Top Ten Adventurist Stories of 2006 and what’s in store for 2007

Top Ten Adventurist Stories of 2006

1. The Search on Mt. Hood

2. The Story of Arthur Blessitt

3. Tim Mosedale Testimony of Ama Dablam Tragedy

4. The Fowler-Boskoff Search in China

5. Mt. Everest 2007:  What does a climb cost?

6. World Champion Ice Climber Harald Berger Dead at 34

7. The Adventurist Makes Contact with Mt. Hood Sheriff’s Department

8. A Few Thoughts on Mountains, WInter, and Responsibility–a special article by Michael Bane

9. Should Adventurists be forced to pay for high cost of rescue?

10. Life at McMurdo Station, Antarctica

I am hoping that everyone will have fun going back and reliving some of these very important and sometimes tragic stories that I have covered in the last year.  2006 was a great year for adventure as well as sorrow as we all witnessed some incredible history in the making.  The new year, 2007, will be no different.  What’s in store?

How about some more Mt. Everest Expeditions as they happen?  I am currently in the process of trying to line up with a few expedition companies in trying to cover as many of these Expeditions as possible in the coming year.  I will also be focusing on a lot of history in the Mountain climbing world, with an emphasis on the 14 highest peaks.  I will still be bringing you updates from the Arctic and Antarctic Expeditions taking place in the past and the present.

Search and rescue?  If it happens, I will bring it to you.  I will also be getting into some more technical discussions about The Adventurists we all love as well as trying to teach you a few more things on some Adventure Sports that maybe we just don’t know much about.

2006 was a great kick-off for the Adventurist with over 45,000 people visiting this site in the last two months alone.  I am definately looking to expand in alot of different directions with some very fun and interesting things getting lined up as we speak.  So stay tuned in 2007 for ALOT more of the same great stuff you have come to expect from The Adventurist and I am hoping that everyone has a wonderful and safe New Year!

J. Alan Hendricks, Editor

Polar First Expedition to Circumnavigate the World via Poles Lands in Antarctica

A Little over a week ago I mentioned that there was an expedition taking place to become the first team  to circumnavigate the globe via the North and South Poles by Helicopter.  The Polar First Team of Jennifer Murray and Colin Bodill are well on their way and have landed safely in Antarctica.  Here is a dispatch from the team as posted on the Polar First Website:

 12pm (UK)
I have had confirmation that the pilots have landed safely at Marsh Base and all is well. They are continuing on to Vernadsky as as the weather is good and are hoping to land there later. We are aware that the tracker on our site is showing as ‘inactive’ and the position of the helicopter showing as being in the middle of the ocean. This is a just a technical error and we are trying to resolve this. EMma - Ground Support

So it looks like everything is going as planned thus far.  This same team had made one previous attempt but had to back out as their helicopter had crashed.  Thay have since wrote a book about this first expedition titled “Broken Journey”.   

 

If you would be interested in following along with this journey as it happens you may visit Polar First.

Remembering Scott Fischer and the Worst Mt. Everest Disaster Ever

Remembering

Scott Fischer

Fischer spent his early life in Michigan and New Jersey and took two years of climbing courses after being inspired by a show he saw on television. In 1982, he and his wife, Jeannie Price, moved west to Seattle, Washington where they raised two children.

In the 1990s, Fischer formed his own adventure company, Mountain Madness, which he set up to guarantee clients the summit of the world’s highest mountains for fees in the $50,000 range. In 1992, while climbing K2 successfully, he was involved in a daring rescue of Chantal Mauduit, a French woman climber who became severely snow blind. She went to climb five more eight-thousanders but died in an avalanche on Dhaulagiri (1998). From the 1992 season, Fischer brought a new level of commercialism to adventures from successes of climbing.

He died on May 11, 1996, in the worst tragedy in the climbing history of Mount Everest. On May 10, 1996, Fischer, Anatoli Boukreev and Neil Beidelman guided eight of their clients to the summit of Everest. On the descent, the team was caught in a severe snowstorm. All the climbers managed to reach Camp IV on the South Col (7,900 m or 25,900 feet), except Fischer.

Fischer, who had reached the summit at around 3:45pm, had severe difficulties on the descent. Fischer was accompanied by sirdar (chief Sherpa) Lopsang Jangbu, but just below the south summit, Fischer was unable to continue and finally coaxed Lopsang to descend without him. Lopsang did so, with the hopes that he would be able to send someone else back up with additional supplemental oxygen and help Fischer get down. Boukreev made several attempts to reach Fischer but turned back on the first two attempts due to the weather.

Finally, around 7pm on May 11, Boukreev was able to reach Fischer’s position, but unfortunately it was too late. Many speculate that Fischer had been suffering from a severe form of altitude sickness, either HACE or HAPE. A memorial cairn for Scott Fischer can be found at the top of a hill near Lobuche, on the trail to Everest base camp.

Accounts of what happened in 1996 were described in the books The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev and Gary Weston DeWalt, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, and Left for Dead by Beck Weathers. In the TV-movie Into Thin Air: Death on Everest, Fischer was played by Peter Horton.

The Adventurist Note:  The above information was provided by www.wikipedia.com .  You may view this original article on Wikipedia here.

Other Links related to Scott Fischer:

• What Really Happened In The Thin Air–an interview with members participating in the 1996 Everest Climb Tragedy
• Scott Fischer Page from www.MountainZone.com  –features details of the Everest tragedy–including Scott Fischer’s Last Climb, as well as a call Scott Fischer made from the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro to mountainzon.com
• Interview from Peter Horton who played Scott Fischer in the ABC movie Into Thin Air: Death on Everest
• Into Thin Air – the highly acclaimed book by fellow climber and 1996 Everest Tragedy participant Jon Krakauer.    Adventurist Note:  I have read this book.  It is AMAZING..it will make you feel as if you are 29,000 feet above the earth and struggling for each and every breathe you take!  This link takes you to the www.amazon.com website.  I highly reccommend this read!
• Book Review of “Into Thin Air” as done by www.bookpage.com – good review.
• A listing of Outside Magazine’s 1996 coverage of this tragic event.  This lists the news in order, as it happened.  Outside magazine is also where the famous adventurer and writer Jon Krakauer, “Into Thin Air”, was working for at the time of this tragedy.

Hannah McKeand Sets New South Pole Speed Record

Hannah McKeand became the fastest unsupported skier in the world to reach the South Pole on December 28, 2006.  She also became the ninth woman overall to ski to the South Pole with no resupplies.

Hannah’s goal was to ski unsupported to the South Pole, and do so within 40 days.  On December 28, Hannah reached her goal, as well as beating the previously best time by more than two days..

She started out at Hercules Inlet at 10 AM GMT on November 19 2006 and arrived at the South Pole on Thursday December 28 at 8.33pm GMT. The final skiing time is 39 days, 10 hours and 33 min, almost 2 days faster than the previous record of 41 days 8 hours and 14 min.

“The biggest lesson I have learned so far is that with a little patience, you can get anywhere. If you just keep putting one foot in front of the other then vast distances can be covered in time. I’ve also learned that pain is only pain and can be managed psychologically to surprisingly good effect.”