Silvia Vasquez-Lavado (born 1974) is a Peruvian-American mountaineer, author, social entrepreneur and technologist. In June 2018, she became the first Peruvian woman to summit Mount Everest and the first openly gay woman to complete the Seven Summits, the tallest mountain on each continent from both the Messner and Bass lists. [1]
Silvia Vasquez-Lavado was born and raised in Lima, Peru, during the Peruvian terrorist movement, the Shining Path. Vasquez-Lavado was a victim of childhood sexual abuse. [2] After sharing her struggles with childhood abuse, Vasquez-Lavado's mother encouraged her to leave Peru.
Vasquez-Lavado came to the US on an IIE/Fulbright scholarship and attended Millersville University. [3] She lives in San Francisco.
Vasquez-Lavado struggled with depression and alcoholism during her 20s as a result of the trauma from her abuse. [4] In 2005, while attending a ayahuasca meditation retreat in Peru, Vasquez-Lavado had a vision of reconnecting to her inner child and the two of them walking in a valley surrounded by mountains. [5] [6]
Shortly after, Vasquez-Lavado decided to go to Mount Everest base camp in October 2005. After a four-day trek, Vasquez-Lavado arrived at the base of Everest and climbed Kala Pattar. [7] She later summited Everest in May 2016. [7] She is one of the few women in the world to have completed the “Eight Summits” as of 2019, climbing the Seven Summits across both the Bass and Messner lists. [7] [8]
In 2014, Vasquez-Lavado launched Courageous Girls, a nonprofit that helps survivors of sexual abuse and trafficking with opportunities to find their strength and cultivate their voice by demonstrating their physical strength. [1] [9] Courageous Girls has had projects in Nepal, India, the United States, and Peru. [7] [8] [9] [10]
In the Shadow of the Mountain, Silvia's first memoir, was released February 1, 2022, in the United States, [11] and internationally on February 3, 2022. In a review for The New York Times, Qian Julie Wang wrote: "Patriarchal societies champion summit journeys as tales of conquest. But Vasquez-Lavado understands that ‘we do not conquer Everest, just like we do not conquer trauma. Instead, we must yield ourselves to the chasms and unexpected avalanches.’" [12] Kirkus Reviews called In the Shadow of the Mountain "An emotionally raw and courageous memoir." [13]
In November 2020, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Selena Gomez is set to be cast as Vasquez-Lavado on the film adaption of In the Shadow of the Mountain. [14] [15]
In March 2023, In the Shadow of the Mountain won the prestigious 2023 Edward Stanford Travel Book of the year. [16]
Vasquez-Lavado was recognized by Fortune magazine as one of the Corporate Heroes of 2015. [9] CNET named her one of the 20 most influential Latinos in Silicon Valley. [17] She has been recognized by the Peruvian government as one of the “Marca Peru” ambassadors (country brand ambassadors). [18] Vasquez-Lavado, a distinguished member of the Explorers Club, received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Millersville University and served as its commencement speaker on May 7, 2022. [19]
Mount Everest is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation of 8,848.86 m was most recently established in 2020 by the Chinese and Nepali authorities.
James W. Whittaker, also known as Jim Whittaker, is an American climber and mountain guide. Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, on May 1, 1963, he became the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest as a member of the American Mount Everest Expedition led by Norman Dyhrenfurth, alongside the Sherpa Nawang Gombu, a nephew of Tenzing Norgay. They ran out of oxygen, but managed to reach the summit.
The Seven Summits are the highest mountains on each of the seven traditional continents. On 30 April 1985, Richard Bass became the first climber to reach the summit of all seven.
The eight-thousanders are the 14 mountains recognised 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.
Junko Tabei was a Japanese mountaineer, author, and teacher. She was the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest and first woman to ascend the Seven Summits, climbing the highest peak on every continent.
Alison Jane Hargreaves was a British mountaineer. Her accomplishments included scaling Mount Everest alone, without supplementary oxygen or support from a Sherpa team, in 1995. She soloed all the great north faces of the Alps in a single season—a first for any climber. This feat included climbing the difficult north face of the Eiger in the Alps. Hargreaves also climbed 6,812-metre (22,349 ft) Ama Dablam in Nepal.
Apa, nicknamed "Super Sherpa", is a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer who, until 2017, jointly with Phurba Tashi held the record for reaching the summit of Mount Everest more times than any other climber. As part of The Eco Everest Expedition 2011, Apa made his 21st Mount Everest summit in May 2011 then retired after a promise to his wife to stop climbing after 21 ascents. He first summited Everest in 1990 and his last time to the summit was in 2011.
Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at 8,849 metres (29,031.7 ft) above sea level. It is situated in the Himalayan range of Solukhumbu district, Nepal.
Jaime Viñals Massanet is a Guatemalan mountaineer, the first person from Central America and Caribbean region ever to climb the Earth's highest peak, Mount Everest, after reaching the summit together with the American Andy Lakpass and the Danish Asmus Noreslet on an expedition from New Zealand organized by Russell Brice, Since then, he became one of the few people to have reached the Seven Summits - the highest mountains of each of the seven (sub-)continents. also he has finished to climb the Seven Islands of the World.
Suzanne Al Houby is a Palestinian mountain climber. On May 21, 2011, she became the first Arab woman to climb Mount Everest and the seven Summits. She was also the first Arab woman to climb many other mountains, including Mont Blanc, Elbrus, Aconcagua, Vinson, Denali, and Carstensz Pyramid.
Samina Khayal Baig is a Pakistani mountaineer who climbed Mount Everest in 2013, all Seven Summits by 2014, and K2 in 2022. She is the first Pakistani woman to climb Everest, K2 and the Seven Summits. She climbed Mt. Everest at the age of 21.
The Mount Everest climbing season of 2017 began in spring with the first climbers reaching the top on May 11, from the north side. The first team on the south side reached the top on May 15. By early June, reports from Nepal indicated that 445 people had made it to the summit from the Nepali side. Reports indicate 160–200 summits on the north side, with 600–660 summiters overall for early 2017. This year had a roughly 50% success rate on that side for visiting climbers, which was down from other years. By 2018, the figure for the number of summiters of Everest was refined to 648. This includes 449 which summited via Nepal and 120 from Chinese Tibet.
Nirmal Purja is a Nepal-born naturalised British mountaineer. Prior to taking on a career in mountaineering, he served in the British Army with the Brigade of Gurkhas followed by the Special Boat Service (SBS), the special forces unit of the Royal Navy. Purja is notable for having climbed all 14 eight-thousanders in a time of six months and six days with the aid of bottled oxygen. This was a record at the time of climbing, although it was broken in 2023 by Kristin Harila and Tenjen Sherpa, who summitted all 14 eight-thousanders in 92 days. Purja was the first person to reach the summits of Mount Everest, Lhotse and Makalu within 48 hours. In 2021, Purja, along with a team of nine other Nepalese climbers, completed the first winter ascent of K2.
Mount Everest in 2016 covers events about Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth located in Nepal and Chinese Tibet in Asia. It is a popular climbing destination for extreme high altitude climbers, with several hundred climbing each year despite various dangers.
Harshvardhan Joshi is an Indian mountaineer and sustainability advocate from Vasai, Maharashtra.
Shehroze Kashif is a Pakistani mountaineer who became the youngest climber in the world to summit K2 on 27 July 2021. He became the youngest Pakistani to summit Mount Everest on 11 May 2021. After the successful summit of Mount Everest, Sports Board Punjab made him the youth ambassador of Punjab, Pakistan. He summited Broad Peak at the age of 17, after which he was called 'The Broad Boy'.
Fahad Abdulrahman Badar (born 1979) is a Qatari banker & mountaineer. He is the first Arab to summit two of the highest mountains in the world, Mount Everest and Lhotse, in a single expedition.
In the Shadow of the Mountain: A Memoir of Courage is a book by Silvia Vasquez-Lavado published in 2022 by Henry Holt an imprint of Macmillan.
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