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To the Greatest Heights

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About this listen

When Vanessa O'Brien was made redundant in 2008 as part of the recession, she moved to Hong Kong with her husband for his career and resigned herself to being 'just the wife'. There she was, aged 46, bored, uninspired, unemployed. Was this going to be how she was going to live the rest of her life?

One night in the infamous Kee Club, over shots of tequila, a friend suggested O'Brien climb Everest and that was the start of an epic journey she never looked back from as she climbed Everest, K2 and many other mountains.

This is her inspirational story. As O'Brien says, she couldn't explain to her listeners how she got to the top of K2 at the age of 52 without being honest about what came before. In To the Greatest Heights, she reveals the trials and tribulations of her difficult childhood and the result is a life-affirming book that shows how she achieved these climbs in spite of and because of her past.

To listen to To the Greatest Heights is to know that there is a path to overcoming the worst of what happens to us, a path that helps us reach the summit of our lives, too, whatever our age.

©2021 Vanessa O'Brien (P)2021 Simon & Schuster Adventure Travel Adventurers, Explorers & Survival Climbing & Mountaineering Outdoors & Nature Women Marriage Sports China

Critic reviews

"What a wonderful, honest, refreshing book, full of free-spirited adventure, humour and profound thoughts to provide inspiration to anyone who simply dreams of getting out and doing their own thing." (Sir Chris Bonington)

"Ernest Shackleton listed those qualities an explorer should possess over a century ago: optimism, patience, idealism with imagination and courage. Vanessa's qualities are truly akin to these." (Alexandra Shackleton)
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I put off buying this because I expected a book about buying your way up mountains but - given the lack of women's voices in mountain literature - thought I'd give it a go. I think if you want a climbing book, you're probs not going to enjoy it, but as a story it's actually more enjoyable than quite a few audio books penned by professional female climbers.

O'Brien's commitment to her objectives is admirable, but it still seems to be a story of money over skill and the issue of relying on risking the lives of under-rewarded local populations is left well alone. There's also talk of loving the environment while jetting around to incredibly delicate areas, and no talk of what happens to her expedition debris.

The EGS seems to be a tick list, there's no real feeling from the author towards the spirit of wild places. But while it's a sterile adventure, it is interesting to hear from the someone who can repeatedly sign up to challenges in this way, and I have a lot of respect for the author, her story and the way she soeaks her mind.

The narration doesn't help...

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Boring !!!! Sounds like a computer is reading !!! I tried & tried to
Listen to this book but it’s just boring with the voice sounding like a computer! Couldn’t finish it ! Maybe u need to be a climber to appreciate it !!!

Don’t bother

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