“Everest Vietnam 2008″ Thousands Flock to Auditions

October 4, 2007

I recently posted about a new reality television series that is set to air in Vietnam that will be taking place on Mt. Everest. The “Everest Vietnam 2008″ series will take place over the course of 1 year. The producers are promising a big monetary reward to anyone able to complete the goal of the new television series and capture the summit of Mt. Everest for a Vietnam first.

Auditions were recently held at the Military Zone 7 Stadium in Tan Bihn District, Vietnam. People were auditioning for the chance to become one of 20 members of the Vietnamese team that will participate in a year long journey for Everest. Of the 20 selected, only 4 will actually be given the chance to summit. The remaining 16 contestants will be narrowed down following strict guidelines on a few lesser climbs building up to Everest in 2008. Being that the program is to take place over a years worth of time, we can only guess that the Everest Vietnam 2008 team will be trying for a fall summit push next year.

Over a thousand people showed up to the auditions last Sunday and surprisingly, 1/3 of the contestants were women. Sunday’s tryouts revealed 50 possible contestants. Each selected on the merits of how well they performed in a 2 KM run, a rope climb, and push-ups and sit-ups.

Another audition will be held in Hanoi in Hang Day Stadium on October 6-7. The final 20 contestants will be selcted from a combined pool of the 100 people chosen within these two auditions.

So what can the climbers expect in their year long quest to be the first Vietnamese to scale Mt. Everest? Here is a bit from VietnamNet:

Phase one will begin at Mount Fan Si Pan in Vietnam, which stands at 3,144 m. 12 contestants will be eliminated after the Mount Fan Si Pan climb.

Next, contestants will head to Malaysia to climb Mount Gunung Kinabalu, which stands at 4,101m. Two contestants will be eliminated after the climb in Malaysia.

The remaining six contestants will climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, which stands at 5,895m and Island Peak in Nepal, which stands at 6,189m. The group will dwindle down to four contestants after this especially difficult round.

The four remaining contestants will return to Vietnam and train for two months before beginning the second phase of the program, the journey to conquer the roof of the world, from April to June 2008.

This is shaping up to be quite the national event in Vietnam. Major press and news coverage has began, and they haven’t even decided on the contestants yet!

By the way, for all of us over here in the states with an interest in something like this? Don’t fret. A Nationally acclaimed Videographer will be accompanying the team for their final summit push. He will be covering the Expedition from beginning to end and works for a little known publication called– National Geographic! Am sure we will all be hearing more about this before it is all said and done. I will keep you posted on the latest as I hear it.

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