Irene Beardsley

Irene Beardsley (formerly Ortenburger and Miller, born 1935) is an American mountaineer, and along with Vera Komarkova, the first woman to climb Annapurna, the tenth highest mountain in the world.

Early life

Beardsley was inspired to climb mountains after seeing the Grand Tetons during a family holiday as a child.[1]

Beardsley began climbing in 1953 after joining the Stanford Alpine Club. She describes herself as not a natural athlete, but nonetheless a keen climber who went on trips around Yosemite and the Tetons. In 1956, she married fellow climber Leigh Ortenburger. She majored in physics, graduating in 1957.[2]

In 1965, Bearsdley earned her PhD, as just the fourth woman to graduate with a physics PhD from Stanford.[2][3]

Climbing

Beardsley climbed extensively in the Grand Tetons and Peru,[1] including making the first ascent (1957) of Irene's Arete, Disappointment Peak, in the Grand Teton National Park.[4]

She travelled to Nepal in 1961 with her husband, as he was invited to be a part of Edmund Hillary's Makalu expedition. Once she arrived she was forbidden by Hillary to set foot on the mountain, despite her climbing credentials.[5] In 1965, along with Sue Swedlund, she made the first all-female ascent of the North Face of the Grand Teton.[4][1][6]

While working as a physicist at IBM, she was invited to be part of the American Women's Himalayan Expedition to Annapurna. At the time women were often rejected from major expeditions, and the all female nature of this one was a rare opportunity. They raised money for the expedition by selling T-shirts with the slogan, A Woman's Place is on Top. After a month of climbing Beardsley and Komarkova became the first women to climb Annapurna.[2][5]

Notable climbs

See also

References
  1. Bruce Newman (January 14, 2014). "Bay Area sent two women on first climb to the top of the world. Another never came back". Mercury News.
  2. Irene Beardsley (1 July 2006). "Irene's Arete". Alpanist.
  3. Daniel Hartwig. "Guide to the Stanford Alpine Club Oral History Interviews SC1018". Online Archive of California.
  4. "No Guts, No Glory: A History of the Stanford Alpine Club". Stanford Libraries.
  5. Arlene Blum (2005). Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9780743258463.
  6. Beckwith, Christian. "Teton Climbing Achievements Announced". Climbing Magazine.
  7. Stephen Grossman (August 25, 2018). "Tom Frost, Yosemite and International Icon for the Ages, Dies at 82". Rock and Ice.
  8. Leigh N. Ortenburger & Reynold G. Jackson (1996). A Climber's Guide to the Teton Range. The Mountaineers. ISBN 0-89886-480-1.
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