Anna Czerwińska is a Polish mountaineer. She is known for being the oldest woman to Summit Mount Everest at the age of 50. She has also published several books about mountaineering. The first Polish woman to reach the Seven Summits. She is D.S. but she left medicine science for the mountains and now is a business woman. She owns a purchasing firm. She has been climbing for 33 years, usually in all-women teams. In summer 1977 with Krystyna Palmowska she climbed the North Face of the Matterhorn. This was the first time women climbed such a difficult wall. In 1978 with Krystyna Palmowska, Wanda Rutkiewicz and Irena Kesa she climbed the North Face of the Matterhorn in winter. Again they were the first women to succeed and it created a sensation in the European mountaineering world. Anna Czerwińska was a member of the Polish Gasherbrums Expedition in 1975. In 1979 with Krystyna Palmowska they climbed a new route, Rakaposhi. It was only a two women expedition. Czerwińska tried to reach the top of K2 three times: in 1982, 1984 and 1986, the last time she was a witness to tragedy when 13 climbers died on the mountain. On July 15, 1985 she was on the summit of Nanga Parbat with Wanda Rutkiewicz and Krystyna Palmowska - the first women team on the top without support of men. She tried two times to climb Kanchenjunga: in 1980 and in 1990 as a leader of the expedition. She led the Makalu Expedition in 1988 and was also a member of the Makalu Expedition in the winter of 1990. For five years she “collected” the highest summits of the continents: Aconcagua and Kilimanjaro in 1995 r.; Mount McKinley, Elbrus and Mount Kosciuszko in 1996 r.; Mount Vinson in 1998 r.; Carstensz Pyramidin 1999 r.; Mount Everest 5/22/2000. On 10/6/00 she climbed Shishapangma. She is the author or coauthor of many books about climbing on Matterhorn, Gasherbrum, Broad Peak, Nanga Parbat, K2. This December she will publish her new book about the 7 Summits. She is also the oldest woman to summit Mount Everest. On May 21, 2001 Anna summitted Lhotse, then Cho Oyu on September 25, 2001.
