Marianne Schwankhart

Marianne Schwankhart started climbing in 1996 while studying fine arts at Wits Technikon, Johannesburg. By the end of 1998, she moved to England temporarily to have easier access to European climbing areas. During this time, she climbed extensively in Wales, France and Spain.

In 1999, she spent 6 months in the USA climbing in nine different states. She started big wall climbing and aiding in Yosemite, climbing some of the classic lines on El Capitan and The Leaning Tower. She returned to South Africa in 2001 after spending more time in Europe and enrolled in a Photography course. 2002 Marianne started a career in Photo-Journalism at the Sunday Times, still climbing in her spare time and opening new routes around South Africa and Namibia.

At the end of 2003, she was part of a team of six South Africans to repeat the South African route on the east face of the central Torres del Paine, Chile, opened 30 years ago and never repeated again. Marianne became the first and so far only woman to climb the east face of the central tower.

2005 she climbed Cerro Torre on the Argentinean side of Patagonia. Later that same year, she climbed the Trango Tower in Pakistan. 2006 Marianne joined Mike Blyth and James Pitman on their journey to film "No Need for Parking". She got married later that same year. 2008 Marianne returned to Chile to climb all three of the Torres del Paine, and to date she is the only woman to have climbed all three.

Marianne lives in Johannesburg with her husband, Oliver, and currently works for The Times newspaper.