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Thread: Utahn becomes oldest woman to climb Seven Summits

  1. #1

    Utahn becomes oldest woman to climb Seven Summits

    http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=1967...cid=featured-5


    SALT LAKE CITY — By the numbers, what Carol Masheter did would be impressive for anyone.

    The 65-year-old mountain climber from Utah made a triumphant return Wednesday to cheering friends at Salt Lake City International Airport, a week after she reached the summit of Kosciuszko, the tallest peak in Australia.

    That effort marked the final of the famous Seven Summits, the highest point on each of the world's continents. She's now the oldest female member of the Seven Summits Club.

    "I love challenges and being as physical as my body will allow me to be," Masheter said.
    To secure the seven, Masheter marched up the equivalent of 86,000 vertical feet (by comparison, the Wasatch Range tops out at about 11,000 feet).

    No kidding.

    To secure the seven, Masheter marched up the equivalent of 86,000 vertical feet (by comparison, the Wasatch Range tops out at about 11,000 feet).

    "I feel the most whole and at peace and at my strongest when I'm in the mountains," she said. "It's my spiritual home."

    Masheter reached for the peaks in her early 50s, "when my life fell apart," she said.

    She used the summits to pull herself up from the depths of despair and regain her self confidence. "I lost my job, I lost my relationship and my mother died," she said. "I should be dead according to the stress scale, but mountaineering saved my life."

    A group of roughly a dozen friends greeted her Wednesday with balloons and signs, one reading "It's not age, it's altitude." Several noted her fitness, recalling Masheter's grueling training regime, which included hauling backpacks filled with dumbbells up and down the stairs during lunch at the Utah Department of Health, where she'd worked as an epidemiologist.


    Cheryl Soshnik, center, and Ruth Nakamura, left, cheer upon seeing Salt Lake City resident Carol Masheter at the Salt Lake City International Airport on Wednesday, March 21, 2012. On March 17, Masheter reached the summit of Mount Kosciuszko in Australia, making her the oldest woman in the world to have reached the summit of the highest mountains on each of the world's seven continents. (Photo: Laura Seitz, Deseret News)


    "She's just really fast and very strong and her resting heart rate is 38 or something," said Vicky McDaniel. "I don't even know if she owns a rocking chair, but I'm thinking enough is enough. We got some good hills around here."

    In 2007, the quest began. Aconcagua in South America, then Kilimanjaro in Africa. Later, she topped Mt. Everest, the world's highest point, followed by massive Denali, the highest mountain in North America, Europe's Elbrus in Russia's Caucasus range, and Vinson Massif in Antarctica.

    On Everest, on the dangerous descent, for a time she went blind, and had to gingerly make her way down. "I lost my vision temporarily," Masheter said. "So I have the dubious honor of having descended the world's highest mountain without being able to see anything."

    Her vision returned and, undaunted, she kept climbing and wrote a book about the experience, called "No Magic Helicopter."

    Masheter marked her climb up the last of the seven, Australia's Kosciuszko, with a full-throated, wolf-like celebration, known at the "silver fox howl."

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  5. #4
    Continental high point for the Australian continent? Not Kozzie.

    She'll probably finish some day, though. Ha ha.

    We chatted with her at REI the night before she went and discussed both peaks. She had plans to go to Carstensz Pyramid but her window was pretty short...and logistics are tough. Hmmm....

    She's gotta be a toughie, though.

  6. #5
    Dick Bass made up the "Seven Summits" deal and he named Kosciuszko... Than some johnny-come-lately tried to switch it to Carstensz Pyramid to steal his thunder. Carstensz Pyramid isn't even on a continent, which is what the 7 summits was actually about.... Any grade school map shows the 7 continents, and Oceania isn't one of them.

    YMMV....

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Iceaxe View Post
    Dick Bass made up the "Seven Summits" deal and he named Kosciuszko... Than some johnny-come-lately tried to switch it to Carstensz Pyramid to steal his thunder. Carstensz Pyramid isn't even on a continent, which is what the 7 summits was actually about.... Any grade school map shows the 7 continents, and Oceania isn't one of them.
    Ha! Well, that "johnny-come-lately" was Messner. Like someone said, the only reason he didn't beat Bass as the first was he was a touch busy climbing the 14 tallest peaks on the planet, never mind what is a "continent".

    Pat Morrow too, for that matter.

    Kozzie will always be the easy way to the 7 summits. Which is why many folks do 8 instead of 7.

    Glad you stuck this thread in the "peak bagging" forum and not the "climbing" one...ha ha...

    And, Carstenz Pyramid is on the Austrialian continent, which includes Indonesia. See below:

    *************
    Australia is the world's smallest continent, comprising the mainland of Australia and proximate islands including Tasmania, New Guinea, the Aru Islands and Raja Ampat Islands. Australia and these nearby islands, all part of the same geological landmass, are separated by seas overlying the continental shelf — the Arafura Sea and Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea, and Bass Strait between mainland Australia and Tasmania.
    When sea levels were lower during the Pleistocene ice age, including the last glacial maximum about 18,000 BC, the lands formed a single, continuous landmass. During the past ten thousand years, rising sea levels overflowed the lowlands and separated the continent into today's low-lying arid to semi-arid mainland and the two mountainous islands of New Guinea and Tasmania.
    Geologically, the continent extends to the edge of the continental shelf, so the now-separate lands can still be considered a continent.[1] Due to the spread of flora and fauna across the single Pleistocene landmass the separate lands have a related biota.

  8. #7
    Oh hell... that's the ice-age version of the game.... you probably also play the Star Wars version of Monopoly.

    As far as I'm concerned the guy that invents the game gets to set the rules.... and that was Bass...

    Dr. James Naismith invented basketball, and I'm pretty sure he will never be confused with Air Jordan (speaking of anther johnny come lately... hahaha...).

    Just sayin'

  9. #8
    Yeah, and Bass also said he climbed them under his own power...can't believe everything you read...ha ha...

    Good for her, though. Maybe she'll write another book...

    From her website:

    "Since writing “No Magic Helicopter,” Carol Masheter has summited three additional Seven Summits: Denali in Alaska 2010), Elbrus in Russia (2011), and the Vinson Massif in Antarctica (2012.) Dr. Masheter plans to climb the Carstensz Pyramid, her last of the Seven Summits, with Mountain Trip Mountain Guides in March 2012."

    Like I said, maybe she'll git 'er done some day...

  10. #9
    Very Nice Lady... I sat by her several years ago on a flight to SLC. She had completed Aconcagua and was going to be headed for Cho Oyu. She included me on her regular emails during her Cho Oyu trip. Looks like she has been busy since. Congrats Carol!!

  11. #10
    Impressive.


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