The team

Edurne Pasaban (Tolosa, Guipúzcoa, 1 August 1973). As well as being the first woman to climb the fourteen eight-thousanders on earth, she is a graduate in Industrial Engineering from the University of the Basque Country, Master in Human Resource Management from ESADE Business School and Associate Teacher at the Business Institute (Instituto de Empresa).
Her first expedition to the Himalayas was in 1998, and since then she has returned to the great mountains of Asia every year to complete an impressive sports record leading her to conquer the 14 in just 20 expeditions, which is a very high degree of effectiveness in the Himalayas.
Her first eight-thousander was Everest (8,848m.), which she conquered in 2001, and this was the only time she used artificial oxygen on the climb. This is why her present challenge is to return to the roof of the world without O2 and thus become the first woman to complete the 14x8000 without oxygen, a challenge in which she rivals the Austrian alpinist Gerlinde Kaltendrunner, who now only has K2 left to complete the fourteen without O2. Everest, the highest mountain, will therefore be Edurne’s first and last eight-thousander.

Today, Edurne combines her sports career with her ever stronger bonds with the business world, an area where she works as a speaker and teacher both nationally and internationally. She is also studying to become an official coach.

Web: www.edurnepasaban.com

Of all the members of the team, Asier Izaguirre (Tolosa, 38) is the person closest to Edurne: they are cousins and were born in the same town. Asier taught Edurne to rock climb 20 years ago and since then they have shared a multitude of peaks, joys and suffering. Although he considers himself more a rock climber than an alpinist, Asier has crowned six eight-thousanders with Edurne: Broad Peak in 2007, Dhaulagiri and Manaslu in 2008 and Kanchenjunga in 2009, Annapurna and Shisha Pangma in 2010. In 2011, he will accompany Edurne to the top of the world and, if successful, will add his seventh eight-thousander to his record.

(Barcelona, 38) is a leading alpinist twice awarded with a Golden Ice Pick, but he is also a magnificent high altitude cameraman. He is responsible for filming Edurne and the team’s expeditions and ascents for the Spanish television programme, Al Filo de lo Imposible. He has crowned five eight-thousanders but has never been obsessed with the summit. Ferrán knows very well what it is to sacrifice personal ambition to help others: in 2004 he gave up his attempt on the summit of K2 to go out in the night at 8,000 metres in search of Juanito Oiarzabal who, exhausted and blinded by the snow, had got lost. The alpinist from Alava proudly recognises that Ferrán saved his life on that occasion.
In spring 2010 he had an accident when he was descending from Camp II to Camp I on Annapurna, was seriously injured and had to be evacuated from Annapurna Base Camp and start a tough recovery.
In 2011, he will once more be ready to face Everest, a mountain he has previously faced on five occasions, always climbing above eight thousand metres but never reaching the summit.

Web: www.ferranlatorre.com

(Gijón, 1960). A fireman by profession, a member of GAME and teacher at the Spanish High Mountain School, Nacho has been in the vertical world more than thirty years, and his career has been adorned with a variety of climbing disciplines. He has done important things on rock, “big wall”, ice and also high level alpine climbing. He shared an expedition with Edurne Pasaban on Dhaulagiri in spring 2008, and once more formed part of the “14x8000” team to achieve the challenge on the expeditions to Annapurna and Shisha Pangma in 2010. Nacho brings experience and technique into Edurne’s team and in 2011 will once more be on the team in the expedition to Everest.

(Castro Urdiales, 1967) an expert in Sanitas Sports Medicine and Master in Hyperbaric Medicine, he goes with the team as the expedition’s doctor. His role since 2010 has been to ensure the state of health of all of those on the expedition, giving advice and medical care both at base camp and if any emergency situation should occur at altitude. His experience on Annapurna and Shisha Pangma have made him another member of the team. With Sanitas as the Official Medical Supplier, Edurne and her team join the group of elite sportspeople who in recent years have received the knowledge and medical support of the health specialists: Valencia and Villareal football clubs, the Real Madrid football and basketball squads and the Desafío Español America’s Cup team in 2007, when Dr. Día-Munío took part as the doctor and team member.