Climbing
Berkeley, CA resident Roxanne Vogel became the first person to summit Mount Everest and return home in only two weeks, completing a normally two-month expedition in a fraction of the time, reports the Daily Californian.
The 33-year-old San Diego native, a nutrition and performance research manager at GU Energy Labs, set the new world record by departing California on May 10, climbing the world’s highest peak via the North route from Tibet, before returning to California on May 24. No other climber has reached the mountain’s 29,029-foot summit in such a short window of time.
An experienced climber of seven years, Vogel spent four months training with coaches and three months training for the changes in altitude.
“It was all pretty exciting and so jampacked,” Vogel said. “Normally a climb would take two months, so everything was kind of heightened.”
In order for Vogel to be acclimatized and ready to complete her mission in only two weeks, she spent 12 hours a day for months in simulated conditions reflecting the higher altitude, allowing her body to adjust to the decreased oxygen levels.
Vogel avoided the infamous and dangerous long lines at the summit by traveling through Tibet on the north side of Everest and had a “much different experience,” describing it as “amazing.” Vogel reached the summit May 22 and arrived back in the Bay Area at 11 pm Friday with one hour to spare until her two weeks were up.
Her next adventure is in Antarctica, where she will endeavor to complete her seven-summit goal by December.
