Sponsorship Coordinator and Climber
Ridgefield, CT
Age: 32

The expedition's sponsorship coordinator, Howkins, 32, of Ridgefield, Connecticut, also is one of the team's most visible members since becoming a professional climber and expeditioner. This is her second K2 attempt and fifth consecutive 8,000-meter expedition in the past five years. She hopes to become the first American woman to reach the summit of K2. Last year, she tried Everest, and in 1998 she reached the shoulder of K2, around 7,000 meters, on the South side. She was expedition leader for both those climbs. On K2, she stumbled upon the body of French climber Maurice Barrard from the 1986 tragedy. And, during the hike out, a serac collapse launched an avalanche that killed a porter and injured one team member. In 1997, she tried Kangchenjunga, reaching the base of the summit pyramid. At that time, it was the highest point reached by any woman to survive the descent. A year earlier, she succeeded on Gasherbrum II, during a single 48-hour summit push from base camp.

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A single, divorced mother with a 7-year-old daughter, Howkins recently became engaged again, to a Toronto climber who is an outdoor rep. She lives with her parents, who help with child raising while she climbs and travels to promote her career. She graduated with a B.S. in mathematics from Wellesley College, then pursued graduate studies at M.I.T. in math and logic. This year, she also is continuing her SupPorters Project to bring donated gear to poorly equipped Balti porters and hopes to establish a school and clinic at the village of the porter who was killed in an avalanche two years ago. Despite her obvious ability to promote climbing, she maintains "the event is the team" and when she gets on the mountain she leaves behind the hype. "For me," she sums up, "the motivation for climbing mountains is a spiritual one."