Nancy Joanne Hansen (born 1968) is a Canadian sport climber and mountaineer. She is an ambassador for the Alpine Club of Canada and has been a professional alpinist for nearly thirty years.
Life
editHansen moved to Canmore, Alberta in 1993[1] and began climbing in 1995.[2] By 2003, she had summitted all 54 of Canada's peaks above 11,000 feet, becoming the first woman, and sixth person ever to do so.[3]
Hansen grew up on a rural property near Edmonton. She fell in love with climbing after a trip to Mount Fay, despite terrible conditions where she nearly became hypothermic.[2] She is known for her mountain, rock and ice climbing in North America, after completing 46 of the 50 routes in the guidebook Fifty Classic Climbs of North America.[4][5] She has gone on to climb across many regions of the world, including the Himalayas, Antarctica,[6] Thailand,[7] Europe[8][9] and South America.
In 2010, Hansen, alongside her climbing partners Felix Camire and Doug Fulford were selected by park rangers at Denali National Park to receive the Mislow-Swanson Denali Pro Award, for their assistance in rescuing a guide who was suffering altitude sickness.[10][11]
In 2014, she won the Guy Lacelle Pure Spirit Award for reaching the "11,000er club".[12] That year, she made plans to climb Mount Everest with Ralf Dujmovits after meeting him at the Banff Mountain Film Festival, where she worked at the time. She travelled to the Alps to train for the attempt via the Norton Couloir.[13] She was attempting to become the first woman from North America to summit the peak without supplementary oxygen.[14] After arriving in the Himalayas, their plans were delayed due to the 2015 Nepali Earthquake.[2] That year she also attempted Gasherbrum IV, but had to turn around at 6,400 after conditions deteriorated.[15]
In 2016, she and Dujmovits attempted the first summit of the unclimbed Praqpa Kangri (7,134m),[16] winning a grant from the Shipton-Tilman grant program to support the climb.[17] The pair were unsuccessful, after a two month expedition, they reached 6,300 meters before descending due to snow conditions.[18]
The following year, Hansen and Dujmovits traveled to Nepal where they summitted the south-west ridge of Cholatse (6,440m) after a seven day trek.[19]
In 2018, Hansen and Dujmovits took part in a hypoxia study at the German Aerospace Centre to measure the impact of low oxygen environments on the brain.[20] For the study, they spent weeks living at the Centre in a low oxygen environment.[21][22]
Several years after becoming climbing partners in 2015, Hansen and Dujmovits married, taking their honeymoon in Antarctica.[6] In 2021, the two returned to the Himalayas and made an attempt on the unclimbed Biarchedi I (6,781 m). The pair were unsuccessful after heavy snowfall prevented their summit attempt.[23]
References
edit- ^ "Accessorizing With Nancy | Miguelito's Little Green Car. We are all connected". Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ a b c "Nancy Hansen's Radical Approach". Kristy Davison. 2015-09-17. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ "The Good Book: Revisiting The Fifty Classic Climbs". Climbing. 2013-06-28. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ gripped (2021-03-16). "Canadian Nancy Hansen Heading to Karakoram in 2021". Gripped Magazine. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ Kassar, Chris (2017-09-12). "Committed: The Epic Quest to Climb the 50 Classics". Climbing. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ a b "Hitchhiking and Honeymooning in Antarctica (PART I)". Aspects. 2019-03-21. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ gripped (2016-05-12). "Nancy Hansen's Awesome Trip to Southeast Asia for Sport Climbing and Travel". Gripped Magazine. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ "Granite rock and scenic hikes in Chamonix". Aspects. 2020-02-15. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ "Fall climbing vacation: Leonidio or Kalymnos, Greece?". Aspects. 2019-06-23. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ "Mislow-Swanson Denali Pro Award - Denali National Park & Preserve (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ "AAC Publications - North America, United States, Alaska, Alaska Range, Denali National Park and Preserve, Summary". publications.americanalpineclub.org. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ Magazine, Gripped (2015-02-05). "Canadian Nancy Hansen Attempting Everest From Tibet". Gripped Magazine. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ "NANCY HANSEN: FEAR, MOTIVATION AND MT. EVEREST". Wildly Supply Co. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ Magazine, Gripped (2015-04-23). "Everest: Nancy Hansen's O2-Free Record Attempt". Gripped Magazine. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ gripped (2021-03-16). "Canadian Nancy Hansen Heading to Karakoram in 2021". Gripped Magazine. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ gripped (2016-05-16). "Nancy Hansen and Ralf Dujmovits Prepare for Unclimbed 7,000-metre Karakorum Peaks". Gripped Magazine. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ gripped (2016-05-16). "Canadians Receive 2016 Shipton-Tilman Award for Big Objectives". Gripped Magazine. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ "AAC Publications - Gasherbrum VI, Southwest Ridge, Attempt; Praqpa Ri, East-Southeast Ridge, Attempt". publications.americanalpineclub.org. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ "Success on Cholatse". Aspects. 2017-04-28. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ "Life at 7000m (PART I)". Aspects. 2018-05-28. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ "Ralf Dujmovits". www.dlr.de. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ "Thin-air therapy: The unexpected medical benefits of hypoxia". New Scientist. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ "Dujmovits and Hansen updates - Biarchedi I". Everest Mountain. 2021-07-08. Retrieved 2024-07-24.