Cathy O'Dowd (born 1968) is a South African

rock climber Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and ...

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

, author and

motivational speaker A motivational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep talk. Motivational speakers ...

. She was the first woman to reach the summit of

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) 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 (snow heig ...

from both the south and the north sides on 25 May 1996 and 29 May 1999, respectively. O’Dowd grew up in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to De ...

, South Africa, and attended St. Andrew's School for Girls. She has climbed since her university days. When she was 21, she took part in her first mountain expedition, to the Ruwenzori in

Central Africa Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, ...

Everest expeditions

Southeast ridge route

Towards the end of 1995, O'Dowd was finishing a master's degree in Media Studies at

Rhodes University Rhodes University is a public research university located in Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, Rhodes University is the province's oldes ...

when she applied for and got a place on the First South African Everest Expedition. On 11 May 1996, eight climbers died in a severe blizzard on their descent from the summit on the south side. This included a climbing guide and the leaders of two expeditions, American

Scott Fischer Scott Eugene Fischer (December 24, 1955 – May 11, 1996) was an American mountaineer and mountain guide. He was renowned for his ascents of the world's highest mountains made without the use of supplemental oxygen. Fischer and Wally Berg were ...

and the New Zealander

Rob Hall Robert Edwin Hall (14 January 1961 – 11 May 1996) was a New Zealand mountaineer. He was the head guide of a 1996 Mount Everest expedition during which he, a fellow guide, and two clients died. A best-selling account of the expedition was ...

. O'Dowd was at the high camp just below the southeast ridge preparing to summit with her expedition when the blizzard struck, forcing the team to delay the summit attempt. She finally reached the summit on 25 May 1996. One member of the South African party, 37-year-old Bruce Herrod, died on the descent. His body was discovered the following year by an Indonesian expedition party led by

Anatoli Boukreev Anatoli Nikolaevich Boukreev (russian: Анато́лий Никола́евич Букре́ев; January 16, 1958 – December 25, 1997) was a Soviet and Kazakhstani mountaineer who made ascents of 10 of the 14 eight-thousander peaks—those ab ...

North ridge route

In 1998 she attempted the north side of Everest, where

George Mallory George Herbert Leigh Mallory (18 June 1886 – 8 or 9 June 1924) was an English mountaineer who took part in the first three British expeditions to Mount Everest in the early 1920s. Born in Cheshire, Mallory became a student at Wincheste ...

had disappeared in 1924. Her attempt ended hours from the summit when she came across

Francys Arsentiev Francys Arsentiev (January 18, 1958 – May 24, 1998) became the first woman from the United States to reach the summit of Mount Everest without the aid of bottled oxygen, on May 22, 1998. She then died during the descent. Early life, education a ...

, an American climber who had collapsed. They attempted to help her for over an hour but were forced to turn around and descend, leaving Arsentiev behind. Two of the Sherpas went on to the summit. She described this decision to

Michael Buerk Michael Duncan Buerk (born 18 February 1946) is a British journalist and newsreader. He presented BBC News from 1973 to 2002 and has been the host of BBC Radio 4's ''The Moral Maze'' since 1990. He was also the presenter of BBC One's docudram ...

on the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...

programme 'The Choice' aired in November 2009. In 1999 she returned, and on this occasion succeeded, becoming the first woman to climb Everest from both north and south sides. In 2000, she became the fourth woman to climb

Lhotse Lhotse ( ne, ल्होत्से ; , ''lho tse'', ) is the fourth highest mountain in the world at , after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga. The main summit is on the border between Tibet Autonomous Region of China and the Khum ...

, the world's fourth highest mountain.

East face route

In 2003, she made an unsuccessful attempt at a new route up the east face of Everest.

Other expeditions

In the spring of 2004 she joined British woman Rona Cant and Norwegian Per-Thore-Hansen on a dog-sled expedition of 650 km through the Norwegian Arctic, from Styggedalen to

Nordkapp ), North Cape, Norway, other uses, North Cape (disambiguation) Nordkapp ( en, North Cape; sme, Davvinjárga or ; fkv, Kappa or ) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of ...

, the most northerly point in Europe. Cathy O'Dowd has climbed mountains across southern and central Africa, in South America, in the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

and in the

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

. She remains an active mountaineer, rock-climber and skier. She married the First South African Everest Expedition leader Ian Woodall in 2001 and lives in

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

in the Pyrenees.anine

Books

*''Everest: Free To Decide'' - Cathy O'Dowd & Ian Woodall (Struik Publishers 1998) *''Just for the love of it'' - Cathy O'Dowd (Free To Decide Publishers 2001)

References

External links

Cathy O'Dowd Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Odowd, Cathy South African mountain climbers Summiters of Mount Everest South African rock climbers South African emigrants to Andorra Rhodes University alumni 1969 births Living people Female climbers