit all 14 8000m peaks and become the youngest woman ever to do so. So far I have summited 10 8000ers ~ Everest, Lhotse, Manaslu, Makalu, Kanchenjunga, Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, K2, Broad Peak, Nanga Parbat.
It all began when I was around 8 years old and sat in my primary school classroom writing up a piece of work about what we wanted to be when we were older. I’m not sure how, but I decided in that moment I wanted to “be famous for climbing Mt Everest and inspire other people” And so 12 years later I brought those words to life and here I am today.
This project is not just about my goal to summit 14 peaks, but it’s about creating a platform to be able to inspire the younger generation to dream big, and to create their own paths. So many youngsters are caught up on the beaten path, the easy option, maybe even a parents guidance. But the reality is there are so many opportunities out there that if you work hard enough at a dream, you can make it work and achieve huge things.
I am just back to my home for a month after a successful season in Pakistan where I summited Nanga Parbat, Broad Peak and K2. All three were very difficult climbs, somehow the Pakistani 8000ers are a league of their own! This year seemed to be an incredibly dry season, the rockfall on all three were a game of Russian roulette. You would hear someone scream “rooocckkkk” and all you could do was lean into the wall and pray!! The Kinshofer wall on Nanga Parbat was also a killer, a vertical rock wall for 200m straight, and honestly you may as well be wearing crampons on marble! It was relentless.
My next climbs will be this autumn in Nepal – Cho Oyu and Manaslu (true summit) both I will attempt without supplementary oxygen, super excited about this new ‘advancement’ in my climbing career. Myself and my climbing partner Gelje Sherpa attempted k2 without however after we reached camp 4 (8000m) without o2 and slept the night, we were told before summit push that we would both have to trail blaze, which means a definite need for o2, especially as the snow was waist deep at some parts! But now I know my body is strong at 8000 without which is huge!
If you would like to follow along on my project take a look and follow my Instagram – @adri.Brownlee or my website www.adrianabrownlee.com!
What do you need to tackle 8000m peaks?
Phantom 8000
The Phantom 8000 represents the very pinnacle of SCARPA design to create the warmest technical boot for use on the world’s highest and coldest mountains.
Built around the expedition-proven double boot concept, the innovative Phantom 8000 uses state of the art construction with H-Dry direct lamination and PU Tek Technology on the gaiter and a carbon Tech 3 SL midsole to reduce the overall weight by 100g compared to the previous model. The gaiter now had an offset waterproof zip to make the outer boot even easier to get on and off when wearing gloves.
The inner shell is now even warmer as well as easier to operate. Wintherm technology creates a secondary layer of insulation under the gaiter. The Sock-fit XT tongue combined with the new fast lock lace system and fast strap closure make it even easier to get a close, precise fit, with no pressure points over the foot.
