Cathy O'Dowd (born 1968) is a South African rock climber, mountaineer, author and motivational speaker.
[3] Towards the end of 1995, O'Dowd was finishing a master's degree in Media Studies at Rhodes University when she applied for and got a place on the First South African Everest Expedition.
This included a climbing guide and the leaders of two expeditions, American Scott Fischer and the New Zealander Rob Hall.
[9] Cathy O'Dowd has climbed mountains across southern and central Africa, in South America, in the Alps and in the Himalaya.
[citation needed] She married the First South African Everest Expedition leader Ian Woodall in 2001 and lives in Andorra in the Pyrenees.