Interview: Adriana Brownlee on making mountaineering history

Introduced to the outdoors by her father as a child, Brownlee took to the mountains from an en early age. Beginning her mountain climbing career at just nine years old, Brownlee completed the National Three Peaks Challenge in under 22 hours, and had summited Mount Elbrus, Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua before the age of 18.

It stands to reason then, that Brownlee would go on to become only the second Brit to summit all 14 of the world's 8,000m peaks, the first British woman, and the youngest woman ever to do so.

Having put her stamp on the history books, the young mountaineer has turned her attention to building a business, inspiring the next generation of mountaineers, and maybe even an unclimbed peak or two...

First of all, how does it feel to become the youngest ever woman to summit the fourteen 8,000m peaks?

It feels incredible to have achieved this massive challenge! It was a huge part of my life - well really my whole life - for the past three years. To raise the flags of my home countries, the UK and Spain, felt extremely special and really the world record was just the icing on the cake. It was never really about the record, but the personal goal I had and enjoying the mountains alongside my climbing partner Gelje Sherpa.

Which peak was your favourite?

My favourite was probably Everest just because that was my dream since I was eight years old and it was the first time that I climbed an 8,000m peak with Gelje. We had an absolutely incredible team and although it didn't go smoothly, it still felt like my favourite expedition overall.

I did also enjoy Shishapangma, my last 8,000m peak which I summited without supplementary oxygen and really, this was a new level in my mountaineering career. Although I had already done an 8,000-er without oxygen before, this just felt different. Of course it was also my last 8,000m peak so the celebration was the biggest!

How did you first get into mountaineering?

My journey started when I was about eight years old. My father was the one who enjoyed mountaineering as a hobby, I remember FaceTiming him at Aconcagua Basecamp and I was just in awe of everything that he was doing. For me, he was like God.

I decided that I wanted to climb Everest and that would be my big goal in life. In fact, my primary school teacher asked us to write a letter to ourselves, describing what we wanted to do when we were older, and I wrote down that I want climb Everest and that I wanted inspire other people. A few months after, I had a go at the National Three Peaks but ended up with hypothermia on the last peak, Ben Nevis. Two months later we tried again and did it in 21 hours. That's what really sparked my mountaineering addiction.

What made you want to go for the 14 Peaks Challenge?

It was something that occurred during K2 winter in 2020. I was at base camp on K2 and a famous Nepali mountaineer told me that I should do it because I was talented on the mountains. He was my idol at the time, so I called my university straight away and I told them I wasn't coming back - then I called my parents and also told them I wasn't coming home. Both phone calls were not very fun - but from that moment the challenge was on for the next three years!

How did you fund and work out the logistics for completing all 14 within only three years? Your 2022 looked especially busy!

Funding was definitely the most difficult part of the whole challenge. Climbing the 14 peaks is anything but cheap, and in total the expeditions would've cost around 700k USD. I had to cut it down into smaller chunks and treat each peak as its own challenge.

I was incredibly lucky to have amazing sponsors that supported me throughout the project but it wasn't easy to get them. I remember emailing 20 to 30 companies and brands every day and receiving maybe one email return and it would be a ’No’ . I got my first sponsorship deal with The North Face just before Everest and it had a massive snowball effect. Brands saw my potential and came on board. In terms of logistics, I had the help of an expedition company called Seven Summit Treks who organised most of the peaks that I did, however, there was also a lot of organisation that went on behind the scenes between myself and Gelje.

What barriers did you have to overcome?

There were financial, political and physical barriers... The biggest barrier of the challenge was probably trying to get into Tibet to climb Cho Oyu and Shishapangma. China had shut down the mountains for quite a few years, and to get to those mountains we needed a special permit which was not easy! It took us about a year and a half to get. The financial side was also incredibly difficult and took a lot of perseverance and determination to make ends meet.

What was the best moment of the whole challenge?

There are probably three best moments for me. One was summiting Everest, then summiting Shishapangma - my first and last 8,000m peaks. The third was summiting Cho Oyu with Gelje as this was his last 8,000m peak of his own 14 Peaks challenge and to celebrate together on that summit was incredibly special. Without Gelje I couldn't have done any of this, and so to celebrate a moment that was so special to him was very beautiful.

And what was the worst part?

The hardest part of the challenge was probably on Dhaulagiri, which was my third 8,000m peak and probably the most dangerous of all of them. It all began when we got news that there was a big storm coming in and most of the climbers on the mountain had already left. We were a team of just nine people, and we were going to go for the summit push anyway. After camp two, we got stuck in this huge storm and I almost lost all my fingers to frostbite. Luckily, we managed to get back down safely to camp so I could warm them up and in the end I got frost nip, which means that the nerves in my fingers are permanently damaged.

We decided to continue the expedition after a few days rest at camp two, we had finished all of our food, gas and power supplies but we still continued up the mountain. Once we reached camp three we rested for the night and went for a summit push from there. The weather was actually very beautiful on the summit push and we summited with clear skies and no wind. The rest of the team had already left the summit and myself and a guide were the only ones left taking photos for sponsors. All of a sudden I felt like someone had pulled a plug from my body and all of the energy just drained out in one go. I knew something was wrong, so I asked the guide if he could check my oxygen tank - it was empty. I asked him if he had any extra oxygen or maybe we could take turns with the oxygen to get back down but he had also run out. The next plan was to radio the rest of the team and tell them to leave oxygen on the way. The guide looked at me blankly and told me: “I don't have a radio”. We were stuck at 8,200m with no oxygen supply and no radio.

We made a survival plan together and attached a short rope between the two of us to help each other down. We made it back down to base camp after 32 hours. I called my parents straightaway by satellite phone - they were crying. They told me that they had been planning my funeral for the past 24 hours as all of our power had run out and consequently my tracking device had stopped working since camp two. This was definitely the worst expedition of the whole challenge and such a learning experience.

What's next for you?

Myself and Gelje started an expedition and trekking company two years ago and so this is our main focus for the next few years - to try and save money instead of spending it all on the mountains! Hopefully in 2026, we will do an unclimbed peak together in Nepal alongside our incredible team at AGA Adventures who are all incredibly passionate mountaineers and have made our company a huge success so far.