After three years and two failed attempts, she had become one of just 20 women in history to conquer K2.
“It was an amazing feeling,” she says of the 28,251ft peak in northern Pakistan, the second highest on the planet.
A perilous climb, one in four who reach the summit lose their life, most of them on the way back down.
But 52-year-old Michigan-born Vanessa wasn’t always a world-class explorer.
In fact, in 2010 she was a successful financier working in London, where she lives with her husband Jonathan, 50, who works for an international law firm.
“Because of the recession it was a really horrible time, so I started looking for a new challenge and somebody joked that I should climb Everest.
“At first I laughed and thought, what a ridiculous suggestion. But the next day I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”
Vanessa became consumed by the idea of climbing Everest. She took a mountaineering course and signed up to climb to Camp Two, 21,000ft up the 29,029ft mountain.
Despite months of training, the climb later in 2010 was a disaster.
“I failed miserably and ended up getting water in my lungs.
My nails and my lips turned blue and I had to go home,” she says. But rather than giving up, she was determined to conquer the peak and went back to the drawing board.
“I trained differently, learnt about high-altitude medicine and brushed up on my technical skills.”
For in detail story:
https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/life/871386/Vanessa-O-Brien-K2-summit-mountain-Asia-northern-Pakistan
