Araceli Segarra - Extreme Mountaineer and Beauty
Posted by CosmicTripper in Araceli Segarra Extreme Mountaineer Beauty
Although perhaps not (yet) a household name in the UK, Catalan climber Araceli Segarra is an international mountaineering superstar. As the first Spanish woman to climb Everest she was certainly assured of fame in the record books but what sets her apart from most other mountaineers is the extraordinary range of her activities. The received wisdom that women are good at multi-tasking is, literally, taken to extremes by Segarra, who not only continues a highly successful career as a world-class mountaineer (with ascents of Himalayan 8000m giants such as Xixa-Pangma and Broad Peak to her credit plus numerous extreme alpine and ice climbs in Europe and the Americas) but also regularly appears on the front covers of fashion magazines and is a much in-demand model; among her cover girl credits are Vogue and Elle. But Segarra isn’t simply a celebrity climber; she may have been the undoubted star of the the most successful large-format film ever made, the 1998 IMAX Everest film which grossed $120 million, but her roots and heart still lie in the mountains, as mountaineering historian Audrey Salkeld noted. “What is great about her is her passion and seriousness about climbing,” says Salkeld. 'You can really see the Catalan in her. She looks like she's been painted by Picasso. There's an abiding sense in her of the place she has come from, which gives her a lot of strength.” There is also a disarming self-deprecation and humour about Segarra. Explaining her beginnings as a caver, exploring the subterranean depths of the limestone hills of her hometown of Lérida in the Pyrenees, she jokes, 'I met lots of men, and thought: "Hey! That's the life for me!" But then I saw the light and went climbing instead.”
And despite being a catwalk model Araceli continues to earn the respect of her climbing peers by her commitment to the ‘real thing’. In addition to numerous expeditions to the Himalaya and Andes she has climbed big walls in Yosemite, (including the famous Nose of El Capitan), Grade VI ice climbs and continues to rock climb at a high 7b level of difficulty. “You never know what you'll be doing next”, she says when explaining why she is drawn to climbing. “It gives me the energy to be creative, to have new ideas, instead of knowing how I'll spend tomorrow and the rest of my life. That's wonderful.”
Araceli's website http://www.aracelisegarra.com/
Watch a video of Araceli at Everest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgqdBUVULLE
