Episode 113: The Air We Breathe
Erin Parisi is on a mission to become the first trans woman to summit the highest mountain peaks on all seven continents. She’s conquered five of them and wants to save Mount Everest for last, but one mountain keeps standing in her way.
Megan Feighery
From Wyoming Public Media, this is HumaNature. Real stories, where humans and our habitat meet. I'm Megan Feighery. This time a trans woman reclaims her identity on the highest mountains in the world.
Erin Parisi
I decided that I wanted to climb to the highest point on every continent because I was at a low point, and I decided that I would take the exact opposite of whatever I had done my whole life in order to undo it and find myself.
Megan Feighery
Erin Parisi always loved to climb.
Erin Parisi
I definitely climbed a lot of trees. There's all these pictures of me at all different ages and sizes just hanging out in trees. I don't know why...climbing trees of all things. Guess there was nothing else to climb in Buffalo, New York. I grew up in a big family. So, I think we were outdoorsy just by virtue of not wanting to drive my parents insane. I have four siblings. So, we really didn't get too far from home ever. Age spread was pretty wide. So, we never really hit that sweet spot where five kids could travel with our parents. Right after I graduated college, I went on like quintessential national parks tour. My partner at the time and I spent like two months driving around the national parks. And I think that was like the first time I actually just ever got out of my hometown and away for more than a weekend.
Megan Feighery
That sparked a passion for travel. In her mid-20s, Erin got her first passport and went to Peru. She hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. She says she thinks a lot about that first trip, because by the time she went, a lot had changed. Erin is transgender.
Erin Parisi
I mean, that first trip I look back on it, you know, I was I was young. I was traveling for the first time not necessarily understanding some of the risks associated with you know, trusting people or not. I had instincts but I had kind of small town like suburban instincts, I guess. I mean, I do look back at some of my earlier trips like that, and just wonder if...I know I wouldn't do the trips in the same way. Again, I think I'd find the same places, but maybe not, not the same way.
Megan Feighery
Erin continued to travel all over the US and abroad. And the more she traveled, the more she started to hear about the seven summits, the highest peaks on each continent. As a side note, there is some dispute over the seven summits, there isn't a universally agreed upon list. But for the purposes of this episode, we're going to go with the seven that Erin chose. Mount Kosciuszko in Australia, Mount Elbrus in Europe, Aconcagua in South America, Mount Vinson in Antarctica, Denali in the United States, Kilimanjaro in Africa, and of course, Mount Everest in Asia. In recent years, it's become more and more popular for people to tackle the challenge of climbing all seven, including Erin.
Erin Parisi
I decided that I wanted to climb to the highest point on every continent because I was at a low point. And I very much didn't feel safe traveling. I didn't feel safe in social situations in a lot of places. And I knew that I loved traveling, and I decided that if hiding my whole life had gotten me to this low point, I would take the exact opposite of whatever I had done my whole life in order to undo and find myself. It began to speak to me as this goal of you know, I can feel safe traveling again, and I can have something to work towards and I could engage my body and my mind and kind of regain my life on my terms and do something that was counterintuitive, which was hiding my whole I said I was gonna stand on the highest point really spoke to me as a way to self-actualize.
Megan Feighery
Erin started her challenge in 2017. By then she had relocated to Denver, which made training easier due to the high altitude and access to the mountains. Erin decided her first mountain would be the one with the lowest elevation, Mount Kosciuszko.
Erin Parisi
The first one was definitely major exhale, because I hadn't traveled in a couple of years. I wasn't venturing out of my neighborhood very much. You know, for a while after I started to transition, I was pretty afraid of even like the grocery store and stuff. There's a lot of positive feedback. But there's a lot of negative feedback too. I did have some negative incidents early on in my transition that made me feel more comfortable not exploring the world. When I got to the top of Mount Kosciuszko, there was a big exhale that moment, where I was like, alright, I'm pretty far from home and pretty far outside that comfort zone. That was a sense of relief that the worst might have been over. And that I had it in me to at least have gotten there and claimed that.
Megan Feighery
It was a big win, one peak down, six to go. And it really spurred her on.
Erin Parisi
Well, I had a lot of success. early on. I climbed four of the Seven Summits in under a year. I think the reliance of climbers on their teams struck me. To me it was this woman versus nature kind of story where I was going to go out and take on myself, take on the mountain and persevere. And I think when I really got out there and realized how much I was going to rely on others, you constantly see these stats, 30% of people don't support trans people or however they put it. And then you realize you get out in the field that possibly you're gonna attach yourself to a rope with somebody like that. And you're gonna count on them with your life. And that's scary. But on the other side of that I have that many people at least who want to see me succeed.
Megan Feighery
Along with Mount Kosciuszko Erin summitted Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Mount Elbrus in Russia, Aconcagua in Argentina, and her favorite so far.
Erin Parisi
Vinson Massif in Antarctica is definitely the summit where I looked so hard to find somebody who had told the story like that before it, you know, trans representation in polar exploration. And there just wasn't anything there. You know, when I finished that mountain and came home, I had a lot of DMS and emails from people who saw it, and we're so proud of the community for having seen that story hit the news and kind of go viral. And to know that I'd made an impact in those lives for those families and those people was really heartwarming. It's also I think, the moment that I realized in my own life that I had created representation that I didn't have as a kid. It just seemed like every story that I ever read about trans people growing up, you know, it was death, destitution, or discrimination. And finally, I had created a story that I had craved as a kid for so long, and it was a big adventure and of living your life. When I look at Antarctic it was that point when I had this moment of self-actualizing. It didn't matter if I hadn't seen somebody do it before me, like I was gonna go out and do it anyway.
Megan Feighery
Erin likes to celebrate in her own special way, when she gets to the summit.
Erin Parisi
I usually take out a trans flag. It is that moment when you become so vulnerable, not just to your team, but to everyone that's on the mountain. Bust out that flag and then knowing you've got to get off the mountain after having just displayed that information. On any given mountain that I'm on there are people from countries where being trans or gay is punishable by death. It's a realization, but I think when you get to the top of the mountain, there's this adrenaline rush and you're going through kind of what it means. And at that point, pride has always kind of won you know how proud I am that I've made it to the top and I'm representing the community and just feel like I can't hold it in and I just bust out that flag and show it off. Then I usually get down and say goodbye to my team and kind of disappear.
Megan Feighery
Erin was on a roll. She only had two peaks left and she wanted to finish with the biggest of them all. Mount Everest, which meant Denali was next.
Erin Parisi
I have never climbed it and I will never conquer it. It'll outlive me. The first time I was out there, we got nailed with some pretty bad weather and I got a pretty nasty hand injury. So, we had some pretty tough luck. Last year, I got COVID the day we were going to advance to 14,000. So, I was lucky I didn't get helicopter evacuated with COVID. A lot of people were getting pulled off in helicopters, but I was able to pull myself up the mountain, but can't climb higher with COVID. And then this year got struck with weather again, you really get us very narrow window and you're really trying to just get yourself in and then wait for a weather window and you know, I've been training for it for three years. And then you realize your weather window is not going to open up.
Megan Feighery
I spoke to Erin in 2023. So, her third attempt was actually last year. Denali is Erin's white whale, it's a temperamental mountain with a very short climbing window.
Erin Parisi
Starts in like late April and ends by the Fourth of July, probably 95% of summits are happening in that little window. And it's because before that it's just so nasty of weather. And then after that the snow for the season kind of melts off and you get into this major crevasse risk. In between there are snowstorms that can last a week or more. The mountain just throws so many things that you from so many different directions. If it's not too cold, it's too hot. Not too cold or too hot, it's too windy. There can be so many things that stop your chance to keep moving. Crazy thing about Denali is how you get to like 13 or right below 14,000 camp, you can't touch something that's not ice or snow. Really no animals, they get these giant crows, and they get up to like 17,000 feet and they literally will dig out your pack from underneath the snowpack. Don't cache at four feet or six feet under the snow they will dig your food out and eat it there's nothing up there except snow and ice and somehow these crows get up there and get into your cache.
Megan Feighery
Some consider Denali the most difficult of all the seven summits.
Erin Parisi
There's no way around it. Denali is a very physical mountain; it takes a lot of effort to carry that much weight up there. There are no shortcuts. It's you and the mountain. There's no cell phone reception. You know, the National Park Service might bury some caches or some emergency supplies out there. But there's not any sort of huts. There's still no permanent structures on it. You really do it on your own. And I've got a lot of respect for Denali.
Megan Feighery
Erin says she wants to take some time off from climbing.
Erin Parisi
I don't think 2024 will be my year. I've already kind of decided that given you know that I've been on that mountain for over 50 days in the last three years, I'm going to take a break.
Megan Feighery
I asked Erin how she feels about her goal now.
Erin Parisi
I wanted it to be done pretty quickly. I wanted to put my story down. But ultimately, I don't like the visibility of it. So, I figured I'd be done by now. I think the number was really important to me when I first started. And as time went on, I began to value the experience more the friends that I made the things that I learned the confidence that I gained the window to the world that I had kind of taken back. I wouldn't say I would be okay with five. I think it'll always bug me if I don't go out and get all seven.
Megan Feighery
As far as she knows, Erin would be the first trans person to complete the Seven Summits and her story has put her in the spotlight. She has been interviewed by countless news organizations and magazines, including National Geographic.
Erin Parisi
It's a two-edged sword. I get a lot of negative messages. First off, it is nice when somebody sends you something positive. I don't see myself as a role model. Just doing what I thought I couldn't do and proving myself wrong. Like, I thought I had lost this thing, and now I'm getting it back. The thing with visibility is that we need the representation and people who are willing to be visible. You know, you have a certain shelf life of your visibility it seems like as a trans person, a lot of the time. Trans people just want to go out and be themselves and do their thing and blend in. They're not trying to be the example that everybody knows and sees. You know, answers all the questions and all those things. We just want to live our lives and do the things we love. People that are having some success fighting this battle against trans people can do that because most people don't know a trans person. These human stories of actual trans people are the best thing that we have to kind of fight back against the efforts to dehumanize us. I think that it creates this pressure, though, on people as minorities, and you know, vulnerable populations, that we both have to be visible in order to humanize ourselves, but nobody should ever have to feel visible or vulnerable in order to feel humanized. That's the quandary, I think. It is a very small piece of who you are. It's also the air that you breathe. There's so much life to be lived as yourself. There's no reason to live as someone else. I finally took a step towards my own happiness and put other people's expectations behind me and found that I was right all along. It's hard, everyone has a lot of doubts. If we're waiting for 100% certainty to do anything, we're never going to do anything. But I think taking the step to transition was probably the one thing I had the biggest doubt about in my life, and it has led to the most happiness. I understand for some reason it's made me controversial. Take some abuse from certain people in society but God I found true friends and happiness pursuing who I knew I was all along.
Megan Feighery
Our storyteller today was Erin Parisi. Erin still says she's taking a break this year and doesn't know when she'll climb again. But she still wants to complete her goal. Then when she's finished, she wants to take a big old nap, and then maybe learn how to sail. Erin also runs a nonprofit called transcending. It's dedicated to supporting and empowering trans athletes’ mental health. It's a really cool organization, so definitely make sure to check it out. For photos from this episode, follow us on social media. We're @humanaturepodcast on Instagram and Facebook. On X, formerly known as Twitter. We're @humanaturepod. This is our last episode of the season. But HumaNature will be back in the spring. And right now, we're looking for stories. So, if you or someone you know has a story to share, let us know. We are so happy when we hear from our listeners and who knows you could be featured on an upcoming season. I'm Megan Feighery. This episode was produced by me with help from Melodie Edwards and Steven Carroll. Our theme song is by Caught a Ghost. HumaNature is a production of Wyoming Public Media.