51: How Allie Pepper, a world class mountaineer coped when menopause threatened to end her climbing career

Dear Menopause

How would you cope if your career and life's purpose rely on a strong, healthy functioning body and seemingly overnight menopause threatened to take all of that away from you?
Allie Pepper is an Australian mountaineer with 23 years of climbing experience. Mountaineering is not only Allie's passion but also her business; Allie Pepper Adventures.
In 2021, amongst the chaos of COVID and a relationship breakdown, Allie was 45 and had no idea that she was perimenopausal. Then seemingly overnight she went from being a woman who summits peaks for business and pleasure to a menopausal wreck.
Two years on, I spoke to Allie from Nepal on the eve of kicking off her current project, to climb to the true summits of all 14 of the world's 8000m peaks without additional oxygen, in the world's fastest time.
In this episode you will hear:

• How Allie went from failing her HSC and being a self-proclaimed hippie to a world-class mountaineer, reaching, amongst others, the summits of Mount Everest and also one of the world's most dangerous mountains, Annapurna.
  
• How a simple decision to come off the oral contraceptive pill at 45 flung her into a menopausal nightmare, seemingly overnight leading her to believe she would never be able to climb again.
  
• The 12-month challenge she went through to find support and a therapy that worked for her.
  
• Her current 14 Peaks Project which if successful will position her as one of the world's most successful woman mountaineers.

Resources:

Allie Pepper - website
Allie Pepper - Instagram
Follow Allie's progress on her Garmin inReach
WellFemme
Gaia Online Streaming Platform

Other episodes you may enjoy:

Dr Kelly Teagle, founder of WellFemme
Jodie Priess on the importance of advocacy in the face of adversity
Dr Marita Long on talking to your GP about menopause
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