Stormy Nights on Huascaran

Greetings from Huascaran Camp 1 at 16,800 feet where we are huddled in our tent as the wind and snow blows all around us outside. This is our second stormy night on the mountain but we are managing to stay happy, warm, and relatively dry.  We left Base Camp Thursday and had about two hours of somewhat technical "bouldering" with some exposed sections, until we reached Morraine Camp at ~15,500 feet. It was a matter of moments after we set up our tent, that it began to rain, then sleet, then snow. 

Fortunately the morning brought clear skies for our continued upward march to Camp 1.  The majority of the climb was on the glacier and we travelled roped together with our guide Nacho who was vigilant to avoid any dangerous crevasses. We arrived at Camp 1 around 3 pm and like clockwork the dark clouds moved in and it began to snow again. 

We have a rest day and one more night scheduled here at C1 to adjust to the altitude of nearly 17,000 feet, and then we will make our way up and through the "Canaletta." This is one of the more dangerous parts of the route, similar to a mini version of Everest's Khumbu Icefall with seracs hanging above that could come crashing down without notice. However, Nacho and one of the other guides we spoke with felt the Canaletta looked ok this season, but we will be safe and of anything looks too risky we will turn back. Until next time...
Hasta la Vista,
Pablo y Denise

Base Camp - Bueno!

After acclimating in and around Huaraz the past few days, our expedition to Peru's highest peak, Nevado Huascaran, has now officially begun! We drove north this morning about an hour and a half to the tiny mountain village of Musho where we packed our gear and eight days worth of food onto donkeys. We began hiking at 10,000 feet and enjoyed the fabulous views surrounding us and the imposing slopes and glaciers of Huascaran high above. We followed our skilled guide Nacho, at a leisurely pace and approximately four hours later we arrived at our current location at Base Camp at apprx. 13,700 feet. Our tents are situated near a picturesque stream, we are feeling good, and are looking forward to a nice meal being prepared by our cook Hernan.

We thought you might also enjoy learning a little background on the single most notorious event in Huascaran's history, as many people here talk about it. In 1970 a 7.9 magnitude earthquake triggered a massive avalanche causing a 3,000 foot wide section of the mountain and glacier to break off and slide 11 miles down the slopes below. The towns of Yungay and Ranrahirca were entombed in 40 million cubic meters of debris and more than 20,000 people were killed, including all 15 members of a Czech climbing team who were on the mountain at the time.

Well, that's it for now, we will do our best to send updates later as we are able. We are thrilled to have a cellular data connection, but it is painfully slow - therefore sorry no photos.
Adios!

Hola from Huaraz

We can't think of a better way to kick off our active and sporting adventure enjoying the freedom of the mountains, than by sharing the gift of freedom and sport with some deserving Peruvian challenged athletes.  Early Saturday morning in Lima we met with Miguel Rodriguez (another great connection from the fabulous Beth Sanden) who in turn introduced us to two athlete representatives from Miguel's organization Achilles International.  Edwin, 25 years old pictured on left, lost the use of his legs at an early age due to polio, and Marcello suffered a similar paralyzation although he can walk with the use of crutches. As we presented the two wheelchairs we brought down from the U.S., the look of excitement and pure joy on the faces of Edwin and Marcello was absolutely priceless.  Marcello kept thanking us profusely for what this means to him and the other athletes who will use this race wheelchair and feel the wind in their face and the exhilaration of competing in a marathon as if he had full use of his legs.  Denise said to Marcello: "Es un regalo del Dios" - "It is a gift from God." Eight hours later by bus heading north from Lima, we found ourselves in Huaraz, in the Cordillera Blanca, the climbing Mecca of Peru. Along with the neighboring Huayhuash Range, this region contains some 22 impressive summits over 6,000 m (19,800 feet) making it the highest mountain range in the world outside the Himalayas.  Huaraz is situated at 10,138 feet so we have scheduled several days to acclimate here and hike in the mountains surrounding the city before the big expedition begins. Yesterday was a short hike to Pukaventana, winding up through a beautiful canyon 1,500 vertical feet offering a spectacular view of Huaraz and off in the distance, the main objective - Huascaran!

Ambitious Adventure to the Andes

5 weeks, 3 countries, 3 highest mountains in each country totaling 64,533 feet, and 2 wheelchairs.

…one of our most ambitious climbing adventures yet (certainly from a logistics standpoint) and it all begins this Thursday! In our quest to explore new and exciting high altitude destinations for future Step Outdoor Adventures programs, we are heading south to Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. Our plan is to climb the highest mountains in each of those countries – Nevado Huascaran: 22,262', Nevado Sajama: 21,590' and Chimborazo: 20,681'.  Each one is higher than the highest peak in North America, and Huascaran is less than 600 vertical feet shy of Aconcagua, its less technically challenging neighbor to the south and the highest peak in the world outside of Asia.

During our journey we will also visit some spectacular sights along the way like the Inca ruins at Machu Picchu (located at a comfortably lower altitude of ~8,000') and the beautiful Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world. We’re not sure if our bodies will hold up to such an active itinerary, or if we can actually pull off all of this, since it seems like we just planned an episode of the Amazing Race. Nonetheless we’re super excited for the adventure, and also enthused to be delivering two customized wheelchairs to some deserving challenged athletes in Lima along the way!

We would love to have you follow along on our “Ambitious Adventure to the Andes” to see how it all unfolds. So if you're not already receiving e-mail updates when new posts are made, please subscribe by entering your e-mail address in the box in the upper right portion of the blog post (and don't forget to verify through the automated email you will receive immediately after subscribing - check spam filter if you don't see it).

Adios y Hasta Luego!

Paul y Denise

Ararat Action-Packed Adventure!

Of all the interesting places we have experienced while climbing in the far reaches of the seven continents, I would have to admit that Doğubayazıt and the region surrounding Mt. Ararat has made us feel the most "on edge" from a cultural "unease" perspective. (Even more so than the battle-hardened Kashmir region in northern India bordering Pakistan.) Denise and I were easy to pick out of the crowd walking down the main street in town among the 95% plus bearded men and the occasional woman in traditional Kurdish attire with a "tesettür" head dress and overcoat. If you were to sling a Russian Kalashnikov rifle over the shoulder of any one of these men, a Hollywood producer would be thrilled to cast them in the character of an Al Qaeda member in their next action movie. This would include Mustafa, our Kurdish mountain guide who we met Saturday morning and who spoke absolutely zero English. However, as soon a smile cracked through his hardened exterior, you could tell he was a kindhearted and caring man. Since we spoke zero Kurdish and a similar amount of Turkish, our communication with Mustafa was extremely limited as we began our Ararat adventure.

Our food and climbing gear was loaded on to pack horses at the trailhead at 7,770 feet and a short two hours later we arrived at our first camp at just over 10,000 feet.  Communications improved later that afternoon once Hazal, the operator of the expedition company Ararat Adventures, arrived at camp. Originally from Poland (with a given name of Agnieska) Hazal quit her job working as a tax accountant for the Polish Ministry of Finance after vacationing near Ararat and falling in love and marrying a Kurdish mountain guide named Safet. 

The next day was another short, easy hike up to our second camp at 11,500 feet. We would have preferred to go higher, thus making our summit day shorter, but due to the early time of year and the amount of snow, our camp was located at this lower altitude.

Our time on the mountain was immeasurably more peaceful and scenic than the city scene of Doğubayazıt ...until the early morning hours of Tuesday May 6th.  We awoke at 2 AM, switched on our headlamps, and dressed in our warmest clothes for the anticipated wind and cold temps of 16°F forecast for our long summit day. We packed sufficient food and water knowing we would be climbing over 5,300 vertical feet (our single greatest summit day altitude gain ever, even more than Everest which is 3,000 vertical feet from camp 4 to the summit). Fortunately we were already well acclimatized after coming from Everest Base Camp at over 17,000 feet just 10 days prior, otherwise I'm not sure I would attempt such a significant one day altitude gain so quickly.

We finally got out of camp at 3:30 AM and followed Mustafa up the increasingly steep snow slope, step-by-step through the dark, illuminated only by our headlamps. After about five hours of climbing in almost complete silence other than the crunch of our crampons in the hard snow or the occasional exchange with Mustafa that consisted of "OK? / OK" or "Good? / Good"), the peaceful calm of the morning was abruptly broken. All of a sudden without any warning whatsoever, we heard an alarmingly loud "BOOM!"  It was the unmistakable sound of a large ballistic artillery round. Who the heck is firing at us way up here on Mount Ararat? Immediately I looked up at the slope above us to assess whether there was a possibility of the missile fire triggering an avalanche? Mustafa responded with a phrase from his English repertoire that we hadn't heard before: "No problem."

Knowing we were only a few miles from the Iranian border, and knowing about history of strife and violence with the Kurdish PKK organization in this area, a response of "no problem" wasn't entirely reassuring. Nonetheless, we continued to climb towards the summit and tried our best to keep warm as the wind and clouds blew against us at 30 to 40 mph at times. Then again, another BOOM! this time followed shortly after by another BOOM! Did we somehow time our vacation with the start of a new conflict with Iran and Turkey or the PKK? The exchange of missile fire continued as we made our way up the last stretch through the clouds and finally to the summit at an altitude of 16,946 feet at 11:00 AM.
















Notwithstanding any of this "unease", our experience on Mt. Ararat and with the Kurdish people has been wonderful and we are extremely happy we stepped out of our comfort zone and embarked on this adventure. Now for a little relaxing, daily showers, and enjoying the sights and Turkish food in Istanbul!

















Ishak Pasha Palace, above Doğubayazıt and near Mt. Ararat

Up Next - Mt. Ararat!

After our celebration dinner in Kathmandu and emotion filled farewells to our Sherpa friends and fellow team members, Denise and I turned our attention to Turkey. We flew to Istanbul yesterday at the western edge of the country (Istanbul is a rare city in the world with the distinction of sitting in two continents) and today we took a flight to Van located near the eastern edge of Turkey. Syria and Iraq are to the south of us and now we are quite near the border of Iran to the east. The Kurds are the predominant ethnic group here so we aren't exactly waving the American flag around to make friends.

Nonetheless, this region is the site of Mt. Ararat, the highest peak in Turkey at 16,854 feet and its summit is our next objective. It is higher than any mountain in the continental United States or in Europe, outside of the Caucasus. Ararat was a part of Armenia until the Armenian Genocide in 1915 when Turkey took over that section of Armenia. The mountain is a dormant volcano with the last eruption in 1840, so at least we should be safe on that front!

Mt. Ararat is also known for its historical significance as the likely final resting place of Noah's Ark. It is specifically referenced in the Bible in the book of Genesis, Chapter 8, 1-5. Over the years various groups have explored Ararat in the hopes of finding remains of the Ark. Both Josephus in about 70 A.D. and Marco Polo about 1300 A.D. mention its existence on the mountain, but conclusive artifacts have yet to be discovered. If we come across any telltale pieces of wood from the hull, or anybody who looks like Russell Crowe (from the movie Noah) we'll be sure to make another blog post about it! :-)

Although Ararat has a glacial cap year round, most people climb it in August, when there is much less snow on its flanks. As a result we will be using crampons/snowshoes and ice axes far closer to the base of the mountain this time of year in May. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with us as well, it's currently cloudy up on the mountain and looks like snow from here at our current location in Doğubayazıt.  We drove apprx. 2 hours north from Van to get here, and in the morning we will drive a bit further to the trailhead and begin the climb!

Downtown Doğubayazıt, across the street from our hotel.

Note: We're not sure whether we will have the ability to post from the mountain, so it may be three or four days until our next update.

Back To Kathmandu

It's hard to believe how many miles we've travelled and the change in temperature and elevation since we last left you four days ago at Everest Base Camp. In a nutshell we hiked from EBC at 17,500 feet back down to Gorak Shep, partway up 18,450 foot Kala Pattar for some great photos of Everest, then down to Pheriche (site of the Himalayan Rescue Association hi-altitude medical clinic) hiking as snow fell upon us until we reached Pangboche for the night. After a needed rest we continued on retracing our steps to Tengboche, Namche Bazaar, and eventually to Lukla at 9,350 feet where we celebrated our journey of approximately 85 miles by foot through spectacular Himalayan scenery and culturally rich experiences.

Along the way we also met some great people such as Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Charley Linville who lost his leg in Afghanistan but is back in action in a big way thanks to the Challenged Athletes Foundation. A small world and fortuitous encounter indeed!

One of the many rewarding aspects of this adventure has been the team's participation in our "Higher Education" curriculum throughout the trip. Thought-provoking questions and discussion topics have given each member of our team an opportunity to "Take a Step Back" (see  http://StepsToTheSummit.com - Step #10) and reflect upon values, life purpose, and both short and long-term goals. Being with an incredible group such as ours in an amazing outdoor setting like the Solukhumbu Valley, and away from the typical distractions of home and office, has fostered a wonderful environment for introspection, sharing, and growth. I am pleased to report that our Everest Executive Challenge has not only helped to achieve personal breakthroughs and memories of an adventure that will last a lifetime, we have also proudly made an impact through our fundraising efforts for the Challenged Athletes Foundation. Thank you all for following along and for your support!

http://www.challengedathletes.org/EverestExecutiveChallenge/fejtek