Vanessa Archontidou and Christina Flampouri are two Greek women with the dream to conquer the world’s highest summits, and bring Greece to the top.
With five peaks already down and two more to go, if they succeed they’ll be the first ever Greek women to do so.
Even though they both call themselves “ordinary”, nothing about their life goal, or their effort is.
While many women in their shoes – juggling careers and families- can’t make it to the gym more than three times a week, Vanessa and Christina train harder than most athletes, climbing four nearby mountains a week, weightlifting and doing crazy rounds of cardio in order to prepare for their next mission which requires them to be able to carry nearly 40 kilograms of equipment each.
The duo has also set up an online page, a cause called ‘A woman can be’ and aside from supporting their alpine ventures they try to empower while changing the world’s perceptions around what a woman can be.
Their motto is “a woman can be a professional, a mother, a housewife, a climber”.
Both hard-working professionals in multinational companies, with their mountaineering team, they have already conquered the Aconcagua Mountain (6962 m.) in Argentina, reached the top of Mount Kilimanjaro (5892 m.), the highest peak in Africa; the Elbrus Mountain (5642 m.) in Russia and Denali Mountain (or McKinley) (6190 m.) in Alaska, USA. They stood at the peak of Mount Puncak Jaya (4884 m.) in Indonesia and are just about to nail Mount Everest (8848 m .), the earth’s highest mountain following the ‘Messner version’; then they will take on Antarctica’s highest, the Vincennes Mountain (4892 m.).
With Nick Mangitsis as their coach, the only Greek that has climbed the ‘7 summits’ and the first and only Greek ever to step on the North and South Pole, they have nothing to be afraid of.
Mangitsis has organised and led more than 42 mountain expeditions has prepared them well.
“We try to practice four times a week; either it is indoors or outdoors,” said Vanessa, who is also a mother of two.
“We try once a week to go to Parnitha or Ymittos, close to Attica we were live. So, before going to the office we go to Parnitha where there is a 600-meter ascent called the Little Stairs. For us, it’s very important to be honest because we know that mountaineering is a sport that some people see as being very competitive…
“We went to Denali, and a few meters under the peak, we decided to hold hands and step on the peak together,” she explained, stressing the importance of teamwork although it is “The mountain [trhat] has the last word”.
Although they are both quite fearless, their main challenge and stress revolves around financing their expeditions. Tanks to donations that reached about $11,000 that covers training, travel costs and supplies, their Everest mission is not set to commence on 5 April and is expected to be completed by the end of May.
“Because we are not rich, and we do this as a hobby, we try to make this a symbolic action to help other people understand. When you have a goal, even if it’s not a mountaineering goal, if it’s something that you truly believe in and even if you have obstacles in your way — like being a parent, or ‘I’m working a lot and I cannot do it’ — there is no obstacle,” she adds, making it clear that they are neither superwomen nor super fit.
They are both adamant that most people can do what they do: “We say that we’re two ordinary women that just have a goal on their mind and by having this persistence and this dream and this goal, we can do everything.”
“You can be happy, you can do whatever you want and you have a program and a vision.”
The Hellenic duo will approach the Himalayas from the north side and from the foot of the mountain till they reach 5,306 metres they will also have an Internet connection and will be sharing updates. From there on, the two ladies will be on their own.
“In moments of danger our Adrenalin is so high that we don’t realise it,” she says recalling an incident where she lost Vanessa who fell and got stuck in a crevasse within a glacier.
“We have a GPS device that every night sends a report to our team sharing our coordinates,” explains Christina who is responsible for the mapping. “There is also an SOS button which, thankfully, we’ve never had to use.”