EVEREST 2008: The Alan Arnette Interview

In a week, Alan Arnette will be leaving for his third expedition to Mt. Everest. The first two attempts landed Alan at about the 27,200 Ft. mark-a bit short of the summit. Over the past year he has been training extensively for this opportunity on some of the world’s highest and toughest peaks including Denali, Shisha Pangma, Orizaba, and Anconcagua.

Alan is climbing Mt. Everest to help raise awareness about Alzheimers, as well as funds for the CURE ALZHEIMERS FUND.

I have recently had the opportunity to conduct an interview with Alan about his upcoming expedition to the world’s highest peak.

The Adventurist: In a few days you will be leaving for Nepal for your third expedition on Mt. Everest. What keeps bringing you back?

Alan Arnette: Mountains make me feel alive. Nepal has some of the best plus the interaction with the Tibetan and Nepali people send me home a better person. So while Everest is the goal it is not the only reason to return.

The Adventurist: You have been training for almost a year now exclusively for this trip, can you relate how your training has went and how you are currently feeling compared to your two previous expeditions on Everest?

Alan Arnette: I had some ups and downs on my four climbs (Denali, Shish Pangma, Aconcagua and Orizaba) but that was the point – to “shake the issues out” before Everest. I think my physical conditioning is better than five years ago but mentally, I am significantly more confident.

The Adventurist: This year, you are climbing for the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund. Alzheimer’s became a big part of your life when your mother was diagnosed with this dreaded disease. First off, can you tell us how she is doing, then elaborate a bit on this higher calling of yours.

Alan Arnette: Mom is doing OK. Here memory continues to decline and she is starting to have a few physical problems but overall she is doing as well as this disease allows at this stage.

In 2006, my wife Cathy and I discussed me retuning to Everest. Something bothered me. Climbing can be a selfish sport and I have been guilty of that. So if I would commit the time, money, effort and sacrifice to return then I wanted it to count for more than just another climb. As I learned more about Alzheimer’s it became clear that I had to do something to raise awareness and money for research thus the connection with my climbing.

My website received over 20 million hits last year so I knew I could reach many people during my climb.

The Adventurist: A couple of weeks ago it was announced that China would be closing off the North side of Everest in order to try to get the Olympic Torch to the top of the world’s highest mountain. Your team was originally planning a north side expedition. Can you take us through this process and also tell us where things now stand?

Alan Arnette: What a shock when I learned of the restrictions on the North side. But deep down I knew it would work out so I didn’t panic – too much. Our leaders had quickly applied for a south side permit as backup just in case the north became impossible, which it did. I am grateful to them and to my teammates and to our Nepali Sherpas that everyone agreed to the switch.

But I think it is important to keep in perspective what is going on in Tibet and remember that while climbers dream of summits, there are more important dreams in this world.

The Adventurist: You have climbed from the south on your previous two expeditions, this time, originally, you were planning on a northern expedition. As we just found out, that has been changed–do you see this affecting the team much and what are they saying about the opportunity on the South?

Alan Arnette: The big decision for me and two of my teammates was north or south. We had discussed this almost weekly for most of 2007 and finally decided on north in November 2007. While it is a shift to start visualizing climbing on the south it was not a huge leap.

There are trade-offs between the routes: the south has the Icefall and lower camps while the north has the 2nd Step and is colder and more exposed. And we had concerns about the conflicts with the Olympic activities for a long time now. So in the end it looks like it all worked out well but let me comment on that in June!

The Adventurist: Speaking of the team you will be climbing with, tell us a bit about them and the Expedition Company.

Alan Arnette: Mountain Professionals co-owner Ryan Waters is our leader. I climbed with Ryan on our Broad Peak/K2 expedition in 2006 and again on Aconcagua this past January. So I know him well as he knows me. There are three other climbers who are profiled on the Mountain Professional’s 2008 Dispatch page.

The Adventurist: You have covered the past few years of climbing on Mt. Everest with your own site, following along with most of the Expeditions that have went up. Since you are going to actually be there this season, what can we expect on alanarnette.com?

Alan Arnette: Using my home-grown dispatch system of digital camera, laptop, pda and Thuraya satellite phone, I will try to bring everyone along on the climb from Kathmandu to the summit! My goal is to bring readers into what I am seeing and feeling in all phases of the climb. I try not to filter my comments with respect to my emotions so this is not a PR site for a company but what it really feels like to be up there and the joys and pains I feel. It is a deal I made with my readers when I started my site back in 1999.

The Adventurist: On your site, you said that you began climbing late in life–what drove you to seek out mountain climbing and how has this affected your day to day life? What lessons have you learned through climbing, that you possibly never thought of before?

Alan Arnette: My first big climb was Mont Blanc in 1996 at age 38. Family and work kept me pretty busy until then but I did get outdoors a lot. Living in Europe for five years made me rethink my work/life balance and soon I was doing an expedition a year – with the full support of my family.

There have been many lessons but I think I can summarize the most important ones with two phrases I use a lot in talks about my climbs: “Is it hard or is it impossible?” And “Am I hurt or hurting?” These two simple questions have guided many tough decisions over the past thirteen years both in climbing and in life.

The Adventurist: Any words of wisdom for someone thinking about getting in to climbing?

Alan Arnette: Climb On! Just get out there. You don’t have to climb the highest or the hardest you just have to get out there. In my surveys when asked why people climb, the top answer is to enjoy the experience. The summit is a bonus but getting out there is the purpose.

The Adventurist: Lastly, tell us a bit more about Alzheimer’s and the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund. What would you like to see happen this year as a result of your personal efforts?

Alan Arnette: Alzheimer’s, is the most common cause of dementia, afflicting 24 million people worldwide. It is a progressive and terminal disease for which there is currently no cure. In its most common form, it occurs in people over 65 years old (although a less-prevalent early onset form also exists). It usually begins many years before it is eventually diagnosed. In its early stages, short-term memory loss is the clearest symptom: this leads to confusion, anger, mood swings, language breakdown, long-term memory loss, and the general ‘withdrawal’ of the sufferer as his or her senses decline. Gradually the sufferer loses minor, and then major bodily functions, until death occurs. Although the symptoms are common, people commonly experience them in a unique way. The duration of the disease is estimated between 5 and 20 years

My dream is to find a cure. While it is too late for my Mom, it is not for millions of potential victims. I hope people will learn a little more about the disease and send a huge contribution to the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund.

100% of all donations go to research and none to the Fund’s overhead or to my climbing. Researchers are close but need more money and every person reading this can make a diference.

BONUS QUESTION:

The Adventurist: You are sitting 24,000 feet above sea level. The wind is roaring along at 60 mph. It feels like -40 degrees outside. You are huddled in your tent with your team mates–what is one thing that you do that might annoy them? (haha)

Alan Arnette: The sound of me typing a dispatch!

Swing by Alan Arnette’s personal website to learn more about his 2008 expedition to Mt. Everest, as well as his ongoing quest for an Alzheimers cure. By the way, if you would like to help Alan out, think about making a donation to the CURE ALZHEIMERS FUND.