The image cemented what Folkerts already knew: “Death on Everest is not a myth, but a reality.”
In 2008, Folkerts committed her life to climbing. From there, hours of daily conditioning at Dillon Gymnasium and school breaks spent summiting mountains prepared her for the final step. Last year, Folkerts took a one-year leave of absence from the University and became the youngest European woman and youngest German to conquer one of the world’s great challenges: Mount Everest.
Having seen the view from the top of the world — albeit a view blinded by snow cutting through the air — Folkerts has returned to campus for her senior year with a new perspective on what matters in life.
Committing to climb
Folkerts became hooked on climbing soon after taking a course in Switzerland after her sophomore year. “I climb because I love the physical exertion, the mental focus, the teamwork, the immersion in nature and isolation from the modern world,” she said in an e-mail.
Folkerts explained that it was this passion — and not a desire to prove herself to anyone else — that started her on the path to Everest, the world’s highest peak. “Is it worth the risk of getting flattened by glacial collapse, or falling off the Lhotse Face, or losing digits in the cold, just to gloat about having climbed the highest mountain? No way!”
Folkerts’ mother Elena recalled that her daughter’s decision to climb Everest came as a surprise to her family. “However, Vanessa made a case so convincing that I thought it was, at the very least, a good training exercise as a future trial lawyer.”
“My relatives love to point out that according to family background, my genes are all wrong for mountaineering,” Folkerts said. “Half of my family lives in the German lowlands bordering the North Sea — the very flattest, lowest part of Europe.”
Folkerts said that her family was comfortable with her pursuit because they realize she is not “a desperate peak-bagger who would give up life and limb for a summit,” having seen her turn around on previous climbs for safety.
“We were confident that her resolve would be tested by the administrative hoops that Princeton would put her through as well as the reaction of numerous faculty, students, friends and relatives whom she consulted with,” her mother explained. But, she said, Folkerts “emerged more committed than ever.”
Path to ascent
In the spring of her sophomore year, Folkerts made a commitment to get into climbing shape, devising a plan that would allow her to qualify for a Himalayan expedition by fall 2009. During the school term, she spent between two and four hours each day performing a mix of aerobic exercise and strength training to prepare for the physical demands of climbing.
Itai Boublil, a trainer at Stephens Fitness Center who worked with Folkerts, said he wasn’t aware of the scope of Folkerts’ ambition, despite playing an intergral role in her training at the University.
“I saw a person with a dream,” he recalled. “She simply wanted to climb, and she never raved about where she’ll go.”
During school breaks, Folkerts gained as much mountain experience as possible. The sport “hinges crucially on in-field competence,” she explained. “You can spend hundreds of hours sweating it out on the Stepmaster, but ultimately nothing substitutes for real experience in altitude climbing ... The more time you spend on crampons [the metal spikes fitted to climbing boots which facilitate movement across snow and ice], handling rope systems and acclimatizing to high altitude, the better your chances of safe and successful mountaineering.”
Training became Folkerts’ full-time vocation after completing her junior year at the University.
By late spring, she was three weeks away from beginning her ascent when a fluke accident almost derailed her. While ice climbing in Switzerland, Folkerts decided to join local children who were out sledding. On her “second attempt at mimicking the little devils,” her sled “rammed into the side of the track and forced my leg into a direction it was not meant to go,” she said. Though she tore her medial collateral ligament in her knee, she was able to push through the injury and begin her ascent.
Climbing Mount Everest is not an individual pursuit. Rather, Folkerts was part of a team of climbers that grew closer as they neared the top.
At 5,300 meters, Folkerts’ fellow climbers, who were not aware that she could potentially set records with her climb, surprised her with a gift. Folkerts had spoken with them about her other passion playing violin, and her teammates arranged for an instrument to be delivered up the mountain. She played songs by Bach, Rachmaninov and Kreisler while on the mountain, performing at quite possibly the highest altitude ever for a classical concert.
Come May 24, it was time to approach the top. “On summit day, she was extremely strong,” climbing teammate Victor Vescovo said. “I was struggling to keep my feet warm, so she and the other female summitteer, Alison Levine, became the vanguard of the summit team.”
Vescovo added that he could not understand where she got all her energy and that Folkerts impressed everyone with her “obvious intelligence, refinement, strength and quiet reserve.”
On that day, at 21 years of age, Folkerts became the youngest European woman and the youngest German — male or female — to summit Mount Everest.
Back down to earth
Once atop the world’s highest mountain, Folkerts reached for her satellite phone. After her parents did not pick up — it was 5 a.m. in Germany — she dialed the number for her grandmother.
“The one person in my family who I can always reach, despite the fact that she does not have a cell phone or internet access, is my 83-year-old grandma,” she explained. “I punched in her number on the satellite phone, and after 10 eternal seconds, heard that same unchanging voice chime ‘Folkerts.’ ”
But, Folkerts said, reaching the highest peak of the world was only the “halfway marker.”
“You have not ‘made it’ until you are safely back at base camp,” she explained. “That is when the sherpas pull out the crates of Everest-label beers and dance for hours in celebration of a successful expedition.”
Folkerts described her experience away from Princeton as “stopping the clock to regain perspective,” giving her the time to push herself psychologically and physically while viewing the world through a new lens.
“I simply had the opportunity to go climbing for climbing’s sake and to learn a little about the world. That is a tremendous privilege,” she added.
And for Folkerts, her world record isn’t the biggest achievement. Rather, she said, the climb offered her the opportunity to discover her vocation: medicine.
“In the Solukhumbu region of Nepal, I visited clinics run by the Himalayan Rescue Association and marveled at the services which volunteer doctors were able to provide in one of the remotest corners of the earth,” she explained. “I would happily give up my Everest record for the chance to contribute to their efforts some day.”
And though she’s reached the highest peak, Folkerts said isn’t done with climbing. “Everybody knows about Everest, but how many know about mixed climbing on the Grandes Jorasses in the Alps? Or aid climbing on rock walls in Yosemite? Or ice climbing on frozen waterfalls in Norway?”
For now, though, Folkerts wants to focus on her senior thesis and medical school applications. “Fortunately, mountains don’t run away,” she said.
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