All Posts for Category: Interviews

High Achievers Seek High-Octane Thrills Outside the Boardroom

October 23, 2023/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Meet Adventurers Taking Trips More Extreme

June 21, 2023/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

On Top of The World

December 6, 2019/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Keep Calm in High Stress Situations

August 14, 2019/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Quest for Adventure

June 27, 2019/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Death on Everest

May 28, 2019/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Why K2 is Harder Than Everest

May 28, 2019/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Conquering Mountains with Vanessa O’Brien

December 14, 2018/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Dual National – First to Conquer K2

November 29, 2018/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Mountains Have No Ceilings: What Sports Can Teach Us About Women’s Leadership

October 1, 2018/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Vanessa O’Brien on Allison Hargreaves

March 14, 2018/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Detroit Native is First American Woman

November 9, 2017/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Why K2 Is Worth The Danger

October 26, 2017/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Pythom’s Exclusive Interview (Part 3)

October 11, 2017/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Pythom’s Exclusive Interview (Part 2)

October 9, 2017/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Pythom’s Exclusive Interview (Part 1)

October 9, 2017/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Conquering K2

October 1, 2017/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

First American Women Summits K2

September 12, 2017/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

O’Brien Becomes First American Woman To Scale K2 (Part 2)

August 14, 2017/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

O’Brien Becomes First American Woman To Scale K2 (Part 1)

August 10, 2017/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Celebrating Women & The Great Outdoors

March 8, 2017/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Pakistan Boasts Some Amazing Glaciers & Peaks

November 1, 2016/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

O’Brien: Leadership in Action

October 21, 2016/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Remembering The Gilkey Memorial

September 1, 2016/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Remembering Those Lost on The Savage Mountain

August 1, 2016/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

The Changing Face of Explorers

August 1, 2016/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Vanessa O’Brien To Be First US Woman to Summit K2

July 8, 2015/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Why Female Guides are Great at High Altitude

June 1, 2015/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

O’Brien to Attempt Killer K2

April 6, 2015/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

The Escape Artist: How I went from Banking to Mountaineering

December 1, 2014/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Mountain Maverick

November 1, 2014/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

Sets Record for Explorers Grand Slam

April 3, 2013/in Interviews /by Vanessa O'Brien

About Vanessa O’Brien

Vanessa O’Brien is a British female mountaineer and an American female mountaineer (as a result of her dual nationality), explorer, aquanaut, astronaut, author, and public speaker.

Her story of overcoming adversity and transformation unfolds in her book, To The Greatest Heights: Facing Danger, Finding Humility and Climbing A Mountain of Truth, Simon and Schuster (2021), described by many readers as one the most honest and riveting adventure autobiographies ever written.

Vanessa has an incredible six Guinness World Records: Only, First, Fastest, Deepest, Farthest and Oldest. Vanessa is the only woman to reach extremes on land, sea, and air (the Explorers' Extreme Trifecta) following her mission on Blue Origin's NS-22 to 107km. Vanessa was the first woman to reach earth’s highest and lowest points, (Mt. Everest 8,848m) and (Challenger Deep 10,925m), with the latter being deeper than Mt. Everest is tall. She is the fastest woman to climb the Seven Summits in 295 days, and the first person to reach nearest to and farthest from the earth's core (Challenger Deep and the summit of Chimborazo.)

Vanessa is the first woman to complete the Four Poles Challenge, going the farthest north * south * east * west from the top of Everest to the bottom of Challenger Deep to skiing the last degree to the geographic North and South Poles. She holds the record for the oldest woman to summit K2, the second tallest peak, at 52 years old.

Vanessa became the first American or British woman to successfully summit K2, receiving Explorer of the Year by the Scientific Exploration Society (SES) in 2018. She is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and an Honorary Advisory Board member of the SES.

Vanessa summitted the highest peak on every continent, receiving a Guinness World Record for the fastest time a woman first achieved this goal (295 days.) Vanessa has skied the last 111 km to the north and south poles completing the Explorers Grand Slam in 11 months, the first woman to do so in under a year, and the 8th woman in the world. Vanessa ran the Boston Marathon in 2017, helping to raise money for the American Red Cross, has been shot testing bulletproof vests with a .38 long revolver at point blank range, and rode 200 mph with Mario Andretti at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

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