Why explorer Vanessa O’Brien left the corporate world to climb the world s tallest peaks Salon 1 hr ago To The Greatest Heights by Vanessa O Brien Photo illustration by Salon/Penny Vizcarra
The phrase
climbing a mountain is often used as a metaphor to describe doing something hard. And for good reason obviously, summiting a mountain, literally, is a challenging feat.
Author and mountain climber Vanessa O Brien knows this firsthand. She was the first American woman to climb K2, and as a dual citizen, the first British woman to return from its summit alive. But O Brien didn t grow up wanting to climb mountains a career she now doesn t advise young children to take up because of the dangers that come with it. In fact, before the 2007 financial crisis, O Brien was focused on a different kind of climb up the corporate ladder. Once her career fell into a tailspin in 2008, she decided to take up mountain climbing as a hobby that eventually t