Press Contact:
Rachel S. Brittin, coordinator of publicity
[email protected] or (540) 362-6451, Hollins University
April 25 2000
World Renowned Mountain Climber Announced Commencement Speaker 2000
Charlotte Fox, the only American woman to climb three of the world's 8,000 meter peaks (Gasherbrum II, Cho Oyu, Everest), is the commencement speaker for Hollins University's 158th graduation ceremony in Roanoke, Virginia. The commencement exercises begin at 10:00 a.m., Sunday, May 21, on Hollins' historic Front Quadrangle. She will ironically be speaking during a 3 week period where climbers annually climb Mount Everest.
One of the most accomplished mountain climbers in the world, Fox is one of a few hundred to summit Mount Everest. A 1979 graduate of Hollins, she gained national attention on May 10, 1996 when she was caught in an unexpected storm on the mountain which killed eight other climbers including 34-year climbing verteran Rob Hall. Fox faced the ultimate test of strong will, surviving with frostbitten toes. Many of her friends were not so lucky. The entire ordeal is documented in Jon Krakauer's national bestseller, Into Thin Air. A year later in 1997, Hollins dedicated the Charlotte Fox Climbing Wall in her honor and inducted her into the Hollins Athletic Hall of Fame.
Fox has climbed all over the world, including the high peaks of Pakistan, Tibet (China), Nepal, Peru, Argentina, Antarctica, Alaska, Africa, and Europe. She has also climbed Mt. McKinley, the tallest peak in North America, as well as Aconcagua and Huascaran in South America, which are the two tallest peaks in the Western Hemisphere, as well as Vinson, the tallest peak in Antarctica. She is the only woman to descend the northeast face of North Maroon Peak in the Maroon Bells on skis. In fall 1998, she was the only woman on an expedition to 8,000-meter Annapurna I, on the difficult South Face. Originally from Richmond, VA, she now lives in Aspen, Colorado, where she is a professional ski patroller at Snowmass Ski Area.
Hollins is a distinguished national liberal arts university, founded in 1842 as Virginia's first chartered women's college. Coed graduate programs were established in 1958. Hollins emphasizes a broad liberal arts curriculum that offers strong career preparation, superior teaching, and extensive study abroad and internship opportunities. Hollins University has long been recognized for the hundreds of well-known writers it has produced - among them Annie Dillard, Lee Smith, Margaret Wise Brown, Madison Smartt Bell, Kiran Desai, Margaret Gibson, Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey, Jill McCorkle, and Henry Taylor. Hollins is included in Barron's Best Buys in College Education and ranks in the top 10 in The Princeton Review for quality of life and students happy with financial aid.
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