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March 1-15th,1999 Daily Reports
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Daily News: 3/15/99 Report
1999 Everest Extreme Expedition (E399)
prepares for Spring Everest 99 Launch: This public/private sector partnership will attempt
to expand frontiers of telemedicine and health-science for the next millennium. A
health-science expedition with climbers ranging in ages from 20's to the 70's is preparing
for the rigors of a six-week expedition to Everest. EverestNews.com is told they have a
training session planned for March 30-31and then depart April 21st. The E399 expedition is
organized by the Yale/NASA Commercial Space Center for Medical Informatics and Technology
Applications, The Explorers Club and Millennium Healthcare Solutions, Inc. with
participation by the US Army Medical Research and Material Command and National Institutes
of Health.
The climbers will be equipped
with the latest medical technologies with access to medical specialists halfway around the
globe. They will be using some of the most advanced medical and communications technology.
EverestNews.com is told, "This 15-member E399 team will operate at altitudes of 17,500
ft and higher for more than five weeks." Yale University will support the team
with communications, management, and analysis of data in real-time.
Medical monitors worn by the E399 team members and climbers
will transmit data on their performance, endurance, physiologic status, and location
BC and to Yale University. Data, such as ultrasound images will be transmitted to Yale
University and to Walter Reed Army Medical Center during daily rounds conducted by
physicians at Base Camp.
The E399 expedition is planning live interactive video- and
Internet conferences broadcast from Mount Everest to reach science teachers, school
children and their parents in various regions in the United States and Canada.
EverestNews.com
is told, "our web site will be active
soon." Source, Trish Gannon, Ruder-Finn
Jamie Clarke, has completed his latest
journey. These Canadian adventurers traveled through the strain of the heat and desert,
The Empty Quarter of Arabia -- a huge sand desert that extends through Saudi Arabia and
the United Arab Emirates --, and reached their goals. Check them out at
www.alwaysadventure.net . His other web site is www.jamieclarke.com. They posted updates regularly via sat phone to the Web
site. In what appears like a growing trend, more than 23,000 school children, around
the world, have been following the team's progress via classroom activities and the
expedition web site. NEC Technologies was the major sponsor of the trek. Jamie reached the
Summit of Everest in Spring 1997 on his second attempt at Everest.
Don't pay some Mark-Up. Buy your Books,
Goods and Gear on EverestNews.com
and Save
!
Daily News: 3/13/99 Report
Erik Weihenmayer Q&A Part 3:
Part 3:
Q.) Erik, Do you miss your wife when you are climbing a
mountain? Don't you sometimes just wish you could sit with her on a remote beach
somewhere instead of suffering in the cold?
A.) I always miss Ellie on climbs. On Aconcagua, I got a
little stir-crazy and home sick during those long hours in the tent. Since it was only
Chris and me, we soon ran out of things to talk about. I had lots of books on tape, but my
tape recorder broke only a few days into the trip. One night, I couldn't sleep. I woke up
Chris, in a mood of desperation and asked, "how 'bout a game of twenty
questions?" He rolled over and in his gruff sleepy Alaskan voice said, "That
would be a no !" "Then how 'bout a game of Eye Spy?" "Your blind ! How
the heck are we going to play Eye Spy ?" We would finish climbing most days by 4:00 pm,
and be confined in the tent until sunrise. We reached our high camp at 19,500ft in 8 days,
pretty fast. The first night I had no appetite, a dry hacking cough, and eye balls that
felt as though they were going to pop out of the sockets. I told Chris that if I had felt
this way at sea level, I'd be calling 911. The days at high camp waiting for a summit bid
were spent hiking around camp, talking to other expeditions, and shooting video footage. I
even got a faint fuzzy disco station from Santiago. The nights were hard, however.
Laying in my tent in the thin cold air, I started to go slightly crazy. I wondered if this
was what I really wanted to do with my life. Maybe by coming here I had made a big
mistake. Sometimes, I'd even start to hyper-ventilate. I would force myself to relax and
get into a breathing rhythm: "Relax ! Chill out… Relax ! Chill out…"
At least a dozen times I vowed to change the course of my life dramatically, devote myself
to the simple pleasures, like laying on a blanket in a field with Ellie, listening to blue
grass. I also felt guilty for being away from Ellie for so long; I desperately wanted to
get home and devote myself to being a good husband. Once I told Chris that I was going to
give up the mountains and turn over a new leaf; I was going to use my hands in a good,
honest, productive career: a carpenter, a gardener, or maybe a pie Chef. Since I've been
down, I'm ashamed to say that I haven't baked a single pie. On our fourth night at high
camp, I missed Ellie so much, I told Chris that if we didn't summit the next day, I would
have to go down. Chris told me that if I did that, I'd hate myself. He was right. I knew I
needed to see the climb through. I'm glad I did.
Q.) Do you think climbing has changed in the last two years
?
A.) I have to say that climbing's recent popularity kind of
annoys me. Everyone, whether they're a climber or not, has to have all the gear: key chain
with a binor, gortex outfit, trendy fleece. The rocks and ice are more crowded, sometimes
with yahoos. The more movies and books written about climbing only increases its
popularity. I guess this attitude makes me a bit of a "climbing snob!"
Q.) Do you have plans to climb Everest or a 8000 meter peak
soon ?
A.) I've thought about climbing Everest. A very experienced
Everest climber recently invited me on a 2001 Everest expedition. I'm seriously
considering it. Since I have glaucoma (high pressure) in my eyes, I sometimes have lots of
pain at high altitude. On Aconcagua, it was bearable, but on Everest it would be a
different story. I'll have to have an eye operation before committing. Also, I don't want
to be another Walter Mitty, with big dreams of fame and glory but an unrealistic
assessment of my ability. I have to commit by April, so we'll see what happens.
Q.) Do you think there are people climbing today that do not
belong there ?
A.) The book, Into Thin Air, really condemned climbers on
Everest who probably shouldn't have been there. I simply don't feel that my motives are so
pure that I can condemn other's. Really, most people's dreams to put themselves on the
summit of a mountain are selfish. I think we need to be careful about judging others.
As far as ability, I feel that people should prepare
themselves realistically for a big climb by testing themselves on smaller peaks. It should
be a progression, not such a huge leap of faith.
Q.) What about all the climbing walls being put into
schools, have we gone too far ?
A.) I first went climbing as a teenager after going blind
only a few years before. The experience was the most empowering of my life. The organizers
of the program thought that if blind kids could push themselves to do something often seen
as impossible, it would translate to other areas of their lives. Perhaps, it would help to
break down physical and mental barriers. Since then, I've believed in the importance of
climbing, not necessarily for its own sake but for its ability to transform lives. All
kids should learn how to take calculated risks and to push themselves beyond their own
expectations. climbing in gyms is a great way to achieve these goals.
Q.) What was the first thing you said when you reached the
summit of McKinley? Your first thought ?
A.) Instead of answering this question directly, here is an
excerpt from a story I wrote about my Denali climb.
When we crested Pig Hill, the summit seemed very close, but
I didn't know the hardest part was yet to come, the summit ridge. The ridge was two feet
wide, with a 1000ft. drop on one side and a 9000ft. drop on the other. The good news in
this scenario was that it wouldn't really matter which side I fell off of. Chris said,
"Boys, if you fall here, we all fall. You'll drag us all off the side of the
mountain." So if I haven't explained myself clearly enough, what I'm telling you boys
is . . .DON'T Fall!" I was nervous, taking each step slowly and carefully, knowing
the mountain would not tolerate any carelessness. Once, I leaned on my ski pole and it
must have been too close to the edge. The snow gave way under the weight and I felt myself
sway forward over the side. I quickly recovered and stepped back. "Damn
it!" Chris yelled, his gruff voice masking his nervousness. "Test it first
before you weight it." I found my rhythm again and slowly placed each step, testing
each by gradually weighting my front foot while keeping tension on my back leg. The only
thoughts in my world were the eight crampon points digging and catching in the firm snow.
I was concentrating so hard, Chris's words caught me by surprise. Over the sound of the
wind he yelled, "Congratulations, you're standing on the top of North America."
Thinking back, it seems strange that that last step felt no different from the thousands
and thousands of previous steps I had taken in the last 19 days, but it was just a step,
no different from the others, and then I was there. Immediately, I sank down in the snow,
suffering from a gurgling high altitude cough. Then, Sam was next to me. "We're not
quite there yet, Big E.," he said. "You're joking," I begged. But
before I could protest, everybody's arms were around me and I was being guided up a little
embankment. I could hear their breathing and their Gortex crackling in the wind. We all
stood as a team on the three foot by three foot mound of snow which was the true summit of
McKinley. Sadly, though, I could feel Ryan's absence and I reached into my shirt and felt
his HighSights cross warm against my skin. Then we unfurled the American Foundation for
the Blind flag and posed for a few glory shots. As the last photo clicked, I heard the
misplaced buzz of the Cessna plane circling above. An hour before summiting, we had
radioed down to Basecamp Annie who radioed out to a small air strip in Talkeetna where my
family waited. Now, as I stood on the top, my dad, my two brothers, and Ellen were
circling above me, sharing in this exhilarating moment. It was strange knowing that they
were only a few hundred yards away, yet I couldn't touch them or hear their voices. They
still survived in a tiny oasis of civilization, a tiny warm pocket of life against the
elements. My team all wore identical red Gortex shells. And with our hats and goggles
covering our faces, we were indistinguishable. As the plane swooped by, we all waved our
ski poles and cheered. Then, I asked Sam if he thought my family would know which one was
me. "I think they will," he laughed. "You're the only one waving your ski
pole in the wrong direction."
Everest Spring 99 South Side:
Renata Chlumska, Gφran Kropp's girlfriend is planning an attempt on Everest from the
South Side this Spring, as reported earlier by EverestNews.com. EverestNews.com
was a little
surprised to learn early this week that Goran Kropp's expedition has purchased their own
permit for Everest. It is unknown at this time, if Goran will be sharing this permit with
others climbers or if additional climbers is on their expedition. Kropp's web site, is
requested often, the English version is :
http://www.kroppaventyr.se/english/index.html . Under Everest on his site, you will find
reports from Goran Kropp's early summit of Everest. Groan has reached the Summit of
Everest and K2, but was not expected to attempt the Summit of Everest in 99.
EverestNews.com efforts and the efforts of some Everest climbers to contact Goran Kropp have not been
successful.
More soon on whom has purchased permits and
who has not...
EverestNews.com
will begin testing "page setups" for
Everest Spring 99. As always your feedback is critical to us. Many options will be tested,
in preparation for May 1999 and the "mass number of readers" we expect to visit
the site. Submit suggestions and comments to web@everestnews2004.com
Daily News: 3/11/99 Report
Everest Spring 99 South Side:
The attempt of 15-year-old Arbin Timilsina, a Nepalese schoolboy, appears to
be "on" for Spring 99. If 15-year-old Arbin Timilsina would reach the summit, he
would be the youngest to Summit Everest.
Everest 2000 has
been updated with several additions. For those interested in sponsoring expeditions,
EverestNews.com believes you will find this proposal interesting. For those of You, just
interesting in Everest, this proposal will give you more insight into how an expedition in
North American is funded.
Daily News: 3/10/99 Report
Everest Spring 99 North Side:
Patagonia Mountain Agency which includes the Everest climber Richard Pawlowski will
be attempting Everest from the North Side in Spring 1999. " We are heading to
Everest starting the 4th of April, the members are: Climbers: 1 - Jacek Maselko from
Alaska - guide, 2 - Ryszard Pawlowski from Poland - guide, 3 - Barbara Batko from Poland,
4 - Tadeusz Kudelski from Poland, 5 - Witold Szylderowicz from Poland, 6 - Pavle
Milosevicz from Yugoslavia, 7 - Ian Beaton from Great Britain, 8 - Omar Abbosh from Great
Britain, 9 - Masaru Osamura from Japan, plus two high altitude Sherpas for support up
high, Base camp staff: 1 - Talli Leach from Alaska, 2 - Eric Brown from Texas. Talli Leach
will be the Basecamp manager. Source : Jacek Maselko
Jacek Maselko, has reached the summit of Gasherbrum I (8068m), Gasherbrum II (8035m), and
Ama Dablam along others. Richard has reached the summit of Everest twice. Once from the
North Side and once from the South Side. Richard has also reached the summits of K2,
Gashherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, Aconcagua (3X), Lhotse, Nanga Parbat, Ama Dablam (10X),
Annapurna I, and Broad peak along others...
Daily News: 3/9/99 Report
OTT Expeditions has two permits for
Everest South Side in 1999. OTT's guides include Jon Tinker, Willie Benegas, Mike Smith,
Nick Kekus and Martin Doyle. Martin Doyle runs their runs Plas y Brenin, their National
Mountain School. Willie runs many of OTT's South American climbs and is a very highly
regarded American climber, who also is a member of the North Face team. Jon Tinker, Mike
Smith, Nick Kekus have all reached the Summit of Everest previously. This is expected to
be a very large expedition with many Sherpa support climbers also. OTT has one of the most
successful expeditions companies on Everest and in the world of climbing. Some climbers
are expected to be guided, others will be climbing independently. Check out the OTT web
site for some great Everest summit photos http://www.ottexpeditions.co.uk/everest.htm
EverestNews.com
expects to have 2-5 good causes
in the next year that EverestNews.com will determine to promote. These will in general, be
climbs for children who need financial assistance or for children left behind after a
death of a climber, i.e. Eric and Chantal in 98. EverestNews.com would also expect to promote
climbs for good causes like cancer research . Therefore, EverestNews.com asks for you to
consider reserving a little of your giving if you see fit to these causes, especially
those of who you who tithe, to consider adding these children and causes to your list of
options.
The BBC has updated their site with several
reports from Graham previous climbs that you might find interesting. You can find the BBC
link and all the other 99 Everest expedition links on the EverestNews.com
Everest 99 expeditions links page.
Daily News: 3/7/99 Report
EverestNews.com
recently asked our friend
Zdenek Hruby, What is Josef Rakoncaj climbing these days ?? Josef Rakoncaj, is
the Czech climber, probably best known in the western world for his two summits of K2.
Josef has a long line of success including the first winter ascent of English route in
northern face of Trollryggen, scaling the wall the 1700-meter-high wall within 12 days;
the first ascent of northern face of Kalanka (6931); the north-eastern face of Peak
Oshanin (6320); in winter the Messner's route in northern face of Monte
Agner; the western
face of Cerro Yerupaja (6634; Nanda Devi (7816). Then his 8000 meter quest, he
started with K2, as a member of the Italian expedition reaching the summit along the
Japanese route; In 86, when as a member of Italian expedition "Quota 8000" he
scaled within 13 days in Alpine style western face of Broad Peak (8047) and the abruzzi
rib to K2. So he claimed his second summit of K2. In 88 he climbed the English
pillar in southern face of Annapurna; in 89 the southern face of Manaslu and in 90 within
12 days south-western face of Cho Oyu (8201) and for the first time southern face of
Shisha Pangma. In 92 Nanga Parbat; At our last count (which might be a little old) Josef
Rakoncaj has summited 8 eight-thousand-meter peaks and is the first Czech to summit K2,
Annapurna and Manaslu. Everest has resisted his attempts in spite of his three attempts
(at the difficult routes) in 1987, 1988 and 1994. By the way, Zdenek Hruby replied ,
"He was on Baffin last year. Successful". Zdenek Hruby will be a member of the
Czech Everest/Lhotse Spring 99 expedition attempted both without the use of bottled
oxygen.
EverestNews.com
web site of the week is the New
Zealand Alpine Club www.nzalpine.org.nz. Check
them out !
Erik Weihenmayer's Part 2: The second
set of answers to your questions has been posted on his Q&A page.
His background is posted on the Erik Weihenmayer page
! Erik is truly a "One of a Kind" climber.
Q.) On Kilimanjaro...
A.) instead of answering each of your Kilimanjaro questions, here is an
excerpt from an article I wrote about my Kilimanjaro climb. We left at 1:00 am from our
pre-summit camp at 14,5000ft on the Machame route. We were looking at 5000ft of elevation
gain to the summit, then 7000ft of loss to reach the huts on the Tourist route. I started
strongly, chipping away at the elevation. A few thousand feet higher, altitude was
starting to get the best of me. On Kilimanjaro, our acclimatization time was only five
days, verses 19 on Denali. "Much oxygen on the summit, because of many trees below
the mountain," Daniel assured us. "Maybe for him," I thought. Also on
Denali, I was able to keep a consistent pace by kicking my own steps into the snowy slope;
Kilimanjaro was mostly loose rock and scree with patches of ice hiding above thousand foot
drops. I found it hard to get into a rhythm as we shimmied through narrow loose gullies,
around boulders, and up exposed rockfaces. In the predawn darkness, while scrambling up a
steep rock ramp, one of our climbers above knocked a large boulder loose. The darkness
leveled the playing field, made it the same for all, and we lunged blindly in different
directions. I threw myself to the left as I estimated the projectile of the sound. In
another second, I heard the boulder bounce past a few feet to the right and away from the
group, then down a thousand feet below. Lucky, I thought. Around 5:00 am, I heard a
yell from far above. It was Jeff, a team member, whose group had been climbing at a faster
pace than Ellen, my dad and me. "My altimeter reads 17,000ft," he shouted, and I
felt my attitude plummet. Jeff, at 17,000ft was still far above me, I thought, but that
was still far below the summit. The night was colder than I had expected. Ironically, on a
mountain, the moments before sunrise are by far the coldest of the night, so I was
grateful for the equatorial sun that peeked over the mountain around 7:00 am. As I got
higher, I began to feel like I was in a delirium, in a trance. My muscles and thoughts
were moving through syrup. I could notice a distinct delay between my mind commanding an
action and my body following the order. I lost track of Ellen and my dad climbing right
behind me and focused on moving my sluggish body forward and upward. Baltazar continued to
repeat, "Close now, very close." "How long is close?" I
asked. "One hour," he replied. An hour would go by and someone would ask again,
"How far?" "One hour," He’d say. I began to wonder if
African guides, having not grown up with watches strapped to their wrists like Westerners,
had never developed an accurate sense of time. How do you judge one hour?" I asked
myself, if you’ve never watched it pass? I continued to trudge up the steep
slippery scree. I had learned well on other climbs that you go until you get there. When
guides say one hour, I simply multiply their time by two, so my brain is pleasantly
surprised if we reach our destination in one hour and a half, and not crushed if we arrive
in two and a half. I scurried up through a long twisting gully and then felt the mountain
open up in front of me. It felt wide and flat, immense openness that I had rarely
experienced. I stepped up onto the flatness. Baltazar touched my arm. "Welcome to the
top of Africa," he said softly. We were on the giant caldera, the extinct mouth of a
volcano. The terrain still sunk inward, creating the shape of a massive shallow bowl. I
felt a tingle of elation through my body, but then exhaustion overrode it and I sat down
against a pile of rocks. Out of the wind, the warmth was beautiful. I could feel the
sunlight heating my face through the chill of the air. It was so pleasant, I even nodded
off for a few minutes. When I woke up, I forced myself to eat a chocolate bar, but
with each swallow, my body was trying to reject it. Only one more obstacle lay between me
and the summit: the 1000ft scree slope called Uhuru Peak. It was another smaller peak
perched atop the one we had just climbed. Many climbers call the caldera the summit, but
my brain is too rigid to make that stretch. Finally, it was time to move again. I stood up
dizzily and felt lucky that the next section was a non-technical trudge up loose scree,
much of it powdery fine. As I pulled myself up the last slope, I felt as though
Earth’s gravity had increased ten fold. Baltazar and I would stop every 20 minutes,
so that I could take a few deep breaths, but when I did, it felt like oxygen was being
sucked out of my lungs instead of into them. The air around me seemed to be stealing it
from me. "Tell me we’re getting close," I said to Baltazar. "Even if
it isn’t, give me one of those optimistic time estimates." "Hakuna
matata." Don’t worry. Very close now," he grinned. After an hour and a
half, we stopped. "Very close now," he promised. "I can see the top."
And because I wanted to believe him, I kept moving. "This is turning into an endless
nightmare," I thought. Step, breathe, breathe, breathe. Step, breathe, breathe,
breathe, step, rest, breathe. Finally the terrain leveled out and we crossed a field of
broken snow, the surface brittle and cracking like ancient flesh. My boots stumbled into
little divots and tripped over unexpected lumps. "Where is it?" I asked, quickly
losing motivation. "There!" Baltazar replied, pointing my finger to a place that
was only a few feet higher than us. "I can see the sign. In a few more minutes, there
was no place else to go. The ground dropped off on three sides. A thousand feet below us,
I knew the caldera stretched two miles and then dropped away again, this time into forests
and then plains, and finally, hundreds of miles in the distance, the Indian Ocean.
"You can see it curve. I don’t know the word in English," Baltazar said,
and I knew he meant the horizon. I had heard this before, that from the top of
Kilimanjaro, you could see the curvature of the Earth. The sign that marked the top read,
"You Are Now At The Uhuru Peak. The Highest Point in Africa --Altitude 5859
meters." Sitting on the summit, leaning forward with my head resting on my
knees, I asked Baltazar, "What does Uhuru mean?" He thought for a minute.
"Freedom," he replied. Freedom. It was a word I didn’t understand. Freedom
from what? Freedom from the limits of my body? From pain? From disappointment? What did it
mean? I wanted to believe that by standing atop mountains around the world, I was
achieving this kind of freedom, or at least coming close, but when standing in these high
places, the immense power of the mountains only served to magnify my own fragility, my
human need for food, for oxygen, for the help that I received from my team, for the warmth
of their bodies. Then it came to me, the thought coming slowly alive and charging my
oxygen-starved brain. Perhaps it was the freedom to make of my life what I wanted it to
be, or at least the freedom to try, or to fail in the trying. Perhaps freedom itself was
unobtainable and the goal was only to reach for it, strive for it, knowing all along that
I would fall well short. Perhaps the importance was in the reaching out, and in the
impossibility of it all, and in the reaching out through the impossibility, my body
planted heavily on the Earth but my spirit soaring up and coming impossibly close to its
goal. Standing on the top of Kilimanjaro, I hugged Baltazar and reached out and touched
the sign. I still didn’t know whether it would be possible to breathe in all I wanted
from my life, but I knew that I would try.
If you missed it check out our interview with Ed Douglas.
Everest Spring 98: Climbers for Everest are starting to leave
for Nepal with many leaving next week. Final plans are being worked out and yes a few
"last minute climbers" are deciding whether or not to attempt Everest in Spring
99.
Babu Chhiri Sherpa, formerly known as Ang Babu Sherpa (he
changed his name), commonly know as Babu and pronounced as Bab'boo. Babu is commonly
referred to as the strongest climber on Everest today. He has seven Everest summits.
He is known for a short cut to the second step (bypassing the first step) with Jon
Tinker on the North Side in 1993 and for two Summits of Everest from the North Side in the
same season. Babu "present plans" for Spring 99 will be acting as sirdar for the
Swedish TNT expedition and plans to sleep on the Summit of Everest for 20 hours
without oxygen !
Teenagers on Everest Spring 99 continued: 15-year-old
Arbin Timilsina, a Nepalese schoolboy, is planning to attempt the Summit of Everest from the
South Side with support hired from Asian-Trekking Sherpa guides. EverestNews.com
is
told details are in the "preparation stage". We are told, once the preparation
comes to a final stage, there will be a clear picture as to when and how this expedition
will be supported. If 15-year-old Arbin
Timilsina would reach the summit, he would be the youngest to Summit Everest. Note he is
not a Sherpa.
Types of Expeditions: EverestNews.com has a types of expeditions page which should help you
understand a little how all of this works. But if it seems complex, it is. Sometimes very
complex.
EverestNews.com
will begin testing "page setups" for
Everest Spring 99. As always your feedback is critical to us. Many options will be tested,
in preparation for May 1999 and the "mass number of readers" we expect to visit
the site. Submit suggestions and comments to web@everestnews2004.com
Daily News: 3/4/99 Report
Teenagers on Everest Spring 99: As reported earlier to
You on EverestNews.com, Mark Pfetzer was planning on having one or
two teenage friends join him on his Everest 1999 Expedition to attempt the summit of
Everest from the South Side. This expedition would be paying Henry Todd to utilize his BC
facilities and the icefall (as all teams will in 99 on the South Side). Mark's expedition,
as told to us by his fellow climbers and agents, plan on carrying their own loads and go
without the use of bottled oxygen on Everest in 1999. EverestNews.com has also learned that a
15 year old Nepalese schoolboy will also attempt the mountain with support from trained
Sherpa guides. EverestNews.com has not reported the names and ages of the American teenagers
in the past due to their age being less than 18, and his not "gone after" their
story because of their ages. But it will unquestionably arise. Difficult questions.
The Nepal Side of Everest in 1999 is stacking up to be full
of experienced climbers with several Everest summits to their records versus 98 when few
climbers were present that had summitted Everest in the past. It will be interesting what
effect these young climbers will have on the others. Probably not much, as everyone does
their own thing, until Summit day. As reported a few days ago, the very strong and
experienced Czech expedition will also be on the mountain.
Daily News: 3/3/99 Report
Erik's first set of answers to your questions has been posted
on his Q&A page. His background is posted on the Erik Weihenmayer page ! Erik is
truly "One of a Kind"
Jamie Clarke, is moving on is his latest journey. These
Canadian adventurers traveling through the desert are feeling the strain of the heat and
desert. The Empty Quarter of Arabia -- a huge sand desert that extends through Saudi
Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- is still ahead. Check them out at
www.alwaysadventure.net . His
other web site is www.jamieclarke.com. Jamie reached the Summit of Everest in Spring
1997 on his second attempt at Everest. They are posting updates regularly via sat phone to
the Web site.
The IMAX Everest video will finally be available for shipping
on March 30 ! Everest (IMAX)
(1998) -- Everest; VHS !
Everest Spring 99: The Czechs will be attempting an
Everest/ Lhotse Expedition 99 in HIMALAYA 8000. This will be one of the greatest projects
in the history of the Czech mountaineering "EVEREST - LHOTSE Spring 99" .
"HIMALAYA 8000 was established as a mountaineering team to climb all of
the 8000 meter peaks in the world. We have organized to this time 8 expeditions on the
highest peaks in the world."
"The main goal of EVEREST - LHOTSE Spring 99 expedition
is to climb two of the highest peaks in the world - the first one and the fourth one - by
one expedition team without oxygen. Expedition time is March 31st to June 2nd,
1999. We expect to start climbing on the mountain about April 15th. We are going to set up
about four high camps and the final climb to the top between May 15th to 20th. The ascent
will be made without oxygen by light expedition style. According to our experiences from
previous expeditions we are sure this project will be a great chance to introduce our
sponsors and their activities in Czech media. "
Team members of EVEREST & LHOTSE Expedition 99:
Mr. Josef SIMUNEK expedition leader, Mr. Zdenek
HRUBY deputy leader, Mr. Ludek ONDREJ deputy leader, Mr. Vladislav Drda member, Mr.
Ivan FOLTYN member, Mr. Vladimir MILATA member, Mr. Ivan FOLTYN member, Mr. Vladimir
MILATA member, Mr. Stanislav SILHAN member, Mrs. Sona VOMACKOVA member.
Achievements of the Summits higher than
8.000 meters by team members:
Josef SIMUNEK: MAKALU /8.463m/, SHISHA PANGMA /8.046m/
Vladislav DRDA: CHO OYU /8.201m/, GASHERBRUM 2 /8.035m/
Stanislav SILHAN: CHO OYU /8.201m/, DHAULAGIRI /8.167m/,
HIDDEN PEAK /8.068m/, SHISHA PANGMA /8.046m/
Sona VOMACKOVA: MAKALU /8.463m/
"All above summits were reached without oxygen. Mrs.
Sona Vomackova was the first woman in the world on the MAKALU top without oxygen and she
is owner of the Czech woman altitude record. Mr. Simunek and Mr. Hruby led several
successful Himalayan expeditions including Everest."
"The expedition provide real time news pictures
documented to the Czech TV broadcasting using digital camera, notebook, satellite phone
chain a digital pictures to the Czech TV broadcasting. Those news will be broadcasted on
the main Sport News called "Branky, Body, Vteψiny" after the end of the main
Czech TV News "Udαlosti".
Movie produced in cooperation with JOURNAL TV will be also
broadcasted by the Czech TV. We are looking forward for your cooperation."
Source: Josef Šimωnek
These Czech climbers were on Everest North Side in 1998. They
were one of the strongest teams on Everest according to everyone we talked with. Other
Everest climbers described them as "tougher than nails"; "when they don't
climb the weather is really bad". We have found them to be nice people. We are glad
they are getting some significant press this year. They should also be a strong team to
help what will be a large number of climbers on Everest 99 South Side. Henry Todd also has
a Lhotse expedition in which Peta Watts is climbing.
Everest Autumn 98: Kaji Sherpa speed Summit
of Everest is still disputed. More and more details continue to come to light, but the
proof of the Summit has not. As reported earlier Kaji produced a "summit
picture", but that summit picture appears the same as him on the Summit in 1993.
The
usual prayer flags are not in the picture. Several sources, including EverestNews.com
have called for the picture to be dated. This has not been done to our knowledge.
It should be noted that this Tuborg Speed expedition was not
a normal Sherpa expedition, but a highly funded expedition by this Danish Beer Company.
The resources are significant to get a picture dated. Other members of The Tuborg Speed
Everest Expedition 98 featuring Kaji Sherpa (33), were the following Sherpa climbers:
Tashi Tshering Sherpa, Tashi Sherpa, Lakpa Sherpa and Tshering Sherpa. Tashi Tshering
Sherpa is a six time Everest summitter who turned back from the Summit that day after
fixing significant sections of the route for Kaji. In fact, Tashi Tshering gave Kaji his
oxygen on the back to Camp 4 when Kaji started getting weak.
Kaji Sherpa left base camp at 4pm on 10/16/98. (See October News to relive the Summit Attempt) He claims to have reached
the Summit at 12:24pm on the 17th, taking 20 hours and 24 minutes from Base Camp claiming
to break Marc Batard's record of 22 hours and 29 minutes. Our Sherpa sources repeatedly
are not commenting on these questions, which is "unusual". EverestNews.com
has decided to leave Kaji Sherpa on the 98 Summit for now, but add *disputed to his name.
