Vanessa O'Brien

Vanessa O'Brien
Vanessa O'Brien at Aiguille du Midi
Born	(1964-12-02) 2 December 1964 Grosse Pointe, MI, USA
Nationality	American/British
Occupation	Mountaineer, Explorer, Public Speaker
Known for	1) First American woman to summit K2 and first British woman to summit K2. 2) First woman Guinness World Record holder to summit the Seven Summits in 295 days. 3) First woman to complete the Explorers Grand Slam in less than one year.
Awards	SES Explorer of The Year 2018
Website	www.vobonline.com

Vanessa Audi Rhys O'Brien (born 2 December 1964), is a British-American mountain climber, explorer, public speaker and former business executive. She became the first American woman to climb K2 and the first British woman to climb K2 (as a result of her dual nationality) on 28 July 2017, successfully leading a team of 12 members to the summit and back on her third attempt.^[1][2][3] She is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), a Fellow of The Explorers Club (TEC), and a Member of The Scientific Exploration Society (SES).^[4][5]

O'Brien was awarded Explorer of The Year in 2018 by SES.^[5] She climbed the highest peak on every continent and has a Guinness World Record for doing so in 295 days, setting a record for the fastest time a woman first achieved this goal.^[6] O'Brien has also skied the last 60 nautical miles or 111 km to the South Pole and North Pole completing the Explorers Grand Slam in 11 months,^[7][8] becoming the first woman to do so in under a calendar year and the 8th woman in the world to accomplish this.^[9] In addition, O'Brien reached 200 mph riding with Mario Andretti at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2018^[10], completed the Boston Marathon running 26.2 miles in 2017 to help the American Red Cross raise over $512,000 for charity.^[11], and as part of a test of bulletproof clothing was shot at point blank range by Miguel Caballero with a .38 long revolver in 2013.^[12][13]

Early life

Vanessa Audi Rhys O'Brien was born on 2 December 1964 and grew up in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan. After graduating from Grosse Pointe South High School, O'Brien briefly attended University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan and then New York University where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics.

Professional career

After receiving her BA from New York University, O'Brien joined the Financial Management Program at GE Capital. After graduating from the FMP program and winning the Pinnacle Award for outstanding performance, GE Capital sponsored O'Brien for an Executive MBA in Finance at the Stern School of Business, New York University. After GE Capital, O'Brien contributed to Capital One before moving overseas to hold various London-based positions as the Director of Finance and Business Development for Morgan Stanley, Barclays Bank, and the Bank of America.^[14][15]

Advisory, board and research roles

O'Brien is an Honorary Ambassador of the US Nepal Climbers Association Inc.,^[16] and is an active member of The American Alpine Club. She is a former Board member of the American Pakistan Foundation^[17] and a former Advisory board member for Thomson Safaris.^[18] O'Brien has contributed to a number of research and scientific projects including investigating the effects of nocturnal hypoxic exposure on high-altitude mountaineering (Explorers Club Flag No. 206 to Manaslu's summit at 26,759 feet^[19]), testing the thinning of high altitude glaciers (Explorers Club Flag #132 to the Godwin-Austen Glacier at 16,500 feet^[20]), and illustrating the impact of climate change at the equator in advance of COP21 in conjunction with Project 25Zero.^[21]

Summits and poles

Having trekked to Mount Everest base camp and reached the summits of a number of notable mountains, including five of the world's fourteen 8,000-meter peaks (Shishapangma, Everest, Cho Oyu Manaslu, and K2), including summiting two eight thousanders back-to-back just 8 days apart (Shishapangma and Cho Oyu), O'Brien decided to build on her passion for mountaineering and set herself the challenge of achieving the Explorer's Grand Slam.^[22] The Explorer's Grand Slam entails reaching the Seven Summits, the North and South Poles, as well as meeting the Three Pole Challenge.^[23]

Motorsports (2015-2018)

In May 2018, O'Brien achieved 200 mph at Indianapolis Motor Speedway riding with Mario Andretti^[10]. In April, O'Brien captured four race cars as they attempted to hit 300 mph in under 4 seconds during the NHRA’s Baptism by Nitro event at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s 4-wide zMAX Dragway^[24].

O'Brien has the following photography credits at Forbes magazine for Motorsports in 2018 covering The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, NC: Don Schumacher, Leah Pritchett, Tony Schumacher, and Antron Brown^[25][26][27]. O'Brien also has the following photography credits at Forbes magazine for Motorsports in 2015 covering Pocono Raceway: Justin Wilson, Mario Andretti, Rick Mears, and Sage Karam^{[28][29][30][31]}. Additional photos include Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi, Mike Hull, and Pippa Mann^{[32][33][34][35]}.

Mountaineering expeditions

O'Brien on top of K2 Summit, Northern Pakistan, 8,611m, on 28 July 2017, at the moment she becomes the first American woman to summit K2

Other adventure and exploration

After taking the American Red Cross flag to the North Pole in 2013,^[23] O'Brien successfully completed the Boston Marathon,^[11] becoming one of the top 8 fundraisers for the American Red Cross on April 17, 2017, helping to raise over $512,000.^[36]

In 2013, as part of a test of bulletproof clothing, O'Brien was shot at point blank range by Miguel Caballero with a .38 long revolver.^[12][13] This revolver pushed a bullet out at 1,184 feet per second, faster than the speed of sound at 1,125 feet per second.

References

External links

• Official website