Personal information | |
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Born | Ramsel, Antwerp, Belgium | 8 January 1956
Climbing career | |
Type of climber | Alpine climber |
Known for |
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Ingrid M. Baeyens (8 January 1956 in Ramsel, Belgium) is a Belgian mountaineer and physical therapist. She became the first woman to summit the South Face of Annapurna in 1991, and the first Belgian woman to summit Mount Everest in 1992.
Ingrid Baeyens was born in Ramsel, Antwerp, Belgium on 8 January 1956. [1]
She began mountaineering in the Alps in the early 1980s.
She would go on to climb in the Andes with her husband Wim Verbist, until he died in 1987 during a climb in Peru. [2] She then turned to climbing in the Himalayas, notably participating in expeditions with Krzysztof Wielicki and Rob Hall. [3]
In December 1990, she attempted a winter ascent of Makalu, which had been unclimbed in winter until that point. Alongside an expedition team of Krzysztof Wielicki, Anna Czerwinska, and Richard Pawlowski, they made it to 7,400m before descending. [4] Makalu would not be summitted successfully in winter until nearly 20 years later, in 2009. [5]
She summitted four eight-thousanders, including the South Face of Annapurna. [2] [6] After becoming the first Belgian woman to summit Everest in 1992, [7] she retired from climbing in the Himalayas. At the time, she was the female mountaineer with the most eight-thousanders after Wanda Rutkiewicz. [2]
In 1994, Baeyens and Paul Laeremans became hypothermic while descending the West Buttress route of Denali. [8] After their team created a snow cave for them to rest, they were successfully helicoptered to safety. [9]
The eight-thousanders are the 14 mountains recognized by the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) as being more than 8,000 metres (26,247 ft) in height above sea level, and sufficiently independent of neighbouring peaks. There is no precise definition of the criteria used to assess independence, and at times, the UIAA has considered whether the list should be expanded to 20 mountain peaks by including the major satellite peaks of eight-thousanders. All of the eight-thousanders are located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in Asia, and their summits lie in an altitude known as the death zone.
Anatoli Nikolaevich Boukreev was a Soviet and Kazakh mountaineer who made ascents of 10 of the 14 eight-thousander peaks—those above 8,000 m (26,247 ft)—without supplemental oxygen. From 1989 through 1997, he made 18 successful ascents of peaks above 8,000 m.
Krzysztof Jerzy Wielicki is a Polish mountaineer, regarded as one of the greatest Polish climbers in history. He is the 5th man to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders and the first ever to climb Mount Everest, Kangchenjunga, and Lhotse in winter. He is a member of The Explorers Club.
Alan Hinkes OBE is an English Himalayan high-altitude mountaineer from Northallerton in North Yorkshire. He is the first British mountaineer to claim all 14 Himalayan eight-thousanders, which he did on 30 May 2005.
Juan Eusebio Oiarzabal Urteaga, commonly known as Juanito Oiarzabal, is a noted Spanish Basque mountaineer. He has written four books on the subject. He was the 6th man to reach all 14 eight-thousander summits, and the third to do so without supplemental oxygen. He was the first person to climb the top three summits twice and the oldest climber to summit Kangchenjunga, at almost 53, until Carlos Fontan did so in 2014, at 75 years old. In 2004, he lost all his toes to frostbite after summiting K2.
João José Silva Abranches Garcia, is a leading mountaineer in Portugal. His main professional activities are as organizer and guide in mountaineering expeditions. On 18 May 1999 he became the first Portuguese man to reach the summit of Mount Everest, without the use of supplementary oxygen. Three years later, in 2002, he published a book, A Mais Alta Solidão(The Highest Loneliness), in which he describes his experiences in mountain climbing, namely his 1999 expedition to Everest, where he endured bitter adversities. Nevertheless, João Garcia continued to climb and on the 17th April 2010, he summited Annapurna without the aid of supplemental oxygen, becoming the 10th man of all time to climb all 14 eight-thousanders without bottled oxygen or Sherpas.
Arlene Blum is an American mountaineer, writer, and environmental health scientist. She is best known for leading the first successful American ascent of Annapurna (I), a climb that was also an all-woman ascent. She led the first all-woman ascent of Denali, and was the first American woman to attempt Mount Everest. She is Executive Director of the Green Science Policy Institution.
Artur Henryk "Słon” Hajzer was a Polish mountaineer. Hajzer summitted seven eight-thousanders, several via new routes and made the first winter climb of Annapurna on February 3, 1987.
Nives Meroi is an Italian mountaineer and a climbing writer. On 11 May 2017 she completed the ascent of all 14 eight-thousanders using the alpine style of climbing and without supplementary oxygen.
Andrzej Zawada was a Polish mountaineer, expedition leader and pioneer of winter Himalayism. Zawada was an organiser and leader of numerous high-mountains expeditions. Author of movies and photographs from expeditions, co-author of Alpinist books. Honorary member of the British Alpine Club, French Groupe de Haute Montagne and American The Explorers Club.
Kinga Baranowska is a Polish mountaineer. She made ascents of nine eight-thousanders and is the first Polish woman to have climbed Dhaulagiri, Manaslu and Kangchenjunga. She has also climbed the seven summits.
Anna Czerwińska was a Polish climber. She is known for being the then-oldest woman to summit Mount Everest, doing so at the age of 50. She also published several books about mountaineering.
Janusz Majer is a Polish alpinist, himalayanist and traveler. He is co-founder and co-owner of ADD Company, the owner of Alpinus brand (1993–2001), co-founder of Mount Company, the owner of the HiMountain brand which produces outdoor clothing and equipment and co-owner of the large chain of HiMountain shops in Poland. Since 23 November 2013 he's been the head of the program "Polish Himalayas".
Denis Urubko is a Russian-Polish climber. In 2009, as a citizen of Kazakhstan he became the 15th person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders and the 8th person to achieve the feat without supplemental oxygen. He had Soviet citizenship, but after the dissolution of the Soviet Union he became a citizen of Kazakhstan, but renounced the citizenship in 2012. In 2013, he received Russian citizenship and on 12 February 2015 he received Polish citizenship.
Carlos Soria Fontán is a Spanish mountaineer who has taken up the challenge of becoming the oldest person in the world to reach the summits of the 14 eight-thousanders. He is the only climber to have ascended ten mountains of more than 8,000 meters after turning 60, and is the oldest person in history to have successfully climbed K2, Broad Peak (68), Makalu (69), Gasherbrum I (70), Manaslu, Kanchenjunga and Annapurna.
Adam Radosław Bielecki is a Polish alpine and high-altitude climber, known for the first winter ascents of the eight-thousanders: Gasherbrum I and Broad Peak. In his book Spod zamarzniętych powiek, written with co-author Dominik Szczepański, Bielecki tells the story of his climbings, memories from Himalayan expeditions, and the effort the highest mountains demand.
Bouchra Baibanou is a Moroccan alpinist and motivational speaker. She is the first Moroccan woman to summit Mount Everest, and in 2017 she became the first Moroccan to complete the Seven Summits.
Kang Ki-seok was a South Korean mountaineer. Kang helped forge a new route on Mount Everest and was considered one of Korea's most promising mountaineers of his generation.