Chris Burke
Chris, along with her climbing partner Lakpa Sherpa, has now completed 10 of the 14 peaks above 8000m, and she is back in Nepal working towards the final 4. In 2013, Chris became one of only a small handful of climbers, female or male, to reach the summit of 4 x 8,000m peaks in a 12 month period when she reached the summit of Lhotse, G1, G2 and Manaslu. Available statistics indicate she may be only the [fourth] woman in the world to complete the Gasherbrums double, to climb both G1 and G2 in a single season. She reached the summit of 5 x 8,000m peaks in 1 year and 12 days (not sure how many hours!). Chris is also the first Australian or NZ woman to reach the summit of Lhotse (4th highest) and Makalu (5th highest).
Currently her summits above 8000m include:
- Everest - 20 May 2011
- K2 - 26 July 2014
- Lhotse - 13 May 2013
- Makalu - 25 May 2014
- Cho-Oyu - 4 Oct 2014
- Manaslu - 2 Oct 2013
- Annapurna 1 - 1 May 2016
- Gasherbrum 1 - 29 July 2013
- Gasherbrum 2 - 21 July 2013
- Kanchenjunga - 21 May 2018
Born in Timaru, a town nestled in the shadow of the Southern Alps in New Zealand’s South Island, and with dual Australian and New Zealand nationality, Chris is proud to carry the banner for both countries. Australia and New Zealand are two great countries – she feels pretty lucky to be able to climb and do so in the ANZAC spirit, so the ‘Kia-Ora – Cooee’ is always with her.
When not working as a business trainer (learning and development), public speaker, adventurer, lawyer or climbing, she spends her time with family and friends, and raise awareness for the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal, and promote the work of the following charitable and community organisations, which are close to her heart: The Eggtober Foundation (Sydney based), Streetwork (Sydney based) and the Australian Himalayan Foundation (which also partners with the Himalayan Trust of NZ). She also undertakes and assists with private charitable and educational initiatives in Nepal.
She was previously a Partner at leading Australian law firms Gilbert + Tobin and Minter Ellison.
Her home bases are Sydney Australia, where she has lived and worked since 1993, and Rakaia, in Canterbury, New Zealand, with Canterbury being the province of her birth. Although, for the indefinite future ‘home’ will be various mountains of the world, with Chris returning to Australia and New Zealand between climbs.
