Iryna Oleksandrivna Halay (; born 1988) is a Ukrainian

mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...

from

Mukacheve Mukachevo (, ; , ; see name section) is a city in Zakarpattia Oblast, western Ukraine. It is situated in the valley of the Latorica River and serves as the administrative center of Mukachevo Raion. The city is a rail terminus and highway junct ...

, Zakarpattia Oblast. On 20 May 2016, she became the first Ukrainian woman to climb

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

and to raise the Ukrainian flag on its peak. On July 27, 2021, she became the first Ukrainian woman to climb K2, reaching nearly 8,000 meters without an oxygen mask. In 2024, she summited

Annapurna Annapurna (; ) is a mountain situated in the Annapurna mountain range of Gandaki Province, north-central Nepal. It is the 10th highest mountain in the world at above sea level and is well known for the difficulty and danger involved in its as ...

, another

eight-thousander The eight-thousanders are the 14 mountains recognized by the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) as being more than in height above sea level, and sufficiently independent of neighbouring peaks. There is no precise defin ...

. In 2022, after Russian expanded it's scope of it's prolonged invasion and occupation of Ukraine, she enlisted in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

References

Living people Ukrainian mountain climbers 1988 births Summiters of Mount Everest Summiters of K2 {{climbing-bio-stub