The Adventurist: A Call to All Outdoor Writers and Photographers!

I have just put the finishing touches on a new “Submit & Contact” Page here at The Adventurist.  I am hoping that this new feature will be accepted and used by all of my great readers.

This page goes into detail about a few things I am looking for here at The Adventurist–and ways you might be able to get involved.

Do you love Adventure Writing or perhaps Great Outdoors Photography?–Help me share your incredible talents with a much bigger audience!

Head on Over to the “Submit & Contact” Page, found on a tab right up above this article, and Share your Adventures with the World!

Also, if you are looking to put me to work, there is info there as well….

Cheers-

J. Alan Hendricks, Editor

David Tait on Top of the World–The Photo

David Tait, who I covered extensively throughout this past Mt. Everest season has finally posted a photo of himself on the summit of Mt. Everest on his Everest Expedition Blog.

I had the priviledge of conducting not one, but two exclusive interviews with David–one before his attempt to make the first ever Double-Traverse of Mt. Everest and one after his aborted effort after successfully summiting from the famed North Ridge Route then crossing ver and heading down the South Col.

David’s original plan was to go from the north to the south…rest at South Basecamp for a few days then head back from South to North…a feat many considered suicide in one season and an attempt that has never even been done before.  But as fate would have it, David ended up having to break trail and fix ropes upon reaching the South side to finish his descent on his first attempt.  This process inevitably left David more tired than he had planned, and also allowed him time to rethink why it was that he was trying to do this.

David’s story, is a true revelation into a man’s soul as he fought with himself and ego and eventually decided that his climbing partner deserved all the credit…not himself.

Head on over to his site and check out the cool summit picture–just goes to show that David inevitably kept his one goal in mind.  While your there, feel free to check out his posts as he successfully became the first person from the UK and Europe to make a successful Traverse from Everest North to South.

Let’s not also forget that through David’s efforts this season, The climbers on the south were able to launch their bids for the summit–without him, they may not have had a chance till very late in May.  This was definately an incredible adventure!

Everest 2007 Update: Two High Altitude Rescues, More Summits, and a Possible Weather Change?

Over the past day, two amazing rescues have occured at high-altitude, one each on the North and the South.  One rescue is cause for concern though, as we will see:

Female Nepali Climber Abandoned at 27,500 Feet

An Unknown female climber with the Democratic Nepal Everest Expedition was seemingly left for dead by her own team near the Balcony at 27,500 feet on Everest’s South Side yesterday.  At this time, this is all that is known of the actual incident other than details from the IMG Expedition Team who went up to try to make a high-altitude rescue.

Dave Hahn–who incidentally has some of the most famous High-Altitude rescues ever to his credit–went back up with both Mike and Casey from the Coleman Everest 2007 Expedition on an attempt to save this female climber.  Here are the details coming from the IMG Expedition website:

Dave, Mike N., Mike H., and Casey have descended to Camp 2. On the way they helped a climber from another team, who had been abandoned at the Balcony (27,500′,) and who was in very bad shape. They managed to get her to Camp 3, where she was turned over to climbers from the Everest Expreme (medical research) team. We are proud of these guys for doing a great job on the way up, and the way down!! We’ll keep you posted!

This comes on the heels of a tragedy that occured last season when a similar incident occured with climber David Sharp…the difference this year?  People went back up to help and the climber was saved.  The David Sharp incident last season brought International attention to climber ethics and how these rescues were handled on Mt. Everest.  Over the past few weeks, we have all witnessed some great high altitude rescues taking place…and all I can attribute that to is the memory of David Sharp…

While I am talking about IMG, today they are reporting that their final team has successfully made the summit today and will shortly be heading back to basecamp. This is great news that has seen well over 33 IMG team members make the summit this year.  Congratulations!

Italian Climber Found Near Death at High Camp

An Italian Climber on North Everest was found today near the Camp at 8300 Meters.  Marco, as he has simply been known thus far, was found unconscience and had apparently spent close to 48 hours lying in the snow before he was discovered by members of Alex Abramov’s 7Summits Expedition.  Here is what 7Summits reported: Read more

Everest 2007 Update: Summits, Summits, and More Summits

Yesterday I posted an Interview with David Tait as well as Alan Arnette’s BIG Announcement–both of these items were pretty big news.  I didn’t post my usual update yesterday with all the previously mentioned stuff going on…so guess what.  That means this is going to be one HUGE update covering the events that has been going on for the last couple of days.

Before I get in to that though, I would first like to post a fair warning for anyone coming by this site from the Television Without Pity forum.  There will be at least one Everest: Beyond the Limit spoiler here today.  So if you don’t want to know what has happened–either skip this post, or come back tomorrow.  I do appreciate all of you stopping by though.

Alright, Let’s get to it:

David Hahn Summits for a Record 9th Time

David Hahn, climbing with IMG, has successfully summited Mt. Everest for his record 9th time.  This puts David as the single most productive Everest Summiter ever that is a non-sherpa climber.  Don’t fear though, I am pretty sure that Apa Sherpa’s current record of 17 will be holding for quite a few more years to come.

Here is a post that Dave made to his expedition website GreatOutdoors:

Hey Great Outdoors, hey this is Dave and I’m on the summit of Mount Everest, it’s let’s see, see if I can see my watch here, it’s 6:40 now we got here 15 minutes ago. Beautiful morning. Beautiful morning. We beat the crowd, and it gave us some trouble, aggravating coming up in the dark at sunrise up the step part of the South Summit, but everybody rested on the South Summit and me and Phinjo Dorge from . . . right there and we got the jump and then had the traverse and Hillary Steps to ourselves, splendid morning, beautiful shadows, casting big shadow of Everest out to the horizon. Just beautiful, really very thrilling, and uh going to give you another call in a minute here, oh boy, it’s exciting to be here. Think I can see as far as I ever have been able to, Makalu, Kangchenchugka, Shishapangma, maybe that’s Manaslu back there, Cho Oyu, Lhotse, beautiful. Beautiful. Okay call you back in a few minutes when my fingers thaw out again.

Sounds like a great view from the top of the World’s Highest Peak, Mt. Everest.

Gavin Bate’s Near Death Experience…Summit Denied

Gavin Bate, who was trying to pull off his own successful traverse of Everest, going North to South, had to call off his climb after nearly dying at 8300 meters.

To begin to put this into perspective, David was planning on traversing Everest with his “shadow” Sherpa Pasang Tendi, using the bare minimum of essentials–a light-weight single-skin tent, a small stove and bivi sack, and whatever else he could manage to get into his backpack.  Now let’s go to the details of what transpired as he attempted to reach the summit.  First, from May 19: Read more

Alan Arnette and the BIG Announcement!!

My good friend, Alan Arnette, has made a big announcement today.  Over the course of talking with him this past week, he has quietly given a couple of clues…

Our first clue came by way of his own website a couple of days ago when Alan mentioned his climbing plans for 2007.  We will get to that in a minute.  The second clue came in an email that he would have a further..”Bigger” announcement..

Anyone who has been around The Adventurist knows that I hold Alan Arnette in the highest of esteem.  Alan, not only with his own site but through his emails as well, has definately taught me a thing or two about what I do.  If there is something missing, if a fact is not all correct–or there are more details, Alan is always there to share this information in an informative, yet very encouraging fashion.  I thank him for that.

Alan Arnette symbolizes everything I strive for as an “Adventure” Journalist.  His specialty is Mt. Everest.  Which also happens to be a very high priority of my own–but in my mind I will always be number 2…

Now for the Announcement:

Alan Arnette has informed me through email that he is tentively working out a schedule that will land him back on the slope of Mt. Everest in 2008.  This will make Alan’s 3rd attempt–and hopefully his first successful summit!  On the two previous attempts, Alan has been turned back due to illness.

Alan has set himself a schedule that, to say the least, looks tiring in and of itself–But Alan knows his limits.  In his earlier email, Alan tipped me off to this information and said I may do anything I deem fit with this information, so here is what I am going to do.  I am going to let Alan tell you about this journey and the reasonings behind it..

From Alan Arnette

Standing at 27,200′ on the icy slopes of Mount Everest in 2003, I lectured myself between gags that this was it. No more. I was too old and my body was just not fit for high altitude mountaineering. After all it was only 363 days earlier that I had stood on this exact same spot suffering convulsions and made my own decision to return to the South Col before it was too late. Those experiences have come to shape my life in ways I never imagined. They are memories I never hope to forget. And now I am going back.

Those who have followed my site the past eight years know a lot about me … perhaps too much! I appreciate the special relationship I have with my visitors. I have many new friends and in fact some of my best climbing partners I met by way of this site. So in that spirit, I will be chronicling the next year through a series of reports on my way back to Everest.

However, there is something I think is much more important.

As mentioned on the home page, I have two areas of interest now that I have retired: Alzheimer research and the environment. My Father passed away in late 2006 and my Mother is now 81 and suffers from Alzheimer. This is a devastating disease that we know little about. It impacts over 5 million Americans today and a new case is diagnosed every 72 seconds! The funding for research is very low compared to Cancer and heart disease. I want to use this site to raise money for research and raise the public’s awareness of Alzheimer’s, the impact on individuals and their families and ways you can get involved before it is too late. To make this as real as I can over the internet, please visit my “Memories are Everything” page on my personal experience and I think you will see why this is a cause worth supporting.

I am finalizing the details of how to raise money and to make sure it is spent in the most efficient, effective and honest manner possible. My goal is to identify a promising research project or Doctor and target the funding in a specific and measurable manner. I want to avoid the large organizations that take too much of a donation for their overhead. I will announce the details soon.

At age 50, I fully understand what I am signing up for! And I am dedicating the next year of my life to these goals. However, my climbing priority, as it always has been, is to do my best and return home safely to my family. If it becomes obvious that I can no longer perform at altitude or some other factor enters into this plan, I will stop. It is as simple as that.

I will be doing a series of climbs to tune my body to be in the best possible shape for the Everest attempt. I have designed a schedule that provides time at altitude, builds new skills and allows for sufficient recovery times between climbs. Here is the plan:

First, I am so fortunate to live in Colorado. So Patrick, Robert - my closest climbing partners - and I will go for 14 - 14ers this year. We already have a traverse of Pikes Peak under our belts.

In June, 2007, I will return to Alaska for Mt. McKinley or Denali, as it is better known. I climbed Denali, 20,320 feet or 6,193 meters, in 2001 but was forced back due to bad weather at 17,200′ at Denali Pass. So the first step on the Everest road is to reach the summit of Denali.

Next I will be climbing the 14th highest peak in the world, Shishapangma in Tibet. Shisha is 26,335 feet or 8027 meters. This will be a true test of my ability to perform at high altitude. I will take my time and carefully acclimatize to give me the best possible chance. The expedition will start in Katmandu, fly to Lhasa and the drive over the Steps of the Tibetan Steps. The six week expedition will be my fifth climb on an 8000m mountain.

January 2008, along with my closest climbing friends, we will travel to Mexico and climb the 18,880 foot, 5754 meter volcano, Orizaba. This will be a nice warm up for Everest but it will be great to spend time with my friends who will go for their personal altitude records.

Finally, comes Everest. I have not made my decision on which side to climb or who to go with. There are many details still to be worked out.

Please make regular visits to the site for updates and especially consider donating to the Alzheimer fund when it is established. The goal is to raise $100,000 before my summit bid in May 2008. If you are already make donations elsewhere, perhaps this is a year you can consider an alternative or a little bit more for this important cause.

If you are interested in making an early donation to the research fund, pursuing sponsoring this effort or joining a climb, please contact me. Or just say hello!

Kraig over at The Adventure Blog has taken particular notice to the issues that Alan is trying to raise with his next journey to Everest. I, myself, am taking notice as well. Both of my great-grandparents died of this terrible disease. Imagine, if you will, having a very large life–filled with family, friends, loved ones…for 70+ years….now imagine waking up and not knowing the husband/wife laying next to you–the history you have shared for 50 years–imagine not remembering anyone. Each experience after 70 becomes new again–yet each time, you just don’t remember doing it before..This disease is a terrible, terrible thing…

Let’s all take the time to head on over to Alan Arnette’s and wish him our support for this great cause and the coming years as he tries to make the Everest Summit a reality…He deserves it.

The Adventurist will be covering Alan’s Journey in the days ahead, so be on the lookout for the latest updates–or just head on over to Alan’s yourself and check out his wonderful site.

I would also like to put out a personal invitation for Alan.  I would love to Interview you as I have recently done with David Tait (found just below this post) about this adventure..drop me a line and we will work it out.  Wishing you the Best Alan!

The Adventurist: The David Tait Interview Pt. 2, Post Everest 2007

In March of this year, The Adventurist had the priviledge of interviewing David Tait before he set off to climb Mt. Everest.  David’s ambitions were made very clear.  He wanted to become the first person to ever “Double-Traverse” Mt. Everest in the same season. 

He was well prepared.  David had summited Mt. Everest previously in 2006 and was feeling in such great shape afterwards that he made a commitment to dedicate himself to the world’s first ever double-traverse of Everest in 2007, all the while donating every penny earned to the NSPCC and trying to draw some much needed attention for his latest life mission– helping children who have been the victims of abuse in his native land.

David’s attempt garnered alot of attention this season.  He was a member of the much touted and often ridiculed Himex Team that is being led by Russell Brice–and who, by chance, was also being followed along by The Discovery Channel Team in hopes of filming their second season of Everest: Beyond the Limit.

Through David’s Expedition Blog this season we were given the rare opportunity to take a look at what goes on behind the scenes.  David’s thoughts, concerns, and daily routine were not only followed by myself, but by thousands of people around the world.  In effect, this attention has garnered David something that he has been trying to get accomplished for well over a year now–and that is helping the NSPCC.

Through David Tait’s great assault on Everest this season, we were all able to learn a little bit about ourselves.  David’s journey began strong.  He put himself in place to make a successful first summit and in essence, he did just that.  Half of his goal was accomplished.  Now all he had to do was go back down the opposite side of Mt. Everest, take a 7-10 day rest, and do it all over again from the South Col.

What surprised alot of people in the world was what happened next.  Upon reaching Camp on the South, David made an announcement that his double-traverse was essentially off–

Over the next couple of days, David would go on to explain his reasonings behind this decision.  He felt that Phurba Sherpa, his climbing partner this season, should be given the credit he was due.  If anyone should be the “first” to do something, David noted, It should be the Sherpa who have been an integeral part of every climbing expedition on Mt. Everest.

Over the past season, David has been looked upon as perhaps a little cocky.  David has been seen, as one climber put it, as the “007″ on Everest this season.  Discovery Channel found in David someone who they originally thought would make for great TV..he was good-looking, well prepared, well spoken, and at times could be a bit controversial..someone the american audiences would surely fall in love with.  But David had other plans…

David Tait is his own man.  From the beginning David stayed focused and knew where he was going.  He had goals and he stuck to them..and in a suprise move David Tait showed the World something that alot of us foresake….humility.

In David’s humility, as much as the decision was so hard for  alot of us to comprehend at the time–David still became the first person to EVER traverse Everest, North to South, from his native UK as well as the first Person to ever do so from Europe.

Two new records, a successful traverse of the world’s tallest peak–and tons and tons of humility…that is David Tait.

It is with great pleasure that I can bring to you the first In-Depth Interview with David since his decision to call off his Double-Traverse.  You will see, undoubtedly, how this all unfolded just days ago.

I will let you make up your own minds on who David Tait is and what he represents, as well as perhaps, show you what part of being great entails.

The Adventurist Interviews David Tait

 

The Adventurist:  When I first interviewed you for The Adventurist back in March, you were
just preparing to head off to Mt. Everest.  It has now been two and a half months and you have successfully summited Mt. Everest for a second time. How are you feeling right now and what is your general condition?

David Tait:  I’m feeling more than a little tired -I keep dozing off, but considering i’m still sitting in solitary confinement at the hotel Tibet in Katmandu, i’ve little else to do but read and sleep. I have started to reflect on the successes of the expedition and i’m quite content.

The Adventurist:  This marks the second Expedition to Mt. Everest that you have been on with Himex.  This season was a little bit different though as The Discovery Channel Film Crew was on hand to record what was going on.  Can you elaborate a bit on this experience, and did it in any way influence your day to day activities and preparation?

David Tait:  Yes, I found the film crew to be a nice sociable bunch, but in an ideal world I would have prefered to climb without them. This is for two reasons - firstly, I believe [my opinion only] that they became a little disappointed with the ordinaryiness of the participants, and desperately wanted something to “spice things up”…. i bored them senseless with interviews in which i only referred to the climb and my charity work. i think they hoped for a lot more than this. Secondly, in my opinion again, there was disproportionate attention given to two memebers of the expedition, one complete [literally] novice lady, and one larger than life, but ultimately offensive semi-experienced man. It was clear to me, owing to the coverage that these two got, that the essence of the program [reality tv] would fail without their presence. I found this a little depressing at times.

The Adventurist:  As your summit attempt was taking shape, Russell Brice met with you and
Phurba Sherpa giving you  the go-ahead to start your ascent.  First, can you tell us about this meeting and second, why were you given the go-ahead so far in advance of the rest of the Himex crew?

David Tait:  ———-The meeting was help on the “tigerdome” in the presence once again
of the cameras. Russ, Phurba and i discussed firstly the current state of the fixed ropes, the imminent plans to fix higher, ultimately to the summit, the plans for moving or removing bodies [with permission] from the route, and finally the plans for our traverse/s - this included oxygen, and other minor logisitcs. We had the go ahead to leave earlier owing to the intention of double-traversing inside the proscribed time limit of the end of the season.

The Adventurist:  Upon beginning your ascent there were varied accounts of the projected
“Weather Window” for the summit.  You essentially took a chance by taking off a bit
earlier than everyone else.  Was this planned to beat the crowds or were there other factors involved?

David Tait:  The principal factor was to allow for a second return attempt - hence the early departure. The weather looked a little didgy when we left abc, but in the end it was ideal. We realized there would likely be crowds, but as we both move very fast, we were confident we could outpace most - as we manged.

The Adventurist:  Once you had finally made your successful summit from the North and began to head down the South, did you have any idea that you would be fixing ropes and breaking trail on your descent?  Also, for the uninitiated, can you explain what you had to do and the toll that it eventually took?

David Tait:  Yes, we were aware that the south-side sherpas had only fixed rope to the “balcony”. However, as both of us hadn’t  seen the south-side before, we had no real idea where the balcony was, or how hard it would be to reach. We set off from the summit somewhat blind, moving very slowly and carefully, digging footholds, one at a time, so that the snow wouldn’t mini-avalanche,taking one of us with it. We were joined together by 25 m of rope for safety, and belay-relayed ourselves along the ridge to the Hilary
step. Somehow my oxygen got turned off by hitting the wall, and I thought I was suffocating - I dont know how. Phurba checked for me and turned it back on. That was a weird 10 mins. We were also carrying 150m of rope for possible permanent fixing. We fixed line from the Hillary step, across and up to the south summit - this took an age owing to the need to creep slowly across the ridge-line, cutting footholds. From the south summit to the balcony was
fairly routine, but with quite deep shifting snow. Once at the balcony we discovered the fixed rope….it took us from 6.30 until 11 am approx. to
negotiate the distance from the summit to the balcony….many times longer than it would have done under normal circumstances.

The Adventurist:  In the beginning of this journey, your goal was to “Double-Traverse” the
world’s highest mountain, but after your first successful summit and crossing over to the South you changed your mind.  Can you take us through this process and the reasonings behind your change of mind?

David Tait:  The reasons I changed my mind are twofold. Firstly, and most importantly,  as I mentioned on my site, the only way I was personally going to claim “first to double traverse” was if i asked a superior climber and human being [Phurba] to effectively “step-aside” and let me ” win”. This has been gnawing away at me for months. Having watched Phurba fix ropes to the
summit on April 30th, and then descend to bc in 6 hours, i knew in my heart that he deserved all plaudits. He is an extrordinary chap, honest,
generous, patient and modest to a point that the Dalai Lama could learn things from him. There was no way, especially in the context of my charity work, that I could pretend to supercede him.
The second thing, closely connected was that I was also very tired from the descent - much more than I had anticipated. In the context of not wanting to usurp Phurba, I knew that there was little if any point in forcing my way over this mountain yet again, to come in second. I also feel strongly that such “titles” are there for the sherpas to take and legitimately own….. they
are streets ahead of ALL westerners, so I contented myself with “the first Brit” or if i’m lucky ” the first westerner” to traverse north-south.[ maybe you could help me with a clearer verification? I'd be grateful]. I’ve been told by many many informed people that im the first brit, but id like to know for dead-sure?

The Adventurist:  How different was this experience compared to your first successful summit? Was it easier or harder?

David Tait:   Harder - only in as much as I underestimated the south side descent…. 17 hours of arm-wrapping in both snow-storms and blazing sun - in a down suit….

The Adventurist:  Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently on this
Expedition, or did everything pretty much go as planned?

David Tait:  Everything went better than planned - I managed to summit/traverse after
only 35 days of acclimatization, and the summit day climb was relatively easy…I was suprised.

The Adventurist:  The NSPCC, your charity that you were doing this for, has been able to gain
alot of publicity through yourself and The Discovery Film Team.  If you had a few words for these kids you are trying to help, what would you say?

David Tait:   For the abused kids out there : you have a choice, as I once did. Your life can go south or it can go north - the choice is up to you. Stop blaming others and focus on yourself. I carried my secrets for 30 years - a wasted thirty years. let things go, and start climbing life.

The Adventurist:  Well, Once again David, I will congratulate you on a great climb and a successful second Mt. Everest summit!  It has been a pleasure to follow along with you on this fantastic journey and we are all looking forward to hearing more from you soon.  Hope your recovery goes well.. I am sure Vanessa can’t wait to see you!!  Now hurry Home…Safely!

 Bonus Questions

The Adventurist:  Since this is now over, do you think you will ever try Everest again?

David Tait:  Maybe, if my son or daughter wanted company etc…. but not for
any other reason.

The Adventurist:  In your opinion, what website brings the best “Adventure” coverage in
the world?    This may or may not be published depending on answer.  Ha,ha.

 David Tait:  You definately have a great site - i’m honestly only familiar with you and Ex-web. Yours is far more interesting owing to the manner in which you apparently obtain your info.  You are accurate, Ex-web isnt….dt

Editor’s Note:  At this time, David Tait has been confirmed as being the first person from the UK to make a successful Traverse of  Mt. Everest. 

I would also like to make a point to say that the opinions and viewpoints represented on The Adventurist are not neccessarily those of this site. In the context of  representing all viewpoints in the most accurate fashion, nothing has been left out, and except for a couple of minor spelling changes..everything is being presented as it was.

If you are interested in reading David’s first interview, just days before he began this incredible journey in March, you may do so by clicking HERE.

And Lastly, David Tait is currently in Kathmandu awaiting the arrival of his equipment so that he may leave for home.  David has mentioned that there just may be a book in the works about his two successful summits of Mt. Everest as well his work with the NSPCC…We will keep our eyes out for this project and I will bring more to you when I find out further.

Everest 2007 Update: More Summits, Another Confirmed Death, and News of a New World Record Holder!

Death of Czech Climber, Libor Kozak, Confirmed 

Recent dispatches have been circulating a rumored death on Mt. Everest for the past couple of days.  Today we can positively confirm that this death did take place and did involve a Czech climber.

Libor Kozak, 47, had been climbing on the North Side of Mt. Everest, pushing for the summit when he began to feel bad.  He decided to head back to Camp at 8300 meters in an attempt to get possible help and rest.  Libor Kozak ended up being sicker than what some had thought and ended up dying at this point.

This news was originally posted on an Expedition Update by Alex Abramov and the 7Summits Expedition, but over the next couple of days the story had quieted down.

Two days later, EverestNews made a post saying a confirmation of the death would be coming in, but it never came as they were awaiting word that the family of the climber had been notified of his passing and his name was never released.

CzechClimbing.com Originally made the assumption of who the climber was, based on their information that there was only one Czech Climber climbing from the North this season, Libor Kozak.  On a post to their site, a friend of Libor Kozak’s family confirmed the news and mentioned that the family had been notified. 

A New World’s Youngest 7 Summitter

Samantha Larson, 18, from Long Beach, CA has just become the youngest person in the world to climb the highest mountain on all 7 continents.

She made this new record after summiting Mt. Everest on Thurday with her father, David Larson.  Her record now surpasses the previous record for the youngest 7Summiter held by 20 year old British climber, Rhys Miles Jones.

Samantha Larson began her assault on the 7 Summits record at the Ripe Old Age of 13, when she first reached the summit of South America’s Tallest peak Mt. Aconcagua.  Then the following year she successfully climbed Africa’s tallest Peak, Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Samantha Larson graduated from Long Beach Poly High School last year and amazingly carried a 4.43 Grade point average throughout her high school career.  Upon graduation, Samantha took a year off, in order to climb some of the world’s tallest peaks, before heading off to Stanford University.

Samantha Larson made contact with her Mother,to inform her of the news, after reaching Camp 2 upon her descent.

A Big Congratulations goes out to this young lady from The Adventurist.

The World’s youngest Mt. Everest summiter happens to be a Sherpa who scaled the mountain at the age of 15.

More Summits Today

Alex Abramov’s first group from the 7 Summits Expedition has officially made the summit.  This first wave involved 12 individuals–with a second group currently heading up as well.

Alex Abramov did mention the following news though, and we will have to keep an eye out on this situation:

Only our guide Sergey Kofanov continues to work on the route. . He has found out near to the camp of 8300 meters an Italian climber in very bad condition. As appeared, he has spent two days near the camp of 8300 meters, probably out of tent. Sergey Kofanov has collected small group of rescue: they are two French girls and one Sherpa. They accompany the Italian downwards. In the beginning he could not even move at all and could not speak. Sergey made an injection of deximetazon, then have moved him in a tent, gave him water. In result, Italian climber now can go down on one`s own, but very slowly. We hope, that they can lower him today down to the camp on North Col.

Adventure Consultants Summit 5

Adventure Consultants has announced that 5 members of their team have successfully summited today.  Here is a report from their Expedition as well:

Astounding us with their speed and grace, our climbers reached the summit at 5.00am today, just as the first rays of the sun also arrived. Sherpas Lhakpa Dorjee, Nima Dorjee and Pasang Bhote reached the top first, followed by Mike Roberts and Cedric Hayden, accompanied by cheering on the radio from Basecamp! CONGRATULATIONS GUYS!

Prague Mayor Summits!

Pavel Bem, the mayor from Prague that subsequently was turned away from attempting the North Ridge Route by the Chinese, has successfully summited from the South.  Pavel Bem, climbing with his two personal Sherpas made his successful summit today.

Alan Arnette

Alan Arnette’s magnificent Mt. Everest website has some news of note today.  Actually, two pieces. 

The first involves the female chinese climber that was reportedly killed while trying to ascend Mt. Everest two nights ago. 

The good news is that she is still alive and made it successfully to ABC..and seems to be coming along fine.

The second news of note found on Alan’s site is the story of four Italian Climbers that seemingly got into trouble on Everest and the story that ensued.  I reccommend all of you stopping over and checking out this piece and while you are at it, join Alan’s Climbing Forum dedicated to Mt. Everest and Mountain Climbing in general.  By the way, if you stop by his place, tell him I sent you–

Bear Grylls

The Adventure Blog has posted news of Bear Grylls making his successful flight to the height of Mt. Everest and beyond.  A couple of days ago I posted a piece about an unexpected “encounter” with Bear Grylls by one of the Expedition teams.  You may find this story HERE as well.

Everest 2007 Update: David Tait Calls Off Double-Traverse, Bandits on the High Hill, and more…

I really have some mixed emotions reporting this news today and have waited in order to get my own thoughts in line..

David Tait Calls Off Double-Traverse

David Tait has called off his Double-Traverse of Everest after successfully summiting from the North to the South side two days ago.  I will let David explain from his own post on his Expedition Blog:

We had achieved Bc to Bc - at last.

However, during the later part of the endless painful descent I realised two things. Firstly, I was not going to be able, in all seriousness to motivate both mind and body to turn around and do it all again, at least not in the time-scale allowed. There might be some supermen in this world, but I discovered that I am frankly not one of them. The men who are however, are people like Phurba Tashi, and his band of awesome cohorts, who day-in day-out climb, stock, rope and carry loads up and down Everest without the slightest hint of complaint - in fact they appear to accept it as a priviledge. The have an almost alien mindset, and a work-ethic, no-one in Britain can even imagine.

The second moment of clarity amidst the pain, was the simple [and previously much considered] fact that in order for me to pander to my ego and claim to be the “First person to Double-Traverse Everest’
I would have to simply ask Phurba to step aside, the moment before we hypothetically summitted a second time. This was frankly unacceptable to me. I’m sure there are many people out there who claim success, when in fact everything is owed to some obscure unmentioned Sherpa. Well, the fact is we both traversed Everest the first time as equals, despite his immeasurably superior experience and skills, but if I indeed had the surplus energy to attempt a second summit, I would have been a fraud in asking him to let me summit first. This wasnt going to happen.

So David decided to ditch his plans and do what was right for his body…his mind…and his soul.  It was a very valiant effort on his part.

David, in a sense, made it possible for so many climbers after him to be able to achieve their dream of reaching the South Summit.  On David’s trip down the South Col, he managed to break trail and fix ropes that would eventually allow many other expeditions to follow up in his tracks-

I do feel it was the right call though.  David has been here before–he knows his body is these conditions and is a better judge than any of us could be.

It would have been nice if David would have set a new first on Everest, but after reading his post we can all understand his thinking and hopfully offer him a little more respect for his call and his judgement.  Well done on a great Expedition David.

As some of you may or may not know, I had the opportunity to Interview David before this Expedition began.  You may find this Interview here.

Bandits on the High Hill

DCXP is reporting that one of their Sherpa once again got involved in helping out another climber.  Namgia Sherpa, who was also quite possibly the Life-saver when Maxut and Vissily’s Expedition got in to trouble , has also been of dire help as noted here as well:

News from the Hill
Manwell - a.k.a. Manni the Canadian, on base services from Arun treks - with his own Sherpa - summited today (17th May) with borrowed crampons (from DCXP) after his first pair were stolen and while he ran out of oxygen at the second step on the way down and his Sherpa adandoned him, worse was to come -in fact when he got back to 8300m high camp his tent, stove, extra oxygen was all cleaned out and his faithless Sherpa no where to been seen….. cavet emptor - buyer beware…..

I think that if there were a “Humanitarian Award” in the climbing Community, Namgia Sherpa has more than proven he deserves the title.

More Teams on a Summit Push

Tonight should be another exciting night as more teams will be trying to make their own summit bids.  We will have more on this as the news becomes available, but so far, today has been very quiet from many Expeditions.

Everest 2007 Update: Summits and Death on Everest

Everyone knew that lastnight was going to be as busy or busier than the night before on the world’s highest mountain.  Here is a rundown to get everyone up to date on the happenings on Mt. Everest lastnight.

Sadly, Three People Have Died

It is being widely reported that there were a few deaths on Everest lastnight.  Two Koreans and a Japanese climber perished.  Here is what is known at this time:

The Koreans–Ho Hee-Joon, 37, as well as Lee Hyun-Jo, 35, both perished from a rockfall incident.  The two climbers were well respected in the climbing community and had many accomplishments under their belts.  They were both members of Park Young-Seok’s Expedition. Ho Hee-Joon had successfully summited 10 of the world’s 14 8,000 meter peaks and was making an attempt at his 11th, Everest.  The two were climbing from the Southwest Face and the accident occured between 7,700 and 8,300 meters.  At this time it is not known if the two were ascending or descending.

The third climber to perish lastnight on Everest was a 62 year old Japanese climber that died just a few meters from the summit upon his descent.

Yoshitomi Okura, had successfully summited Everest but died while trying to descend.  A sherpa tried to help him out but it was to late.  Mr. Okura was a member of the Tokyo based Adventure Guides Co. and he had successfully climbed Cho Oyu in 2003 and was making his 3rd attempt on Everest.

Many people lastnight were mentioning that there had been reports of death and perhaps a high-altitude rescue in progress.  At this time, with the names being released, I can confirm the three deaths.  The rescue attempt that many were noticing from below, could very well have been from one of these incidents.

Alan Arnette, is also reporting two more incidents-One involving a Japanese Girl on the North Side and the other a Czech climber.  I have not been able to confirm either of these at this time.

With so many people heading to the summit at once, news of this nature is not unusual.  In the coming days, I am sure more facts will be coming out related to these accidents.

The Adventurist gives it’s condolences to the family, friends, and associates of these fallen climbers and our prayers are with you tonight.

Now on to the good news..

SUMMITS GALORE!!

The night began rather quickly lastnight with teams on the North and South both looking for their summit pushes.

SuperSherpas and Mountain Madness teamed up to place all of each teams members at the summit from the South.  Apa, from SuperSherpas, claimed his 17th Everest summit breaking his own world record for most Everest summits ever.  Lhakpa Gelu, his partner, claimed his 13th successful summit of Everest.

Following this news came the news that fellow Sherpa, Tashi Tenzing, had made a successful summit as well along with his client.  This is reportedly Tashi’s last time on Everest.  Tashi Tenzing is Tenzing Norgay’s grandson, the man who first stepped upon the summit of Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary.

So the night began very historical in nature..

Other teams to summit included a team of Philipine Women, who were the only other team besides David Tait to traverse Everest this season and go from one side to the other…they also became the first women to ever do so.  Great Job ladies.

Other climbers of note to summit:

Andy Pizzarro of Learning Without Limits as well as Andy van der Velde from South Africa.

Overall there were roughly another 50 summits coming from the North as well as 27 coming from the South.  In the coming days more will be said about this courageous night.

Don’t Think it is Over though

We have just crossed the 100 summits mark on Everest this season, but as EverestNews reminds us, last year there were around 480 successful summits.  They are also speculating that there could be anywhere from 1-200 more summits coming in the next two days.

The deaths reported on Everest lastnight, anywhere from 3-5 depending on the sources, will put the total of deaths on Everest at roughly half of what they were last season at 11.  If you will remember, Dawa Sherpa perished earlier this season and up until lastnight night had been the only confirmed death on Everest.

As far as the two Koreans who died, sources are saying that their bodies will be brought back down for proper burial, so there will be some activity in that direction in the coming days.

For everyone that summited lastnight:  CONGRATULATIONS!  and for all the ones to come: GOOD LUCK< The World is watching!

Everest 2007 Update: Three Summits From North and First South Summits?

Three Summits from the North have been confirmed at this time.  The three people involved are Carey Gibson, Dan Tebay, and Lhadpa Sherpa.

Also from the South, EverestNews is reporting a pretty reliable source as saying Mountain Madness has reached the Summit by way of the South Col Route and Supersherpas aren’t far behind.

Apa and Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa are trying to accomplish a combined 30th Everest summit between them with Apa going for his 17th to break his own record of most Everest Summits ever.

Please remember that at this time this report from the South is still yet to be confirmed but sources are pointing to a successful summit from both Mountain Madness and Supersherpas shortly.

At this time it is not known whether the Philipine Ladies Team has made it yet or not as well..they had left earlier today for their push..but no further information has been noted.

Next Page »