Silvia Vasquez-Lavado (born 1974) is a Peruvian-American mountaineer, social entrepreneur and technologist. In June 2018, she became the first openly lesbian woman to complete the Seven Summits, the tallest mountain on each continent from both the Messner and Bass lists. She has also climbed five of the fourteen eight-thousanders [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. 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. [2] She lives in San Francisco.
Vasquez-Lavado struggled with depression during her 20s as a result of the trauma from her abuse. In 2005, while attending a 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.
Shortly after, Vasquez-Lavado decided to go to the base of Mount Everest in October 2005. After a four-day trek, Vasquez-Lavado arrived at the base of Everest and climbed Kala Pattar. [3] She later summited Everest in May 2016. [3] 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. [3] [4]
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] [5] Courageous Girls has had projects in Nepal, India, the United States, and Peru. [3] [4] [5] [6]
In the Shadow of the Mountain, Silvia's first memoir, was released February 1, 2022, in the United States, 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.’" [7] Kirkus Reviews called In the Shadow of the Mountain "An emotionally raw and courageous memoir." [8]
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. [9] [10]
In March 2023, In the Shadow of the Mountain won the prestigious 2023 Edward Stanford Travel Book of the year. [11]
Vasquez-Lavado was recognized by Fortune magazine as one of the Corporate Heroes of 2015. [5] CNET named her one of the 20 most influential Latinos in Silicon Valley. [12] She has been recognized by the Peruvian government as one of the “Marca Peru” ambassadors (country brand ambassadors). [13] Vasquez-Lavado is a member of the Explorers Club.
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.
The Seven Summits are the highest mountains on each of the seven traditional continents. Reaching the peak of these summits is considered a significant achievement amongst many mountaineers, alongside many other such goals and challenges in the mountaineering community. On 30 April 1985, Richard Bass became the first climber to reach the summit of all seven.
Makalu is the fifth highest mountain in the world at 8,485 metres (27,838 ft). It is located in the Mahalangur Himalayas 19 km (12 mi) southeast of Mount Everest, on the China–Nepal border. One of the eight-thousanders, Makalu is an isolated peak in the shape of a four-sided pyramid.
Cho Oyu is the sixth-highest mountain in the world at 8,188 metres (26,864 ft) above sea level. Cho Oyu means "Turquoise Goddess" in Tibetan. The mountain is the westernmost major peak of the Khumbu sub-section of the Mahalangur Himalaya 20 km west of Mount Everest. The mountain stands on the China Tibet–Nepal Province No. 1 border.
Pumori is a mountain on the Nepal-China border in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. Pumori lies just eight kilometres west of Mount Everest. Pumori, meaning "the Mountain Daughter" in Sherpa language, was named by George Mallory. "Pumo" means young girl or daughter and "Ri" means mountain in Sherpa language. Climbers sometimes refer to Pumori as "Everest's Daughter". Mallory also called it Clare Peak, after his daughter.
Laurie Skreslet is a Canadian mountaineer best known for his ascent of Mount Everest.
Junko Tabei was a Japanese mountaineer, author, and teacher. She was the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest and the first woman to ascend the Seven Summits, climbing the highest peak on every continent.
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.
Iván Vallejo Ricaurte is a high-altitude mountaineer from Ecuador. On 1 May 2008, he became the 14th person to reach the summit of all 14 mountains above 8,000 meters, and the 7th without use of supplemental oxygen. He is the first, and still the only, Southern Hemisphere climber to complete all 14 eight-thousanders, without supplemental oxygen.
Kalpana Dash was an Indian lawyer and mountaineer. She was the first Odia mountaineer to scale Mount Everest. She scaled Mount Everest on 21 May 2008, along with a team of five members from the United States, Canada and Nepal.
Satyarup Siddhanta is a Bangalore-based Indian mountaineer. Satyarup became the youngest mountaineer in the world and the first from India to climb both the Seven Summits and Volcanic Seven Summits on 15 January 2019 at 10:10 pm Chile time. Guinness World Records approved this claim.
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.
Harshvardhan Joshi is an Indian mountaineer and sustainability advocate from Vasai, Maharashtra. He has climbed six mountains of 6000 meters and above in his mountaineering career which started in 2016. Joshi reached the summit of Mount Everest on 23 May 2021 in a carbon neutral effort.
SheikhaAsma Al Thani is a Qatari mountaineer who is the first Qatari woman to summit Mount Everest, Lhotse, and Manaslu, K2 as well as the first Qatari female to climb Ama Dablam. She is also the first Qatari person to ski to the North Pole. On her ascent of Manaslu, she became the first Arab person to summit an eight-thousander without oxygen. She is Director of Marketing and Communications for the Qatar Olympic Committee. She is also a member of the ruling family of Qatar.
In the Shadow of the Mountain is a book by Silvia Vasquez-Lavado published in 2022 by Henry Holt an imprint of Macmillan.
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