Annabelle Bond

Annabelle Bond is known as the fastest woman climber in the world, after reaching the highest peaks on seven continents in just 360 days. After she reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 15, 2004, she was so overcome by the experience that she resolved on the awesome challenge of climbing the seven mountain summits faster than any woman had previously done.

Following her successful Everest climb, she then set off on a near 12 months of frantic activity in which she climbed Mount Elbrus (18,481ft) in Russia (Asia), Mount Kilimanjaro (19,336ft) in Tanzania (Africa), Mount Kosciusko (7,310ft) in Australia, Vinson Massif (16,067ft) in Antarctica, Mount Aconcagua (22,841ft) in Argentina (South America) and Mount Denali (20,320ft), more commonly known as Mount McKinley, in Alaska (North America). On May 10, 2005 she reached the summit of Denali, 360 days after her Everest ascent, the fastest any woman had completed the climbs and the fourth fastest ever, by man or woman. During the time, she spent five months living in a tent and raised £850,000 for her ovarian cancer charity, the Eve Appeal.

To date Annabelle has raised over £1m for this cause. Born in Singapore, she has lived in Hong Kong, Indonesia, USA, UK and Switzerland. After being educated, she went to Hong Kong to work in real estate and while there she began to exercise and became an enthusiastic endurance runner, competing in the gruelling Machlehose Trail, a 63-mile mountain marathon, for four straight years. Annabelle applied this mental discipline to mountaineering and her first climb was Aconcagua in Argentina in December 2001. She continued to scale numerous peaks above 6,000 metres in Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia before she felt ready to take on Everest.