Allie Pepper to begin her 14 Peaks journey; Tick off Langtang trek ahead of Annapurna-I

Kathmandu: Australian female mountaineer Allie Pepper has started to pave the way towards her dream. Allie is aiming to climb all the 14 mountains above eight thousand meters in the world without supplemental oxygen in two years.

Pepper, arrived in Nepal, on a mission to pursue her dream of completing all 14 eight thousand peaks (to their true summits) without supplementary oxygen, within 2 years and looks on track to achieve it.

This spring season, Pepper is going to climb Mt. Annapurna-I, Makalu, and Kanchenjunga before heading to Pakistan to climb Nanga Parbat & K2. In Autumn she aims to climb Shishapangma and Cho Oyu. Before embarking on the remaining peaks of Gasherbrum-II, Gasherbrum-I, Dhaulagiri, Lhotse & Everest in 2025.

Annapurna-I is the 10^th highest mountain in the world, at 8,091 meters above sea level, and a perfect start to the climbing season in Nepal. Though before going to Mt. Annapurna-I, she just returned from the Langtang Valley trek. Pepper did a 4-day trek to Langtang Valley with her high-altitude guide & climbing partner, Mingtemba Sherpa (Mikel Sherpa).

According to Pepper, ‘Mikel and I are just back from Langtang Valley trek. It was a wonderful experience. I did the Langtang Valley trek in preparation for Mount Annapurna 1. We will move to Annapurna I base camp in the next week. During our trek to Langtang, we went from Syabrubeshi to Lama Hotel and Kyanjin Gumpa. From Kyanjin Gumpa we hiked to Kyanjin Ri, Tsergo Ri, and headed above Yala Kharka to 5080 meters.’

She added that during the trek to Langtang Valley, ‘I saw beautiful views of mountains around, langurs, many beautiful birds, beautiful Villages, lodges and people who were so kind to us.’

Mikel Sherpa said, ‘Allie and I did a four-day trek to Langtang Valley,  it was a wonderful experience. She is a very strong and determined woman, which shows that she will pursue her dream successfully. As we know hard work always pays off, she is doing really hard work. I already guided her during the Manaslu expedition in 2023 without supplementary oxygen. Knowing her closely it feels like she will fulfil her dream to complete all 14 Peaks without supplementary oxygen.’

Pepper and her team reached Kathmandu on March 4 this year. This spring season she has locked her eyes on scaling Mt. Annapurna I without supplementary oxygen and after that, she planned to continue to climb Mt. Kanchenjunga and Mt. Makalu. Mt. Kanchenjunga is the third-highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at 8,586 meters and Mt.Makalu is the fifth-highest mountain in the world at 8,485 meters. For her expedition, she has chosen the expedition company Seven Summit Treks.

The Sydney-based mountaineer is not new to climbing as she has her fair share of experience in the mountains after becoming the first Australian woman to summit Broad Peak (8,051m) on July 15, 2023, the 12^th highest mountain in the world, without supplemental oxygen and Mt. Manaslu (8,163m) the 5^th highest mountain in the world, without the use of supplemental oxygen on September 28, 2023.

Pepper started climbing 8000 m mountains in 2007 when she summited Mt. Cho Oyu, also without bottled oxygen. With this, 48-year-old Pepper aims to encourage women facing challenges to conquer their mental mountains.

Only 6 people have climbed all 14 peaks without supplemental Oxygen. Only 2 reached all 14 true summits and it took them around 16 years to complete.