Cho Oyu Menu
Cho Oyu Facts
Cho Oyu Gallery
Cho Oyu History
Cho Oyu Route
Eric Simonson
IMG's Guides
IMG's Itinerary
IMG's Main
Nancy Norris
Nancy In-Depth
Nancy's dispatches
General Menu
Home
Today's News
Banners Ads
Bookstore
Contact
E-mail
(Free)
Expeditions
Gear
Media
Speakers
Risks
Trip Reports
Visitor
Agreement
Volunteer/help
|
    
 |
 |
Autumn
2003:
International Mountain Guides Team
|
|
|
Meet The Team !
 |
Bill Burd: Bill Burd, father of 5 wonderful
children and one grandson is President of Chicago
Coin Company, Inc., Chicago, Illinois specializing
in rare coins, currency, gold and silver bullion and
stamps. He collects books related to his business
and has one of the largest specialized libraries in
the Midwest dedicated to numismatics.
A
forty year desire to travel, climb and witness the
marvels of nature became reality when he went to
Colorado for mountaineering school and rock climbing
in June 2001. By April 2002 he was on the Arctic Ice
Cap skiing to the North Pole. In February 2003 he
went to Aconcagua and reached 18,000 feet before
being turned back by weather and time. In July he
climbed Mount Rainier. |
|
Joining the 2003 IMG Cho Oyu Expedition is giving
him the opportunity to witness the culture of Tibet,
see the spectacular Himalayan Range and attempt an
8000 meter peak. Although the goal is to summit,
Bill feels each day of the journey is important and
is part of the process of making new friends,
forming a strong team and assisting in getting the
strongest members to the top of Cho Oyu. |
 |
Nancy Norris: I AM 59 YEARS OLD, MOTHER OF FOUR
AND GRANDMOTHER OF FOUR. I AM IN THE FITNESS
PROFESSION, OWNING NANCY NORRIS FITNESS COMPANY LTD.
AND AEROBIC COORDINATOR OF A 4,000 MEMBER, HOSPITAL
RELATED FITNESS FACILITY, HURLEY HEALTH & FITNESS
CENTER. I'M ALSO A PERSONAL TRAINER WORKING WITH A
VARIED POPULATION BUT SPECIALIZING IN CLOSED HEAD
INJURY PATIENTS. MY INTERESTS INCLUDE MOUNTAIN
CLIMBING, ROCK CLIMBING, CAMPING, HIKING, CYCLING,
WORKING OUT, TEACHING FITNESS CLASSES, GOLF,
SPENDING AS MUCH TIME AS POSSIBLE WITH MY FAMILY,
MOVIES/POPCORN, NPA BODYBUILDING JUDGE,
MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER, AND I'M ALSO A LICENSED
SKYDIVER |
|
I
BEGAN CLIMBING IN 1998 AND HAVE CLIMBED: LONGS PEAK,
ACONCAGUA, CAYAMBE (SUMMIT), COTOPOXI (SUMMIT)
CHIMBORAZO, MT. RAINIER (SUMMIT) KILIMANJARO
(SUMMIT), MT. EVEREST ABC, MATTERHORN, EIGER,
AIGUILLE DU MIDI (SUMMIT), MONT BLANC (SUMMIT),
DENALI (SUMMIT), MT. HOOD, MT. COOK NZ. MY CLIMB OF
CHO OYU IS EXCITING FOR ME BECAUSE NOT ONLY IS IT MY
FIRST 8,000 METER PEAK, BUT I'M CLIMBING IT IN
PREPARATION FOR CLIMBING MT. EVEREST, HOPEFULLY IN
2004.
CLIMBING MOUNTAINS TO ME IS ONE OF THE NOBLEST OF
HUMAN EXPRESSIONS AND REQUIRES PHYSICAL AND MENTAL
TOUGHNESS. IT RENEWS MY STRENGTH OF CHARACTER AND
SPIRITUALITY AND IS PERSONALLY REWARDING. I ENJOY
LIVING ON THE EDGE, MAKING THE MOST OF EVERY MOMENT
AND STRETCHING MY BOUNDARIES. I WANT TO BE IN
SITUATIONS WHERE LEARNING IS CONSTANT AND SOMETIMES
EVEN CRITICAL TO SURVIVAL. I FEEL MOUNTAINS REVEAL A
SPECIAL BEAUTY TO THOSE THAT STRUGGLE TO THEIR TOP.
HAVING CLIMBED A MOUNTAIN MAKES ME A STRONGER
PERSON. For more on Nancy see
here. |
 |
Tamara
Darnow: Tamara Darnow and her husband John live in Frisco, Colorado
with their two beloved cats. Tamara has enjoying trekking in Nepal and
climbing in the White Mountains, Colorado, Ecuador, and Kilimanjaro. When
not skiing, running or climbing, Tamara serves as compliance officer and
project manager at Key Equipment Finance.
Tamara, who will turn 36
during this expedition, is inspired by the joy found in outdoor adventures
and the majesty of the mountains. |
 |
Peter
Ford: Pete Ford is a 46 year-old labor lawyer in Washington, DC, where
he is employed as an Assistant General Counsel with the United Food and
Commercial Workers International Union. He and his wife Shelly live in
Arlington, Virginia with their two cats.
Ford is an avid,
long-time backpacker whose interest in mountaineering was a natural
progression from his backpacking experiences. He started climbing in
earnest five years ago. The mountains he has climbed include Mt. McKinley
(Denali Traverse), Aconcagua, Pisco (in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru), Mt.
Rainier, Mt. Shasta, Mt. Whitney and Mt. Hood. This is his first trip to
the Himalayas. |
|
Cho Oyu is the third of four
mountains Pete is climbing in memory of a young cousin, Mia Rose, who died
of leukemia in 2000. He has been fund raising for The Leukemia & Lymphoma
Society in connection with each mountain climb. So far he has raised a
total of almost $70,000 in charitable donations. Besides climbing and
backpacking, Ford's interests include cycling, baseball, travel and
literature. |
 |
Jim
Harter: My wife and I live in southern California in La Costa with a
view of the ocean and a lagoon, a far cry from the Himalayas.
My wife, Andrea, and I
have been married 34 years, first meeting while I was attending West Point
and she Vassar. We do not have any children, although our cats have always
received the same love and attention children would have.
I have a BS in general
engineering from West Point and an MBA from UC Berkeley. After spending 5
years in the Army with tours in Vietnam and Germany, my business career
has been in gas and oil and then land development. |
|
I am on the boards of
directors of the American Red Cross of Greater Los Angeles and the Center
for Natural Lands Management, a California non-profit organization that
provides management and stewardship for 50,000 acres that has important
biological habitat or rare and endangered species. I also do volunteer
work for the National American Red Cross. My mountaineering experience
includes: Denali, Rainier, Hood, Whitney, Hunter, Haute Route from Zermat
to Chamonix, Breithorn, and Pina Arolla. |
 |
Ignacio
Piedra: I'm a 38 year old spanish guy. I'm from Asturias in the north
of Spain, a very beatiful area plenty of montains where I learned to love
nature and took my first steps as a climber.
Now I live in Madrid
where I'm working as an Unsecured Business Manager at Citifinancial. Every
time I have the chance, I leave the city to practice my favorite sports:
jet ski, quad, climbing... Last spring I had the oportunity to go to
Everest. It was amazing. This time I would like to climb Cho Oyu as a part
of my training to make true my dream: to reach Everest summit next year.
|
 |
Ken
Goodwin: Ken Goodwin is 58 and was born in New London, Connecticut. A
recent retiree from the manned space program as an employee of Draper
Laboratory/MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, spending 33 of his 35 year
career in Houston, Texas at the NASA Johnson Space Center. Currently Ken
is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Houston - Clear Lake.
He is currently engaged
in retiree task list (painting the interior of the house, having new
carpet installed) per directions from his wife Camille (NASA Program
Analyst) and family cat Saber. |
|
Ken's interest in the
mountains began with the short movie, The Conquest of Everest. He first
trained climbing Mt. Baker and visited the Khumbu regions of Nepal;
specifically, Island Peak in 1991. Residing in the climbing capitol of the
world (Houston), he get some chances to ice climb in the Northeast (NH)
and west (Ouray) in addition to alpine climbing in the Cascades. Ken is
member of the Clear Lake Area Ski Club which gets subjected to his slide
shows/presentations from time to time and the American Alpine Club. Other
interests include Amateur Radio (Extra Class License K5RG and FCC GROL),
photography, scuba diving (PADI Advanced Open Water certified), sports
cars (member Porsche Club of America and Corvette Club of Houston) and
wasting time on computers. |
 |
Mark
Weinberg: I'm 41 years old and live in Kirkland, WA with my wife Ann
and two big dogs (Alaskan Malamutes named Hannah and Lars). I'm a Product
Unit Manager at Microsoft and really enjoy working with so many smart,
passionate people. I have a BA in Math and MS in Computer Science from the
University of Colorado in Boulder.
I started climbing many
years ago when we lived in Colorado. We moved to Seattle in 1994 and I
decided that climbing Mt. Rainier would be a great challenge. I've since
summited Rainier twice along with three summits of Mt. Hood (once in the
winter). Last summer I climbed Mt. McKinley and made it to the summit in
spectacular weather. |
|
I had so much fun that I
talked Ann into going to Africa in the fall to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. We
both made it to the summit (via the Western Breach route) and then had a
great time on safaris in the Ngorogoro Crater and Serengeti. I love to
participate in just about all sports (skiing, running, cycling, golf,
etc.) and have run two marathons, competed in several triathlons and have
a black belt in Enshin Karate. I really enjoy the hard training that is
necessary to be successful at mountain climbing. |
|
Lanta Olito: I am an
anesthesiologist in Murrieta, California where I've lived for almost
twenty years and practice mostly at two small community hospitals, Rancho
Springs Medical Center and Inland Valley Medical Center. I belong to a
wonderful group of anesthesiologists, Anesthesia Consultants of
California, who tolerate my climbing absences and cover for me while I
am gone. I have been married to Jim Waldron for about seventeen years. We
have one child (my stepdaughter), Alison, who is a physics major at UC
Riverside and will be going to King's College in London for her PhD. It
has been years since I have understood her homework! Jim and I met rock
climbing and have always hiked and backpacked. Jim has climbed in Peru and
Nepal and we went to the north side of Mt. Everest with IMG in 2001 (I
went to the North Col and Jim went up above with the 8,000m group). Jim
climbed Cho Oyu in 2002. We hike up the Mountaineer's Route on Mt. Whitney
a couple of times a year and took Alison up Mt. Shasta a number of years
ago. In between working and hiking, we golf as much as we can.
|
|
Josef Stanzl: Josef
Stanzl resides in Washington and has climbed Rainier, Denali and
Aconcagua. |
|
Adam Christopherson:
Adam Christopherson resides in Washington and has climbed Denali,
Aconcagua, and in the Cascades including Mts. Rainier, Baker, Adams and
Glacier Peak. |
|
Lindon Seed: Lindon
Seed resides in California and has climbed Rainier and Denali.
|
|
Eric Simonson,
veteran expedition leader, Everest Summiter, author and motivational
speaker. To book Eric
|
 |
| |
 |
|
Altitude pre-
pre-acclimatization
Backcountry Gear
Backpacks
Bags& Luggage
Bindings
Boot & Fabric Care
Cameras
and more
|
|
Send email to