Known as the “silver fox” to her friends, Carol Masheter has began her huge journey five years ago when she summited the 22,841 feet Aconcagua, South America’s highest peak in Argentina.
Going against her family’s wishes, Masheter braved soaring heights, plunging temperatures, and even went blind for 10 hours descending Mount Everest.
She reached the top of Australia’s Mount Kosciuszko on 17 March this year to complete the mammoth undertaking.
During an interview Masheter said that she climbed the highest mountain in the world “just to see if I could do it.”
“I should be learning how to knit and play bridge, but that’s just not me,” she said.
Masheter, who lives in Salt Lake City in the United States, said a series of harsh personal events prompted her make her world record bid.
“When I turned 50, my life fell apart. Within 18 months, I lost a job I loved, I learned the man I loved was with someone else, my mother died, and my own health deteriorated.
‘To cope with grief, anger, and stress, I went to the Bolivian Andes for high-altitude mountaineering training, summitting seven peaks over 17,000 feet. I found I was a pretty good at it, and felt my best in the mountains.
It led me to climb Cho Oyu, the sixth highest mountain in the world in China in 2005. I could see the summit of Mount Everest from the summit and thought: ‘I dont want to die without knowing whether I could climb Everest because I didn’t try.’”
Carol is in the process of having her record validated and will take the record currently held by Kay LeClaire who completed the feat aged 60.
Credit : Getty Images
