Marianne Pretorius

Marianne Pretorius

Marianne Schwankhart born 2 September 1976, is a South African rock climber, specialising in big walls. In 2004 she became the first woman to scale the East face of the Central Torres del Paine in Chilean Patagonia. In February 2005 she climbed the "Compressor" route on Cerro Torre. On 21 August 2005 Schwankhart, in the company of Peter Lazarus, James Pitman and Andreas Kiefer reached the top of Trango Tower in Pakistan, becoming the third woman to step on the summit.