World ExpeditionsBig Adventures. Small Footprint.https://assets.worldexpeditions.com/BlogIntroducing Lydia Bradey, female Everest pioneerhttps://assets.worldexpeditions.com/Blog/PostId/5145/lydia-bradey-to-guide-bhutan-for-world-expeditionsActivities,MountaineeringSun, 25 Jul 2021 05:42:00 GMT<p>Lydia Bradey is one of the foremost mountain athletes on earth. </p> <p>She was the first woman to summit Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen in 1988, she’s been to 8000-metre summits ten times, and she’s been on a total of 35 expeditions to peaks over 6000 metres.  </p> <p>All told she has made six ascents of Everest, and she has guided it successfully five times.  Lydia said she looks forward to the adventure, and ensures Bhutan will dazzle any visitor.  Lydia began her climbing career as a teen when she did her first wilderness trip at age 14. </p> <p>By age 17 she had ticked Aoraki [Mount Cook] and Tititea [Mount Aspiring] and was a regular climbing partner of New Zealand’s legendary team of Rob Hall and Gary Ball.  At the ripe old age of 19, she left New Zealand for four years, spending the time climbing in Alaska and Yosemite Valley, where she did ten big wall routes, seven of which were firsts for a woman. </p> <p>Lydia is interested in the motivational aspect of climbing, and she enjoys sharing stories about her own fears and insecurities to achieve success in the mountain arena. Lydia graduated from the University of Auckland in 1994 with a degree in physiotherapy. </p> <p>In 1998 she went on to complete a certificate of acupuncture. She also became a highly regarded IFMGA [International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations] mountain and ski guide in 2000.  </p> <p>Since then, she has worked as an alpine guide for various worldwide adventure travel firms while based in Wanaka on the South Island. </p> <p>Lydia was the subject of Laurence Fearnley’s biography, Lydia Bradey: Going Up is Easy. In the 2020 New Year Honours, Bradey was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to mountaineering.  </p> <p>Her expeditions have taken her to Alaska, Bhutan, China, Europe, India, Nepal, and Pakistan.</p> 5145