Photo courtesy of Hill and Knowlton Inc. UA alumna Alison Levine trains with her team for an attempt to climb Mt. Everest. Her group, which is attempting to become the first-ever all-female American team to climb the world's tallest mountain, is beginning its ascent Monday.

35-year-old overcame two heart surgeries, has climbed highest peaks on six continents

She overcame two heart surgeries, but for a UA alumna about to attempt to climb Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain in the world may be her biggest obstacle yet - literally.

Alison Levine, who graduated from the University of Arizona in 1987, will begin her ascent of the more than 29,000-foot Asian peak Monday as part of the first-ever all-woman American team to try to scale the mountain.

Although Levine, 35, has had two heart surgeries, she is more concerned about weather conditions on the mountain and staying strong and healthy for the climb.

"I'm not very focused on what it's going to do for me," Levine said. "I'm more focused on what it will do for other people's thought processes, motivations and inspirations."

The ascent up the peak is so perilous that it has taken the lives of 174 climbers, including 143 in the last 29 years.

Levine and her team of four other climbers will have to avoid avalanches - the leading cause of death on the mountain - and common Everest illnesses like mountain sickness, which can cause headaches, appetite loss, insomnia and extreme fatigue.

The climbers will have to spend most of April acclimating themselves to the high elevation to prevent acute mountain sickness.

At the top of the peak, there is only one-third of the oxygen available at sea level. The thought-provoking experience can be challenging, intriguing, invigorating and exhausting, Levine said.

Levine, who has climbed the tallest mountains on six continents, has battled tough conditions since she climbed Tanzania's Mt. Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa.

"That was the kick-off point," Levine said. "It was a great experience to try something completely different than I've ever done before."

Levine was a member of the Delta Gamma sorority at UA. One of her college buddies and sorority sister, Wendy Poole, met Levine when they were pledging Delta Gamma in 1984.

"She has always been totally can-do," Poole said. "If there is a challenge, she is going to do it."

Levine's personality does not fit the extreme, crazy personalities that seem to typify mountain climbers, Poole said.

"It's a great experience for all of us because she has this great, normal, fun personality who has gone to do this miraculous thing," she said.

Levine, who juggled a rigorous training schedule while working as full-time as an investment banker, also raises money for the V Foundation, a cancer research organization.

"I thought that raising money for the V Foundation would be a good way to thank the UA, especially with Lute Olson's wife dying," Levine said. "It's a good way of tying everyone together."

While balancing her time between activities, Levine thinks about her favorite UA professor: Tom Burke in the communication department.

"He seemed to be a professor who could juggle a lot of things at the same time," Levine said. "That was a good motivator. No matter how much is thrown on your plate, if you have a lot of determination you can find a way to make it all happen."

Levine is team captain of the five-woman group "Team No Boundaries," sponsored by Ford Motor Company. Among the five women who range in age from 34 to 58, the team has 100 years of accumulated mountain-climbing experience.