|
The
2001 Ararat Peace Climb
|
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| David
Keaton |
It is
late but I'm running on high octane Turkish coffee.
The city is spectacular with the hilltop mosques lighting
up the sky like far off tiki torches. We had dinner
at a traditional Turkish restaurant with plenty of
food and music. The local drink which is strong like Greek
ouzo.
Nasuh
is back from Ararat and from the rescue attempt which
found the climber just below the summit. They
could not save him - its a long haul from Istanbul to
the summit of Ararat. Mountains are serious...
Morning
finds us at a press conference and a number of other visits
are scheduled and tomorrow night is live TV. Do you get the
turkey channel in Ohio?
We
will leave for eastern turkey on Friday Am - the area
we will be visiting is very interesting with much history.
It will be very interesting...
Nasuh's
Ararat rescue efforts made the front page of the Istanbul
Daily yesterday. We saw the update on the site.
AKUT and Nasuh must be commended for a huge effort in
trying to save that fellow. More soon
Oh, Riccardo
has a strong interest in some of the mountain legends
- He is a good guy!
Cell
phones work on the mountain so you should hear from us
regularly.
Best,
David Keaton
Mountaineer
and adventure photographer, David D. Keaton of Carmel,
California has joined an international team on the
'Ararat 2001 Peace Climb'. The group
of climbers, all Everest summiteers drawn from around
the world, will climb the North side of Ararat, an
area that in modern history has only rarely been
opened to foreigners.
The
expedition will also raise money for several
non-profit organizations including the AKUT Search and
Rescue Society of Turkey, the TEGEV educational
program of Turkey, and the Nepalese Babu Chiri Sherpa
School Fund. Babu Chiri, was the 10 time Everest
summiter who also held the speed ascent record of the
mountain. He died last May while climbing Mount
Everest in an effort to raise funds to build the first
school in his home village.
Keaton,
who is the Development Director at All Saints Day
School in Carmel Valley, is honored to be lending his
support to the expedition and working to raise funds
for the two educational organizations as well as for
AKUT which has been instrumental in helping rescue
victims of the recent devastating earthquakes in
Turkey and India.
In
1995, Keaton, became the youngest person, at age 29,
to climb the highest peak on each of the seven
continents, the so-called 'Seven
Summits'.
Keaton will join Turkish-born, Nasuh Mahruki the
expedition's leader, who in 1997 supplanted Keaton
as the youngest 'Seven Summiter'. Keaton is the
fourteenth mountaineer in the world to have completed
both versions of the 'Seven Summits'. He is the only
person in the world to have climbed both the 'Seven
Summits' and all 50 of the U.S. state highpoints.
The
expedition will dispatch reports to www.holylandexpeditions.com
and to www.everestnews.com, the largest mountaineering web site in the world
covering international climbing news. Keaton, whose photographs and articles have appeared
in publications as diverse as Rock & Ice, Simon
& Schuster, and Business Week, will contribute to
the site during the expedition.
Exploring
remote areas of the world has become an avocation of
Keaton's in recent years. In 1998 he made a number of
new climbs in Tajikistan's Muzkol Pamir. Last
summer, he explored the Lindbergh Field mountains of
East Greenland, leading the first ascent of Jaetteborg
(c.3050 meters), one of the highest virgin peaks above
the Arctic Circle.
To
support this vision of peace, please make a donation, via
SHIVA charity. You can make a credit card donation by
clicking HERE.
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