Antonina Samoilova's mountaineering career began with a breakup, two weeks' notice, and a one-way ticket to Antarctica.


Antonina is the first Ukrainian woman to summit the five highest mountains on Earth — Everest, K2, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, and Makalu — and in 2024 she made history by summiting Everest and Lhotse in a single 24-hour push. She grew up as a city girl in central Ukraine with zero outdoor background, and her message for women is as direct as the routes she climbs: fear is a door, not a wall.


Antonina and Angie talked about:

  • Growing up in a landlocked city in Ukraine with no mountains and no outdoor role models
  • Her first mountain — Kilimanjaro — and swearing she'd never climb again (she lied)
  • The breakup that sent her to Antarctica on two weeks' notice, and how that trip changed everything
  • Summiting Everest just four months after Antarctica
  • Running out of oxygen on Kanchenjunga at 8,400 meters — and her only option was to keep climbing
  • Summiting Everest and Lhotse back-to-back in exactly 24 hours
  • Why she believes women's biggest limits live in their heads, not their bodies
  • Managing your menstrual cycle at extreme altitude
  • Her current "fear frontier": public speaking in English
  • What's next — Nanga Parbat and the full Crown of the Earth


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