theodorefairhurst - theodorefairhurst

ANTARCTICA & MOUNT VINSON / Jan.2009

Clowning at Patriot Hills

Back at Patriot Hills

Punta Arenas to Patriot Hills- photo by Petr Leidl
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Briefing at Punta Arenas

Take Vinson Very Seriously

Punta Arenas- photo by Walt Elrod
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Inside Cockpit of Ilyushin

Rising Sun from Ilyushin Cockpit

Inside Open Cargo Bay of Ilyushin
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5 Hour Flight to Antarctica
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Big Bird Lands at Patriot Hills
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Icy Naturally Formed Runway at Patriot
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The Team
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Patriot's Hills Camp
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3 Twin Otter's Ready
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Antarctica Logistics & Expeditions
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Patriot Hills to Mt. Vinson - photo by Petr Leidl
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View from Twin Otter
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Mountain tops poking through 2,500+m of Ice
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Stop-motion of Prop
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Shadow of Otter on Pure White Landscape - photo by Petr Leidl
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Photo from Twin Otter
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View from Base-Camp
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Preparing Sleds at BC - photo by Petr Leidl
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Looking-Out on the Vast Plain of West Antarctica
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Vinson Base-Camp
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Base-Camp
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BC - photo by Petr Leidl
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Quiet & Peaceful at BC
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Greg & Moises
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Dragging Sleds up to Camp 1
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Pinch-Me, Am I Happy or What - Greg
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I'm Color Co-Ordinated At Least
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Greg Hitching a Ride to C1
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Digging up our Cache
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Digging for Worms
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Hauling to C1 - photo by Moises Nava
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That Winning Smile - Moises
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Petr & Milos
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Showing-off my new Hat - photo by Petr Leidl
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Mike & Walt
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Serious Paraphernalia in our Kitchen Tent
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Moises with his Knife & Mayk
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Unshaven Dan
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Mike H looking Cool & Dapper
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Camp 1 - photo by Petr Leidl
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Walled-in at C1 - photo by Moises Nava
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Waiting for Dinner at C1
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A Windy Plain of Sasdrugi
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The Mayk Salute
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Home Sweet Home
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Are You Telling Me We Have More Climbing To Do.
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Climbing Up To C2
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It Got A Little Steep In Places - 1200m
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Coming Over Rise At Top of Fixed Lines
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Photo by Petr Leidl
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WOW
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Yours Truly - photo by Greg Vernovage
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Charming the Camera at High Cache
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Mayk Schega at top of ropes - photo by Walt Elrod
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Below High Camp
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High-Camp
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Looking-Out from High-Camp
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Sue's Pyramid & Spectacular Horizon
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Cloud Bank Far Below Over C1
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A Serious Wall
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Beautiful
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Sue's Pyramid in the Mist
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High-Camp
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Secure Walls for Protection
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Mount Shinn
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Sue's Pyramid
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Moises on Summit Ridge
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From Summit Ridge
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Summit Ridge
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Summit Ridge, Greg & Myself - photo by Moises Nava
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Vinson's Summit Ridge - photo by Walt Elrod
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Long Summit Ridge
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Greg, Moises & Me on Summit
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Group Photo on Summit
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January 19, 2009 - 4pm - 4892m
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Sporting My Logo & Esprit de Corps
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My Warm Forty-Below Overboots
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What Vast & Pristine Beauty
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Descending the Summit Ridge
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Mount Shinn from Inside the Vinson Massif
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The Long Descent back to High Camp - photo by Moises Nava
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Descending into the Clouds toward C1 - photo Walt Elrod
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Just Below High-Camp Above the Clouds - incredible photo by Petr Leidl
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Greg & I Taking a Break - photo by Moises Nava
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Descending the Ropes - photo by Petr Leidl
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Walt & Mike Coming Off Fixed Lines
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Milos - The Good Man/ photo by Walt Elrod
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Mayk & Walt Turned a little Gray from the Descent
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White-Out Conditions
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Moving Down to Base-Camp
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Group Photo at BC
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Greg's Eyes Always Shine
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This Backpack Has Still Alot of Travel in It
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This Is The Shit I'm Talking About - Theodore
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Walt's Wry Humour is Near
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Boaz's Winning Smile
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Petr's Wink - Germany's Finest
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Moises - The Mogul of Mexico
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Petr - The Czech Connection
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Milos - The Czech Superstar
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Dan - The Enlightener
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Hamill the Mountain Aficionado
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Greg the Kitchen Magician - photo by Walt Elrod
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7th Heaven- Beer & HotDogs at BC - photo by Petr Leidl
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A Beautiful Sight - The Twin Otter Returns to BC
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Coming-in For A Landing
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Interesting Perpective: Landing Field is Well Behond Tents
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Preparing to Load-up the Otter
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Milos is Curious
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Packing Up
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Return Flight in Otter to Patriot Hills - photo by Walt Elrod
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From Air: A Few Mountain Tops Poke Through The Several Thousand Meter Thick Age-Old Ice
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The Team back at Patriot - photo by Walt Elrod
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Our Last Moments at Patriot Hills
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Inside Our Waiting/ Dining Tent at Patriot
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Last Reflections on Good Times - photo by Petr Leidl
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The Team's Salute - HURRAH - photo by Petr Leidl
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Patriot Hill Camp
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The Ilyushin Returns For Us
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The Ilyushin Cockpit - photo by Moises Nava
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She is a Pretty Site but a Sad Moment to Leave Antarctica
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CHO OYU, TIBET/ expedition Sept./Oct. 2008/1st album

The ancient city of KATHMANDU

KATHMANDU is an ancient city kingdom surrounded by mighty mountains overflowing with Hindu temples and Buddhist stupas existing in total harmony together,

Holy Man

Kathmandu

Looking down at the city from the Monkey Temple.

Heavy daily traffic

Cho Oyu expedition 2008

Temples found everywhere in the city

Cho Oyu2008 expedition 2008

Cho Oyu expedition 2008

Amazing woodwork

Cho Oyu expedition 2008

Kathmandu

Pashupatinath temple

A Hindu temple located on the shore of the Bagmati river and is the most widely used place of cremation for the deceased in Nepal.

Cremation ceremony

Family of the deceased

Bagmati River

Buddhist Stupa

Buddhists on Pilgrimage

Cho Oyu expedition 2008

Swayamblunath

An ancient religious complex atop a hill in the Kathmandu Valley, overlooking Kathmandu. It is also known as the 'Monkey Temple' as there are holy monkeys living in parts of the temple. Although the site is considered Buddhist, the place is revered by both Buddhists and Hindus. It is one of the oldest religious sites in Nepal and was founded in the 5th century.

The Monkey Temple

Cho Oyu expedition 2008

Amazing Beauty

Lama

Cho Oyu expedition 2008

Yeti Airlines

Annapurna Hill District

Waiting for our Tibet visa's to be approved, we spent 4 days hiking in the breathtakingly beautiful hills of this region.

Cho Oyu expedition 2008

An extended breakfast

Cho Oyu expedition 2008

Extraordinary valley & hill views

Rope suspension bridge

A stream mill

Barley being grounded into flour

Cho Oyu expedition 2008
Cho Oyu2008(110) [Desktop Resolution].JPG 2008-09-02

Cho Oyu expedition 2008

Step farming

Cho Oyu expedition 2008

Tibet

We crossed into Tibet on the "Friendship Highway/ Bridge" September 6th, 2008. The first night we stayed near the border town of Zhangmu, altitude 7,546' (2,300m). The next morning we continued to move up higher unto the Tibetan plateau to a dusty, windy one street town called Nyalam, 12,300'. We stayed here 2 nights to acclimatize.

Nyalam

Cho Oyu expedition 2008

Nyalam Buddhist Monastery

Prayer Wheel

Lalunga-la (pass)

Tibet is a vast, elevated plateau in Central Asia. It is the highest region on Earth and is commonly referred to as the "Roof of the World". We are crossing the Lalunga-la at 5,050m and another 8,000m mountain Shishapangma (8,027m) is looming in the background.

Tibetan village

Tibet: I have always wanted to visit this unique and mysterious land and its indigenous people. Sitting so high on the severly dry and barren plateau surrounded by the most striking mountains of the world. Walled villages with elaborately fashioned and painted entrances.

Tingri

The town of Tingri overlooks a sweeping plain bordered by towering Himalayan peaks. Old and new customs and lifestyles mingle seamlessly in what appears like an old wild western Tibetan town. Packs of dogs yelp all night long. Pigs and livestock roam the streets. Altitude 14,200' (4,340m).

Tingri's dusty main street
We stay here 2 nights to acclimatize.

Tibetan family

Coming into Tingri to trade.

Horse & motorcycle side by side

Main street butcher
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Cho Oyu expedition 2008

Cho Oyu expedition2008

Displaying mutton carcass

Cho Oyu expedition 2008

Elaborate entrances

Playing pool on the street

Horse-drawn transporation

Tingre restaurant

Tibetan Prayer Flags

Tibetan prayer flags are often found strung on man-made and natural objects to bless the surrounding countryside. Cho Oyu in background.

Above village & plain of Tingri

This is our 1st view of Cho Oyu. Everest and the Nangpa-la (pass) are also in view.

Lost in translation

Cho Oyu basecamp

Yaks will porter all our provisions to IC (interval camp) and onto ABC. We need 2 more nights here to acclimatize. Altitude 16,500'.

Cho Oyu expedition 2008

Cho Oyu from basecamp

Cho Oyu expedition 2008

Stacking the Yaks

Moving up the glacier to ABC

Nearing ABC

Advanced Base Camp 18,701' (5,700m)

Cho Oyu expedition 2008

ABC

The Yaks arrive at camp.

Cho Oyu expedition 2008

Unloading all the gear

CHO OYU, TIBET/ expedition Sept./Oct. 2008/2nd album

Cho Oyu (the Turquoise Goddess) at sunrise

Setting up ABC

Cho Oyu2008

Our private quarters (toilets) at ABC.

Nangpa-la

This pass has traditionally been a trading route between Tibet and Nepal for hundreds of years. Recently it had also become a deadly escape route for Tibetan refugees.

Nangpa-la

Chinese army checking pass. Photo taken from ABC.

View from ABC

High Winds on CHO OYU

ABC

Gorak flying over camp

Prayer Flags

Prayer flags on man-made alter with Cho Oyu in background.

Puja ceremony

Beginning of our important Buddhist ceremony.

Buddhist Prayer Flags

Ringsing (our Lama) in center

Puja Ceremony

Buddhist prayer flags sway gently during our important "puja" ceremony. Before a man-made rock altar where we have placed our technical climbing gear, we chant for several hours asking the "Mountain Goddess" to bless and protect us up high.

Cho Oyu2008

Puja ceremony

Mike Chapman receives blessing of barley flour from Sherpa.

Happy camper

Goraks at ceremony

Fierce winds high on Cho Oyu
Photo from ABC.

Scree on glacier

Picking our way up glacier to camp1.

Penitentes

Enormous penitentes punch out of the glacier diverting us on our hike up to camp 1. They are constantly rumbling and occasionally crashing.

Cho Oyu2008

Ice bridge

Paul Garry & Al Schumer

Moving up scree slope to C1

Cho Oyu2008

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Cho Oyu2008(427) [Desktop Resolution].JPG 2008-10-03

Camp 1

View from C1

Cho Oyu2008

ABC

Tibetan/ Chinese, Korean & mixed expeditions advanced base camp.

Cho Oyu2008

Cho Oyu in Chaos

Huge storms brewing in the Bay of Bengal a thousand miles away regularly slam Cho Oyu with hurricane force winds. Our team endured 3 such storms with over 2 dozen 'bullet proof' tents being shredded and blown off the glacier. From ABC, this photo shows the upper reaches of the mountain in absolute chaos.

Dining tent at ABC

Smiling and 'Ready to Go'

At ABC

Al Schumer and Nathan Dolbeare killing time at ABC.

The Cook Tent

The most important guys of the 'party'.

Cho Oyu2008

Lama Ringsing

Phunuru SHERPA

Ang Pasang SHERPA

Kaji SHERPA

Cho Oyu2008

Ang Jangbu SHERPA

Cho Oyu2008

Cho Oyu on 'Fire' again

Cho Oyu2008

The Team

Morning before leaving ABC for the summit push.

Back row: Greg Vernovage, Paul Garry, Karel Masek, Nathan Dolbeare, Louis Carstens, Mike Chapman, Mike Hamill, Al Schumer.

Front row: Tseten Gyurme, Tashi Tshering, Phunuru SHERPA, Da Sonam SHERPA, Chris Bergum, Theodore Fairhurst.

Sunny & Light Winds on Cho Oyu

View just below C1

Camp 1

C1 20,997' (6,400m). After weeks of acclimatizing to such extreme altitude, and with a narrow weather window of opportunity, we are 'going for it'. Our last time here at C1, we were litterally blown off the mountain.

Moving up above C1

Avoiding the Big Cracks

Cho Oyu2008

Looking down above C1

Above C1 and what a Panorama

1st Icefall

Cho Oyu2008

No place to Mess-up

Nearing top of 2nd Icefall

Strangely Beautiful

Looking above C2

Exquisite Beauty at Sunrise

Cho Oyu2008

Above 2nd Icefall

Theodore Fairhurst, Greg Vernovage.

A Delightful Pause

Greg Vernovage, Paul Garry.

Gasping for Oz

Thin air 'up here'. Theodore fairhurst, Greg Vernovage.

Cho Oyu2008

Climbers approaching C2.

C2, 23,622' (7,200m)

Sunset far above the clouds in the highest mountain range on the planet. Does it get any better than this? Tomorrow to C3, and then with luck we will make our 'summit bid'.

Outside our Tent at C2

Mike Hamill at C2

Karel Masek at C2

C2 in the Morning

Camps 1, 2 & 3

Looking down directly at C2, lower left is C1, and top right corner ABC. The face we are climbing on has already avalanched earlier in the trip.

Looking down at C2

Theodore Fairhurst & Nathan Dolbeare

Cho Oyu2008

Theodore Fairhurst.

The "Yellow Band"

We will be climbing this rock wall tonight in the dark.

Cho Oyu2008

Divine Shadow

Sunrise near the summit plateau. Cho Oyu drops her 'Divine Shadow' onto the distant horizon of the ice-crowned Himalayas. We have been climbing for over 6 hours and we are so near our goal.

As far as the eye can see

The Tibetan Plateau
Shishapangma top left corner.

Cho Oyu2008

Summit Plateau

We arrived at camp 3, 24,934' (7,600m) around 4pm yesterday. Our plan was to sleep for a few hours and start moving by midnight. At 11:30 in the cold and dark we were already climbing the near vertical rock face called the Yellow Band. This is an altitude with so little oxygen that it is known as the 'death zone'. Your body is physically breaking down and dying. Yet, in this absolute black stillness of the night, with only the light from our headlamps, it felt oddly serene.

Mount Everest & Lhotse

Wind whips up snow into minature twisters on this hostile yet grand polar oasis.

Sunrise

The sun barely breaking the horizon behind Everest and Lhotse.

The sun barely breaking the horizon behind Everest and Lhotse

Cho Oyu2008 Summit

We made it.

Summit Cho Oyu 26,906' (8,201m)

It is 6am, October 5 2008. I am standing on the 'Roof of the World'. Mount Everest and Lhotse are directly behind me. It is extremely cold yet I feel warm. I am probably higher than any other human being in the world at this moment. I admit I have an inner feeling of awe.

Summit Cerebration

Nathan Dolbeare, Tseten Gyurme, Theodore Fairhurst.

DARE to REACH

We have been over a month on the mountain. Many more of preparation. Years of training. Why do we do it? To question what's inside? To push our limits? To Dare our spirit? To Reach our star? Nothing is impossible! Only our bolsness.

CHO OYU / VINSON SUMMITS POSTER

DARE to REACH Tibet / Antarctica poster can be printed on large size format (25" x 33" minimum).

Looking north over Tibetan Plateau

Returning to C1

Total exhaustion. It has been over 17 hours since we left C3 last night for the summit. I am just minutes away from C1, tent, food and sleep. Glorious.

Camp 1

Lenticular Cloud over Cho Oyu

Taken just below C1.

Cho Oyu2008

Cho Oyu 2008

October 6, 2008. The last descent from C1 to ABC.

Mike Hamill

Greg Vernovage

Nathan Dolbeare

Alfred Schumer

Karel Masek

Paul Garry

Louis Carstens

Chris Bergum

Theodore Fairhurst

Pasang Nuri SHERPA

Congratulations Summit 2008

WOW, was that good.

The Yaks Return

The climb is over and the yaks and the Tibetan drivers return to haul out all of our gear, tents, garbage and last supplies.

Cho Oyu 2008

Tibetan with Fully Loaded Yak

Cho Oyu2008

Sharing Last of the Produce from ABC

Cho Oyu2008

A Tibetan with a Great Smile

DENALI/MT. McKINLEY, ALASKA/ expedition May 2007

Summit 26 May 2007

Downtown Talkeetna

Talkeetna Air Taxi

Air Taxi porter us with all our gear and food for a month to the Southeast fork of the Kahiltna Glacier at 7,200', basecamp.

Denali 2007

Massive Rivers of Ice Crawl & Merge throughout the Range

Looking down at Huge Crevasses on Kahiltna Glacier

Landing on the Glacier

Arriving at Basecamp

Basecamp

Denali from Basecamp

Basecamp 2007

Kalhiltna Glacier

Camp 1

May 12 & 13 it Snowed 3 Feet, Camp 1

Jason Thomas Returning with Tim to Basecamp

Whiteout Conditions

Denali 2007
364 [Desktop Resolution].JPG 2007-05-13

Hauling Through Deep Snow

C1 Friend

Denali 2007

Hauling Heavy Sleds & Backpacks up to C2

John Hauf digging to Cache at 10,000'

Returning to C1 Empty

Inteval Camp 9,800' 2nd snowstorm 2 Feet

Nick Cole

Terri Schneider

Theodore Fairhurst

Camp 2 11,300'

Midnight Sunset at C2

Sunrise C2

Photo from C2

Preparing to Cache below C3

Denali 2007

Walled-in at Camp 3 14,400'

Resting at C3

Mount Foraker 17,400' (5,303m)

"End of the World" View

Near C3, Theodore Fairhurst.

I'm a Happy Camper

Dining Tent at C3

John Hauf

Jason Thomas

Eric Larsen

Jeff Garvin, Joe Desipio

Clouds rolling-in at Our Feet, C3

Bad Weather at C3 & C4

May 20 to 24, we were held hostage by the weather at C4. Our weather at C3 was up and down but higher on the ridge it was nasty. It started to seem like our summit bid was rapidly dissolving. Food was getting low and our flight dates out were fast arriving. It was demoralizing to think that all our excruciating work of dragging such heavy loads higher and higher up the mountain was in vain. Would we be denied our chance to try for the summit. We were reduced to lying in our tents and waiting.

Mark Walsh

Jeff Garvin & Myself

Above Headwall at Col 16,430'

Camp 3 Far Below

May 25, the sun shines. We break camp and start climbing up. We stop before the headwall 1,400' up to take a break and prepare our gear. Above the headwall at the col we collect our cache and start climbing the narrow ridge. It is circuitous and steep. No place for errors. Finally after many hours we arrive at 17,200' Camp 4. The winds are sharp and cold. using an ice saw we cut out blocks from the snow packed ground and build 3' high walls around a radius big enough to fit three 3 man tents. The day is 11 1/2 hours long before we start dinner. We are totally exhausted.

A Wondrous Panarama

The West Buttress Route

Mount Hunter 14,573' (4,427m)

Camp 4 at Sunset 17,200'

The marvel of it all.

We are High Above the Ocean of Clouds

Camp 4

May 26 2007, Summit Day

Again it is sunny. Strange, 2 good days in a row. This is our chance. Eric Larsen and I start off roped together. We move up diagonally across a steep slope called the 'Autobahn' (don't fall) about 1000 feet of altitude to Denali Pass. Above this pass we start climbing a steep ridge. We are far above all other mountains in the range. All of North America is below us. We push on one foot in front of the next. Jeff Garvin switches teams to join us since we are moving quicker. We continue up and up until we arrive at what is called the 'football field'. It is a huge expanse of relatively flat terrain separateing the summit ridge from the Archdeacon's Tower.

We are finally on the Summit Ridge. The worst is over. The summit is almost in view.
176 [Desktop Resolution].JPG 2007-05-26

The Final Knife-edged Ridge to the Summit

May 26 2007, summit day. Again it is sunny. Strange, 2 good days in a row. This is our chance. Eric Larsen and I start off roped together. We move up diagonally across a steep slope

Jeff Garvin

Nick Cole & Jason Thomas

Theodore Fairhurst

Denali Summit 20,320' (6,193m)

After crossing up and down a knife-edged ledge often not wider than a foot with cliffs 600 feet on one side and several thousands of feet on the other, we finally set foot on a irregularly shaped spoon-sized crown. We are literally on top of North America.

May 26 2007, 6:15pm

We have beaten the odds. It is one of those rare moments in life, however brief, that you feel a pride of numbness. You forget the anticipation, the physical and emotional pain. It is not even the glory. It is just a little tear in the eye. No one would even notice. We did it.

MONT BLANC, FRANCE/ Sept. 2006

Mont Blanc Summit, September 20 2006

Chamonix, France September 2006

Mont Blanc from Village

Chamonix 2006

Mont Blanc & Glaciers

Chamonix from Above

Ibex

Mont Blanc 2006

Lenticular Cloud over Peak

WOW

Looking Down at Sunset

Mont Blanc 2006

Sunset on Mont Blanc

Mont Blanc 2006

The First Rays of a New Day with Moon

An Enchanting Moment the Shadow of Mont Blanc falls on the Horizon

Mont Blanc's Shadow in Space

Mont Blanc 2006

Climbers Moving up the Glacier

Sun Rising over Mont Blanc

The Distant Ranges of the Alps from Summit Plateau

One of my most Beautiful Pictures

Mont Blanc Summit at Sunrise

Mont Blanc Summit 4,808m

My personal logo and Esprit de Corps logo.

ACONCAGUA, ARGENTINA/ expedition Jan. 2006

Aconcagua Summit January 23 2006

My 1st successful high-altitude summit. Sporting logo's of 'Esprit de Corps' and my own.

Aconcagua from Plane ride to Santiago

50 km March-in up Vacas Valley

Aconcagua 2006

Mules porter-in Most of Gear & Food to Basecamp

Aconcagua 2006

Beautiful Flora found everywhere in the Dry Desert Environment

Mules are Blindfolded Temporary so as not to be Spooked

Crossing the Vacas River

The Long March-in with Mule Support

Aconcagua 2006

The Vacas and Guanacos Valleys

Our 1st View of Aconcagua end of 2nd Day

On the Way to Basecamp

Basecamp Guanacos Route 12,000'

Getting Organized

Mike Dunbar & Mike Hamill

David Ferreira, Anne Keller & Chip Allen

Chris Burrows

Cold, Raging Glacier Stream

Rest Spot up to Camp 1

Mid-day Heat

Aconcagua expedition 2006

Morning Sun on Glacier

Camp 1 14,000'

C1, Anne, John, Chris & Craig

Penitentes

Camp 2 16,000'

Group at C2

Sunrise

Sometimes Tricky Getting Through Penitentes

Camp 3 18,000'

Ameghino

High Above the Clouds C3- Extraordinary Real Estate

Dali-esque Beauty

Climbing up Above C3

Divine Views

Aconcagua expedition 2006

Breaking Your Own Trail

Absolute Solitude

Glaciers in Every Direction

Camp 4 19,500'

Aconcagua 2006

The 'Yellow Rock' at C4

Mike Hamill Preparing Dinner

Eric Stevenson Melting Snow

John Thompson is Feeling Like a Million Bucks

I'm Pointing Up There & Saying 'Oh My God'.

Chris Burrows is Happy & Confident

John & Ted Waving at a Flight out of Santiago

Wow- You Can Almost See The Pacific

After Days of Snowing You Can See the Light

Sunset- & with Luck Tomorrow Will Be 'Summit Day'

Summit Day

It is 4am, the sky is clear, the wind low. We are 'going for it'. Today is "summit day". We all know how tough it is going to be. 3,500 feet straight up into thinner air.

Eric Stevenson Taking a Break

The Weather is Still Holding

Aconcagua expedition 2006

The Final Ridge to Summit

Looking direction South Summit.

Aconcagua Summit

David Ferreira, Mike Dunbar, Craig Dean, John Thompson, Chris Burrows & Theodore Fairhurst.

Summit Memento

On the summit I left a photo of Rosanna, David and myself taken on top of Gros Morne mountain that we had climbed together in Newfoundland August 2004.

January 23 2006, 4:15pm I Have Climbed to the Highest Point in the Hemisphere

BOLIVIA, HUAYNA POTOSI/ 2002

La Paz, Street Vendors

La Paz

Lago Titicaca

Isla del Sol

Teddy Bear/ Met Him on Trek

A Perfect Rainbow/ 1st Night on Trek

Alpacas

Bolivia 2002

Laguna Juri Kuta

Cordillera Real Andes

Misty Weather

Laguna Juri Kuta

Nevado Condoriri

Bolivia 2002

Laguna Chiar Quta

Salar de Uyuni

Highest and largest salt lake in the world at an altitude of 3,650m and covering 12,000 sq. km. Depth of salt varies between 2-20m.

Hotel on Salt Lake

Isla Pescado

Small island in middle of salt lake.

Cactus Facts- 12m Cactus=1,200 Years

Desert Cave
After driving for a long day on the salt lake, we continued onto the high and very dry Altiplano (plateau). We came upon some mysterious caves that were a burial site with remains supposily 2,000 years old.

Camera Flash Exposed Skulls

Notice Small Volcano on Distant Hill

Laguna Hedionda

Driving on the mostly flat and dry desert altiplano we came to several very shallow lakes of different colors with high mineral content and full of flamingos.

Laguna Canapa

Laguna Verde 4,400m

Altiplano

Laguna Colorada

Means colored lake and is at altitude 4,278m, about 1 meter deep and is this flaming red color from wind, sun and micro-organisms that live in it. It supports rare James, Chilean and Andean flamingos.

Laguna Colorada

Beautiful Hills

Bolivia 2002

Pampa de Chalviri

Surreal Dali-esque landscapes.

Altiplano

Valle de Rocas

Bolivia 2002

Playing with Tire

The Tiny Village of Alota

Alota

Boys Playing with Wheelbarrow

Locomotive Graveyard

Bolivia

Rusting in the Middle of Desert

Bolivia 2002

Bolivia

Huayna Potosi 6,088m from Basecamp

Glacier and Morraine

Heavily Crevassed at Snout

Icefall

Old Blue Ice

Mountain Caracara

View from Highcamp 5,200m

Early Morning, Illimani 6,439m in Distance

The 1st Morning Rays

Open & Hidden Crevasses

Myself on Glacier

Huayna Potosi

Had to turn back at about 5,700m because of avalanche and crevasse danger. Heavy snowfalls had fallen on previous days and we experienced 2 avalanches yesterday.

MOUNT WASHINGTON, NEW HAMPSHIRE/ Our Winter Challenge Playground

Cairn on Mt. Madison

Looking South from Mt. Washington

Francis Tremblay on a Sunny February Day

A Crisp Early Morning

Three Happy Squatters

This is Living

Snow Laden Trees

One Lone Frozen Tree

Alpine Hut

Myself, Brigitte & Gille Barbot

Francis looks a little cool

Now It's Getting Fun

Whew, What a Day

Happy Camper

The Winds are 100 Miles an Hour on the Ridge- Let Me Sleep

Beautifully White & Windswept

Above Tree Line

That is So Good

3 Foot Drifts Slow You Down a Bit

Aviva & Gilleski Smile for the Camera

It's Who

Making Tracks

The Yann Salute

A Little Nippy Today

Mount Jefferson Summit

Please, Don't Blow Tonight

Gilles Barbot looking a Little Frazzled

Myself & Gilles on a Sunny Mountain Morning

What Was That Moving Down There

You Have To Wait For Spring To See What It Says

That Is Why We Come Back

MOUNT EVEREST, NEPAL/ 1969

1969 Mount Everest

Khumjung 1969

Near Namche Bazar 1969

Thyangboche Monastery

Small Mountain Village

Khumbu Glacier 1969

Photo Taken on Khumbu Glacier 1969

BRYCE CANYON, UTAH/ April 2006

Jacques, Marie-Josée, Martine, Stephanie & Gilles

Bryce Canyon

Amazing Columns

Bryce Canyon

Myself

A Column of Giants

Time Sculptured

Old & Twisted

You Can Sense Delight

Stephanie, Martine, Jacques & Marie-Josée.

Bryce Canyon 2006

A Still Standing Fort

Incrediblle Nature

Lost in Nature

Making Camp in the Snow

Gilles Acting Obscene

Happy Campers

This is What I'm Talking About

Lite on the Visability

The 'Esprit de Corpiens'

Mt. Everest summit: 23 May 2010

Everest from Balloon, Leo Dickinson

JUMPING for JOY in ANTARCTICA

ANTARCTICA & MOUNT VINSON January 2009

Philosophy

Training over the course of the last number of years at Esprit de Corps in Montreal with people half my age and less, I have often been told that I am a positive example for them. Certainly, it is in my own best interest to stay fit to continue to do all the challenges and sports I love. But increasingly I realize I could be in a position to encourage others, younger and older, to Dare to Reach their own challenges and dreams.

Some say it has to be in you to train and live such a lifestyle. I don’t believe that. I have not always been so active in sports or exercise by a long shot. I believe that most of what we do in life does not come from just being born or good at it ‘naturally’. Practically everything we do is ‘learned’ and we make our choices along the way. It is we who decide where we want to go, what we want to be.

Turning 40, 50 or 60 should not mean a time to pack it in, quiet down, or get a bigger TV. Now is the time to expand your horizon, to dream bigger, to Reach further. Every study has shown that keeping active and motivated, significantly extends health and quality of life. Often people have more time and resources once job and family are more settled, to return to aspirations lost along the way. Being older is being wiser and allows you to condense your energy more efficiently. Being wiser means tying up those loose ends of the stuff that got away or just couldn’t be realized.

Breaking our mental mould, even in small ways can be daunting. Going out at night in the cold of winter to train in the snow, even for me, is definitely not easy. But 2 hours later I am euphoric. I fought the elements, I pushed myself with other crazy souls, and I felt like a million bucks. It is really just the question of setting up new habits, reshuffling the pack a little bit, seeing and feeling results. Everything starts somewhere, and possibilities will grow beyond your imagination. Once fit the list of opportunities and challenges are endless.

People sometimes ask me ‘how do you push yourself when the going gets really tough’. Perhaps best said by Ray Zahab who ran 7,500km across the Sahara desert in 111 days, about 70 km a day. Interviewed he said, “it is 90% psychological”. When questioned what the other 10% was, he said “mental”. Fixing your sights on a landmark a hundred meters above you as a goal will get you to the top. One little step at a time. One day at a time. Take a decision, act on your decision, make it a reality. Dare.

So it really comes down to the simple expression ‘use it or lose it’. It applies to body, mind and spirit. Body is obvious: get out there and be active to keep your physical body strong, or lose it. Mind: get out and look for new ways to challenge yourself and Dare, big or small. Spirit is vital: keep that desire to still be a little bit of a kid in you all the time.

This philosophy is so important to everyone, especially as we age. Gradually descending into a living slumber is not an intelligent option. It gets exponentially more difficult to resurface. I’m 62, and in 2008 I climbed the 6^th highest mountain in the world. January 2009, I climbed the highest mountain in Antarctica. It is possible to take on even the biggest challenges at any age. All that holds us back is our willingness to get out there and Dare to Reach.

It is my hope to be able to inspire others to get motivated through example, talks and slideshows.

Denali 2007

Denali's 'Rivers' of Ice

Mount Washington

Everest 1969

Bryce Canyon

Sandstone Castles

Mount Vinson 2009

Vinson - nearing C2

Mount Shinn

Summit Ridge

Summit- group photo

Twin Otter returning

Eternal Beauty

ANTARCTICA & MOUNT VINSON "TRIP REPORT' Jan. 2009

January 5, 2009, I received an email from Phil Ershler at IMG offering me to join an expedition to climb Mount Vinson, the highest mountain in Antarctica. I was to replace another climber who was unable to go. Only trouble was - I had to leave in 36 hours. IMPOSSIBLE!!! Well just maybe… I’m coming.

I have wanted to go to the Arctic and Antarctic for a long time. It is just so hard and expensive to get there. The notion of being in such an inhospitable and extreme climate and landscape has always appealed to me. So few people have ever ventured there. It has so much history and culture of extreme survival and exploration.

I had just got back from climbing Cho Oyu in Tibet last September & October, and I had frankly been very lazy with my training. Was I fit enough to climb Vinson at 4897m (16,067ft) in extreme cold?

The Vinson Massif is at 78^o latitude and only 1190km (700 miles) from the South Pole. It is in the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains. It is also one of the Seven Summits being the highest on the icecap continent. Getting there is difficult and expensive. You need to fly to the most southern tip of Chile - Punta Arenas - then cross your fingers and wait for good weather at both ends before boarding a Russian-built cargo plane, an Ilyushin, to fly you almost 5 hours across the Antarctic Ocean to a desolate, windswept place called Patriot Hills. This place is well chosen to land the Ilyushin because it has a natural formed runway. Cross winds descend over the Patriot’s leeward side creating a perfectly flat and icy landing strip parallel to the hills. Big problem is the winds need to be very low before the ‘Big Bird’ can land.

On call to fly anytime, we get word after 2 ½ days to prepare to leave in 1 hour. It is Monday 9pm, January 12. We board the Ilyushin decked out in our mountaineering gear - double plastic boots, down pants and parkas, many layers - and one duffel bag full of crampons, ice ax, harness, glacier goggles, food, tents, etc. We step into a big open cargo hold without windows, with some seats, and full of supplies and gear. Thirty seven adventurers from all over the world to challenge themselves to ski to the South Pole, to climb Vinson, retrace Ernest Shackleton’s 1916 epic of endurance, etc. I am captivated by the rare abundant energy and circumstance emanating in that cargo hold. I have never experienced anything like this before. This is an adventure of a lifetime.

My team is multi-national. Two Czechs, 1 Mexican, 1 German, 5 Americans and myself, Canadian. We are all pumped. We land at Patriot hills at 3am. It is sunny and bitterly cold. We eat in the Camp dining tent and put up our own 2 man tents and sleep to 11am. At 1:30pm we are packed and climbing into a Twin Otter en route to Vinson base-camp about 1 hour away. Don’t ask me about the views- just look at the pictures. Simply marvelous and pristine.

The Sentinel Range stretches for more than 130km (80 miles) and is drawn up like pieces on a chess board against the edge of the greatest sweep of ice in the world – a vast barren dry desert plain, bigger than North America. Antarctica is the coldest, most windswept continent on Earth. Its mean altitude of 2290m (7,500ft) is three times greater than that of any other land mass, and it holds 90 % of the world’s ice, which at its deepest lies up to 4776m (15,700ft) thick. This ice covers the whole continent – only a few mountain tops poke through it. Winds that blow normally at 10-15 knots, can often reach up to 100 knots. And now, during the Antarctic summer when there is 24 hours of daylight, the sun simply rotates in the sky 360^o just above the horizon.

At about 2:30pm we land on the Branscomb Glacier at 2100m (6900ft) and make camp. Next morning we saddle up the sleds and haul up to intermediate camp, cache and return to base-camp for a 2^nd night. Thursday morning the 15^th January, again we load-up all the sleds with the rest of our gear and provisions, pick-up our upper cache, and move to camp 1 at 2700m (8800ft). It is situated on a broad flat plateau covered in sastrugi – furrows or irregularities formed on a snow surface by the wind. We set up our camp and saw out ice blocks from the surface to build walls around our tents in case the weather gets nasty. Friday, we load up backpacks with gear and provisions we need at high camp and climb a fairly steep headwall on fixed ropes for about 1200m (4000ft) and cache at a rocky outcrop, then drop back down to C1 for the night. Saturday is a rest day.

Sunday we pack up camp and climb up the headwall again to our cache, load up and continue climbing up to a small flat patch thousands of feet directly above our lower camp with outrageous views of Mount Shinn on our right and far below the broad white desert that seems to go to infinity. My breath is taken away. This is living. Whatever happens tomorrow on our summit push, I feel very lucky to be here.

Monday, 19^th January, 7:45am we rope up in 2 teams of three and 1 of four. The weather is perfect, sunny and warm. We head out of high camp on a long curving slope until finally over a rise Vinson towers in the distance. It is still kilometers away and yet you feel you can run to it. We are in the broad valley of the massif, the intense reflection of the sun on the glacier is unnaturally overheating us in this high altitude polar world. I am supposed to be wearing everything I brought including down, yet I have on only two layers. There is barely any wind. It is so quiet, so peaceful.

We push on hour after hour. At 3pm, we are just below the final long ridge to the summit. The mountain had looked rounded from below, but now it has become one of the most beautiful summits and ridges I have ever seen. You have to snake up and down and around over rock outcrops and icy ledges to advance forward. This is the fun part. We are so close.

We are finally standing on a small table top summit. It is rocky, icy and corniced. We all made it. It is 4pm, January 19^th, 2009. We hug, take group photos, laugh, congratulate. We have made it to the top of this incredible continent. The views have just got even better. It is probably more than minus 40^oC with the 5 to 10 knot wind-chill. Yet in this dry cold it does not feel it. We have not only climbed a very special mountain, this is Antarctica – the most unknown and untouched land on the planet. We are very privileged. I want this moment to last forever.

On the long descent back to high camp I got lost in my thoughts about this extraordinary trip and climb. It is definitely not one of the most spectacular and difficult mountains I have climbed. But the mountain is only one part of this great experience. Being here in a land so few have travelled or spoiled. Making your own tracts in the snow. Standing on ice a hundred thousand years old. Sleeping in daylight 24 hours long. Flying in the open cargo hold of the Ilyushin with so many other excited souls. This is what life is about. This will go down as one of my most treasured adventures.

Our luck held with weather. Back at base-camp on Tuesday, there was heavy cloud cover. No planes could fly. Next morning the skies were perfectly clear. The Twin Otter was coming for us. At Patriot Hills, the news was good and bad. The Ilyushin may leave Punta Arenas at 3pm if the winds decreased a bit more here, but if not, there was a large bank of clouds moving in and we would be stuck here at least for days. At 3pm we heard that ‘Big Bird’ was in the air. What a sigh. At 9:30pm we took off probably forever leaving this remarkable land behind. The trip may be over but it will never be forgotten.

Team members: Dan Garst, American; Mayk Schega, German; Mike Boaz, American; Milos Burysek, Czech; Petr Leidl, Czech; Walt Elrod, American; Moises Nava, Mexican; & myself Theodore Fairhurst, Canadian.

Special acknowledgment to guides: Mike Hamill, American; & Greg Vernovage, American.

Mike has a third sense in the mountains. I have known him for years and he has an uncanny ability to pull off the right moment for summit day. But more important, I trust his mountain judgment totally.

Greg has a committed determination to make you succeed. Even though he won a gold medal as a ‘player’ of beach volleyball at Sydney, his eyes shine when he reflects back as a ‘coach’ of the game. He brings that same energy to mountaineering.

CHO OYU/ VINSON POSTER

PERU November 2001 (35mm photos to digital)

Aconcagua Essay April 2006

Denali (Mount McKinley) Alaska - May 2007 Expedition

For some non apparent reason my sub-conscious restlessness drives me to challenge myself physically and emotionally and usually in faraway places. This time it was the acclaimed and magnificent mountain Denali (Mount McKinley) 20,320' in Alaska. At 63 degrees north bordering the Arctic Circle, it is light for almost 24 hours a day this time of the year. It was cold, weather extreme, excessively glaciated and unpredictable.

My climb began on the 8th May 2007 as 7 of us plus guides boarded 3 Beaver prop planes equipped with snow landing pads to land us with a huge amount of gear and food onto the Kahiltna Glacier at 7,200 feet. 30 minutes after take-off from Talkeetna airfield as we approached the mountains word came via Base-camp that weather had closed in so we did a 180^o and returned to Talkeetna. Four hours later we re-boarded and this time succeeded to land on the glacier around 6:30 pm. By 10 pm we had established Base Camp, eaten and climbed into our sleeping bags.

May 9 we practiced crevasse rescue techniques and discussed strategy.

May 10 we set off for Camp 1 descending from the Southeast Fork to the main Kahiltna Glacier each one of us pulling a sled weighing about 90 lbs (40 kg) of gear, food, fuel, etc. and also carrying a backpack of 50- 60 lbs mostly of personal and technical gear and clothes. The initial descent and the long ascent were gradual but grueling. Six long hours later exhausted, we arrived at our Camp 1 position. The lower Kahiltna Glacier is laced with crevasses so travelling on it requires zigzagging around large open cracks and tediously stepping over snow-bridged ones. They are everywhere and your travel is precipitous.

May 11 we hauled up to 10,300', cached food and gear in a dug-out snow hole, and then returned to Camp 1 to sleep. The idea is to separate the weight into 2 halves when moving up on steeper slopes and also to acclimatize by climbing high but sleeping low. This was a 9 hour day and at least 5,000 burned calories later.

May 12 & 13 it snowed 3 feet. We were buried in our tents and had to regularly dig out.

May 14 one member of our expedition Tim from Florida decided to throw in the towel and return to Base-camp and fly-out. Together with Jason our guide and 2 other climbers from another expedition they started out roped up trudging through the deep snow. Later we learned that Jason fell 20' into a crevasse almost yanking 2 other climbers with him. He got out unharmed. We on our part, trudged in the opposite direction up the glacier to 9,800' and made camp. That night it snowed another 2 feet.

May 15. Late in the day when the snow stopped, we moved up to 11,200'- Camp 2. Immediately after arriving, we then dropped down to our cache at 10,300' and dragged it up to our new Camp 2. By midnight we were ready for our bags.

May 16 we moved up some steep and long slopes this time carrying only heavy backpacks ( probably 65- 70 lbs ) and cached at 13,800'. Once again we descended to Camp 2 at 11,200' to sleep. Sleds and snowshoes now would stay at Camp 2 and crampons would be the order of the day above this point. This day was 8 1/2 long tough hours.

May 17 we moved up to Camp 3 at 14,250' with the rest of our loads. Camp 3 is advanced base camp in so much that you are within striking distance of Camp 4 and the summit and the weather is still moderate. 14,000 feet is considered a sort of threshold where one must manage carefully acclimatization to prevent AMS - acute mountain sickness. At 14,000' oxygen pressure decreases to 58% from sea level. Ultraviolet sunlight increases 5% per 1000 foot gain. Since oxygen pressure decreases 3% per 1000' gain the summit will have only 40% of the oxygen pressure we get down below. Also weather becomes considerably more severe above Camp 3 on the ridge and higher. It will be preferable to spent as little time as possible at camp 4. On our way up the mountain we encountered several international parties who had all been defeated by the severe temperatures at camp 4. They told me that the high daytime temperature was 37^o below.

May 18 we retrieved our cache at 13,800 and rested.

May 19 we moved up to 16,430' into a col and cached. We had to climb a steep headwall using ascenders so travel was slow and difficult. It took us 8 hours to get back to Camp 3.

May 20 to 24 we were held hostage by the weather at Camp 4. Our weather at Camp 3 was up and down but higher on the ridge it was nasty. It started to seem like our summit bid was rapidly dissolving. Food was getting low and our flight dates out were fast arriving. It was demoralizing to think that all our excruciating work of dragging such heavy loads higher and higher up the mountain was in vain. Would we be denied our chance to try for the summit. We were reduced to lying in our tents and waiting.

May 25. The sun shines. We break camp and start climbing up. The slope is moderate but consistent. We stop before the headwall 1400 feet up to take a break and prepare our gear. Above the headwall at the col we collect our cache and start climbing the narrow ridge. It is circuitous and steep. No place for errors. Finally after many hours we arrive at 17,200' Camp 4. The winds are sharp & cold. Using an ice saw we cut out blocks from the snow packed ground and build 3 foot high walls around a radius big enough to fit 3 three man tents. The day is 11 1/2 hours long before we start dinner. We are totally exhausted.

May 26. Summit day. Again it is sunny. Strange, two good days in a row. This is our chance. Eric Larsen and I start off roped together. We move up diagonally across a steep slope known as the Autobahn for about 1000 feet of altitude or so to Denali Pass. Above this pass we start climbing a steep ridge. We are far above all other mountains in the range. Even Mount Foraker is way below us now. The views are spectacular. All of North America is below us. We push on one foot in front of the next. Jeff Garvin switches teams to join us since we are moving quicker. We continue up & up until we arrive at what is called the Football Field. It is a huge expanse of relatively flat area separating the summit ridge from the Archdeacon's Tower. We drop our packs and push up a moderate headwall. We are finally on the summit ridge. The worst is over. The summit is almost in view. 45 minutes later, after crossing up and down a knife-edged ledge often not wider than a foot with cliffs 600' on your left & thousands of feet down on the right we set foot on a irregularly shaped spoon sized summit. It is 6:15 pm. We have beaten the odds. It is one of those rare moments in life, however brief, that you feel a pride of numbness. You forget the anticipation, the physical and emotional sweat, it is not even glory, it is just a little tear in the eye. No one would even notice. We did it.

Few minutes later reality sets in. The weather is closing in. Their is a hint of wind and clouds are thickening all around us. We start back along that cutting-edge ridge to what is called Pig Hill and down to the Football Field and our packs. The wind is now more than 25 miles per hour, the temperature has dropped and the visibility has considerably worsened. We wait for the others. After 15 minutes or so we are freezing and begin moving on. Conditions now are much different than before. Winds are getting stronger and stronger, the snow deeper and visibility difficult. It becomes hard to spot the wands. The wind knocks us down at times. It is hard to get a footing in the loose deep snow on this steep slope.

Finally we arrive at Denali Pass. There is only 1000 feet more of altitude. That exhausting 1000 feet down the steep Autobahn is intense and we fall many times. Finally, we make it down to camp. It has been 13 hours for us and it will be 2 more hours before the rest of the group shows up. Mark Walsh from England arrives almost delirious with exhaustion. He had pushed well outside of his energy threshold to just get to the summit ridge and descend. Nick Cole also from England had summitted shortly after us with Jason and on their descent came across Mark. We were all given our summit chance. Some made it- some didn't. We gave it our all.

May 27. Winds are raging all night. Half a foot of snow has fallen and visibility is poor. We stay in our tents all day resting and recovering.

May 28 we break Camp 4. The wind has decreased but visibility is poor. We slowly descend the steep, narrow ridge to the headwall. Descending the headwall on the fixed lines is always a feat. At Camp 3 we eat and continue down to Camp 2.

May 29. We want out. It has already been 23 days on the mountain. We are dreaming of showers, real food , families and comforts. Saddled again this time with lighter sleds and backpacks, we wearily descend onto the Kahiltna glacier and finally at 6pm to Basecamp. To our huge disappointment, snow starts falling and the Beavers are grounded. Next morning our worst fears are realized. Visibility is horrible and it is snowing hard. Will we be socked in here for days? Almost everyone has already missed their flights home anyways. We wait.

Around noon the sky starts clearing and we hear that the planes are coming for us. You cannot imagine what a sigh of relief that overcomes you. Before I know it I am in a 3 seater plane banking around the awesome mountains of Foraker and Hunter with massive tongues of glaciated ice flowing like rivers below me. I know this moment is so special. This whole experience will be over in seconds and I will have only my memoires to savour. I know that each climb I do takes me out of my Comfort Zone in many ways. The lessons you learn are the great lessons of life. I know I have been lucky on this climb. I also know, even with my success, I have been humbled..

Cho Oyu expedition 2008

I sort of became a mountain climber in 1969. While travelling around the world, I stumbled into Nepal and got whip-lashed by a story from a New Zealand climber who had just returned to Kathmandu from trekking about 300 miles to Everest Base Camp and back. His account so inspired me, I immediately decided to try to do it too. Alone, without mountaineering experience, not even a tent, I spent 32 days backpacking in the most spectacular mountains on Earth, the Himalayas, and succeeded to make it up the Khumbu Glacier to the base of Everest at about 19,000’.

Many years later in 2008, after having climbed some of the highest mountains in South America, North America and Europe, I set my sights to return to where it had begun, the Himalayas and an 8000m mountain. There are only 14 mountains in the world over 8000m, and it is the ultimate for any mountain climber to attempt one. No one knows how they will do at such high-altitude and extreme conditions.

I left Montreal on the 29^th August 2008 and arrived several flights later in Kathmandu, Nepal on the 31^st where I met my team of nine international climbers. Our plans were to climb Cho Oyu from Tibet’s north side and to fly from Kathmandu to Lhasa where we would begin our overland journey to the mountain. Since the summer’s Olympics in Beijing, China had closed the Tibet border to everyone. After arriving in Kathmandu, the Chinese embassy told us to leave our passports with them for 5 days and that maybe we would be granted our visa’s to cross into Tibet en route direct to the mountain. To fill-in time, we flew to Pokhara for 4 days of hiking in the Annapurna Hill District. Saturday, September 5^th we were on our way overland to the Tibet border and Cho Oyu. The first night we stayed in the border town of Zhangmu just inside Tibet. Next day our small bus slowly zigzagged for hours up a very winding, often washed-out mountainous dirt road. We bounced over rock fall, crossed rushing mountain streams, peered-down within inches of thousand foot cliffs, and banged our heads on the roof of the jolting bus. Finally we arrived in the dusty, windy one street town of Nyalam, 12,000’, high on the perimeter of the Tibetan plateau.

After two nights of acclimatizing and hiking, we pushed on over this vast, elevated plain and crossed Lalunga-la (pass) at 5050m heading toward Tingri. Tibet is the highest region on Earth and is commonly referred to as the “Roof of the World”. We ambled along this barren hilly landscape devoid of much visible life, occasionally passing a small yet colorful walled-in village that would usually sit next to a cold glaciated stream or river.

The town of Tingri, situated at over 14,000’, overlooks a sweeping broad plain bordered by the great Himalayan peaks. Old and new customs and lifestyles mingle seamlessly in what appears like an old wild western Tibetan town. Packs of dogs yelp all night long. Pigs and livestock roam at will. Butchered goat carcasses hang for sale in open stalls on the street. Horse drawn wagons stand beside modern motorcycles in the dusty, unpaved road. We get our first full views of the towering snowy giants of Cho Oyu and Everest, seemingly so near now. It is a wake-up call that we are almost there.

The bus drops us off far up the broad barren river valley at a desolate Chinese military post we call Base Camp, 16,500’. Manned by kids in military uniform, a red flag hangs near a Chinese/ Tibetan expedition group also attempting Cho Oyu. Yaks grazing nearby on very marginal pickings, are waiting to porter all our gear and provisions up to Advanced Base Camp. We leave a few minor clothes behind and hike further up this bleak moonscape to interim camp, then continue up over long glacier moraine ridges, heaped-up rock hills, always moving parallel to a several kilometer-wide winding glacier until we arrive at ABC in light snow and gray visibility.

Advanced Base Camp (ABC) at 18,500 feet sits on loose rock-fall high above the twisted and choked-up Nangpa Glacier, and in the long mighty shadow of Cho Oyu, the ‘Turquoise Goddess’. Directly opposite us lies Nangpa-la pass, the traditional trading route between Nepal and Tibet. For several hundred years Tibetan and Sherpa porters have struggled over this high pass trading salt and barley with each other. Recently, it has also become an escape route for Tibetan refugees and on September 30, 2006 the Chinese Border Security Police shot and killed 2 unarmed Tibetan pilgrims attempting to leave Tibet, 18 others went missing and are presumed dead. The victims were shot from a considerable distance by the Security Police as they moved slowly away through chest-high snow. In the early morning when the sun is rising over the summit of Cho Oyu, its rays create an amazingly picturesque canvas of long curved shadows over Nangpa-la that are so beautifully framed by the shaded and brightly reflecting mountains on either side.

After establishing ourselves at ABC, the first item of business was to perform the important ‘Puja’ ceremony. We have a team of Sherpa’s and Tibetans coordinating and assisting our expedition, and according to Buddhist tradition and faith, we must request approval from the Mountain Goddess to climb Cho Oyu. Before a man-made altar, with Buddhist prayer flags streaming out in all directions, our technical climbing gear placed at its base, we chant for hours asking the ‘Turquoise Goddess’ to bless and protect us up high. Ringsing, our cook assistant who is also a Lama, performs the colorful and captivating ceremony. It is a moment and experience never to be forgotten.

Using ABC as home base for the next month, we will gradually be acclimatizing to the high-altitude here (18,500’) and by progressively climbing higher on the mountain, we will further increase our red blood cells. The key is the body needs time to adapt to low oxygen to avoid hypoxia and acute mountain sickness. High-Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE) and High-Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE) are a climber’s worst nightmare since they can rob him very quickly of the summit and his life. Generally, there is a 3% loss of air pressure per thousand foot gain in altitude. Effectively, at ABC we have only 50% of oxygen that is available at sea level and on the summit at 27,000’ there will be only about 25% or less oxygen. The sun’s radiation is another serious issue as well.

September 18 we left ABC at 8am on our first rotation to Camp 1. Light snow was falling and the winds gusty. Falling rock from adjacent mountains cover most of the glacier as we headed up its flank. Huge penitentes, many 5 to 10 stories tall, suddenly appeared like ancient frozen behemoths in the foggy, misty conditions. After hours of crossing up and down over rocky ridges and circumventing icy obstacles, we came to the foot of a steep scree slope. After a brief break we started climbing this loose rocky hill, two steps up, slipping one down. Finally, about 1500’ up and near C1 in strong winds, we returned back down to ABC.

Although a thousand miles away, huge storms brewing in the Bay of Bengal regularly slam Cho Oyu with hurricane force winds. From ABC, we would regularly witness the upper reaches of the mountain in absolute chaos. Sitting on the north, leeward side we were spared much heavy snow. Our route above Camp 2 avalanched early in September, thus making it safer before we tackled it. However, on our next 2 rotations up to C1 and attempting C2, we were forced to retreat by these very gale force winds. Several other expeditions at C1 and C2 literally lost over 30 of their bullet-proof tents, being shredded or physically blown off the mountain. We were experiencing the full consequences of climbing an 8000m mountain.

Without fully acclimatizing as we had wished, not being able to get to or sleep at C2 over the last several weeks, and also being forced to act before the Jet Stream started to return south over the mountains, we had to make a decision. We received a weather report that there would be a narrow 3 day window of opportunity with low winds. October 2^nd we would leave for the top.

I prepared my pack for our summit bid. An error of judgment at this point can cost you the summit and/ or your life. Seven upper layers, five lower, double plastic boots with overboots, goggles, glacier glasses, multi-layer mitts and gloves, balaclava, tuques, medical bag, crampons, ice ax, pee bottle, water bottles, and very important- food. You can burn 5,000 to 10,000 calories a day. You need to eat, period. Also, a lot of sun protection; at this altitude with so little ozone, you will be burned. Prepare.

Thursday, October 2^nd after breakfast, we took a group photo and I made my ‘peace’ with the ‘Turquoise Goddess’. Five grueling days lay ahead. Our day of reckoning was here. The Chinese/ Tibetans, Koreans and another international group were already a day or two in front of us. It was sunny. We were hyped.

First night at C1. Mike Chapman feels unwell at daybreak and decides to go down. Climbing between C1 and C2 is tough and technical. Negotiating several ice cliffs, backing-up your protection, staying alert and very focused. Himalayan climbing is climbing alone, not roped-up as a team. There are crevasses but they are usually very large and visible. Anyways, roped-up is usually too dangerous on the steeps. It is a 9+ hour day to C2, (23,622’). We are now above the clouds, above almost every other mountain in view. At C2 we are sitting on about 18 feet of recently avalanched ice.

October 4, Nathan and I climb together. Starting right out of C2 is a somewhat steep 45⁰ slope. The air is thin, the views magnificent. Just above C2 you can see both camps below and far to the right following the arcing flow of the glacier, ABC. We both feel lethargic. About 1500’ above camp, there is a long ridge I hope high camp is situated. I have needed a little psychology today to inch myself up one step at a time. Just below the ridge it begins to snow heavily and visibility is cut sharply. On the ridge we realize C3 is still somewhat higher. There is already about a foot of new snow on the ground. We push up the last few hundred feet to C3 (25,000’) and arrive around 3:30pm. We have only about 7 hours to rest and eat before striking out in the dead of night for the summit.

I tent with Mike Hamill and Greg Vernovage. We start using supplemental oxygen for the first time to keep our bodies warm and charged for the climb. Packed three to a two-man tent, resting is the best one can do. At 10pm, I light my stove to boil water and prepare porridge. About 11:30pm, after the difficult task of putting on boots and crampons in this extreme cold, I am the last one out of camp. Right above camp begins the near vertical rock face called the ‘Yellow Band’. In the absolute dark of night, with only a small headlight as your visual compass, but with the millions of stars above keeping you company, you anxiously climb focusing on every detail. This is an altitude with so little oxygen that it is known as the ‘death zone’. Your body is physically breaking down and dying.

Over the years I have personally observed that our minds at high-altitude work like a pyramid. The more extreme and difficult the environment, the more focused we are on basic survival. You forget about fingers and toes and concentrate only on your next step, and staying alive. It must be in your arsenal of experience to remember, from time to time, to check the feelings in your extremities.

I was climbing with Tseten Gyurme, a Tibetan who had fixed the lines to the top of Everest for the Tibetan/ Chinese team that carried the Olympic Torch to the summit in early May, 2008. He is an amazingly strong climber and he kept his eyes on me in case I messed up. I overheard that Al Schumer had decided to return to C3. We passed several other members of our team. Over the years I usually get a runny nose in cold temperatures. It is not normally a problem since I generally have a hanky nearby or use a more elementary method. Today however, it was a much more miserable dilemma. I was wearing an oxygen mask. It was like Chinese water torture. It kept dripping and dripping and there was no easy way to deal with it. Somehow, psychologically, I told myself that this was the most important climb of my life and I would not let a little snot stop me. It was mind over matter and I won. We pushed on up in the dark. We had this whole great mountain to ourselves. I had no idea of time. I felt energized on the oxygen. I felt a serenity I have never known before in my life.

The night seemed to pass so quickly. I suddenly realized that it was getting light. The slope had begun to mellow considerably. The huge tooth just below the summit was now so near. We were almost there. Suddenly the ‘divine shadow’ of Cho Oyu appeared in the distant sky above the peaks. I knew I was going to make it. Mike Hamill was just in front of me. We slowly rounded the crest and saw the rising sun just edging up behind Mount Everest and Lhotse. Nathan Dolbeare had arrived first, followed by Karel Masek and Chris Bergum. We stood there in awe. We hugged. We took pictures. We all tried to absorb this momentous moment.

In the minus 40⁰ temperature, with a light wind rising up the mountain from the west side twirling the snow into miniature tornadoes, I managed only a few photos before my camera batteries froze. I had really wanted to do a short video tribute to my aging mother and to the Tibetan people, but it was not possible. Standing there, on the ‘roof of the world’, probably higher than any other human being at that moment, I stood fixated with my mind numb in awe. So many weeks on the mountain, so many years of training, reaching a goal that sometimes seemed impossible. This moment would be way to short.

Before I knew it, I was on my way down. Did I leave to soon? Christ, stay focused, descending is the most deadly part. I struggled to get my crampon points to bite the near vertical rock down-climbing through the Yellow Band. At C3 I packed-up and was the 1^st one out to C2. At C2, we all gathered to rest for awhile and snack. We decided we would continue down to C1 to sleep. Just below C2, crossing a steep slope and misjudging the snow my left foot found air and I fell maybe 30’. Fortunately, I had attached protection and the rope held my fall. Being very steep with soft new snow, I had to angle side-slope to get back on track. The first rappel was over blue ice and a bergschrund (crevasse). The 2^nd rappel was over a sheer 15+ story drop. My heart raced so fast I had to stop to rest for a minute half way down. Only later did I hear that a Slovenian climber, Miha Valic, had fallen exactly here yesterday and died. I finally got into camp 1 around 5pm after a 17 hour day.

News soon surfaced that 2 climbers had died and another had fallen but survived. Guy Leveille, a Canadian policeman from Winnipeg turned around 60m from the summit exhausted. He was climbing with the FTA Team led by Stu Remensnyder. Apparently Stu, after summiting had found Guy on his way down and spent the next 40 hours with him above 7500m trying to help get him down. Guy fell and was gone, Stu barely made it back to camp himself. Another climber had to be resuscitated with CPR after collapsing. Miha Valic, a Slovenian guide fell in the ropes on rappelling the icefall above C1, landed on his head and died. He was a great climber who succeeded to climb 82 of the 4,000m peaks in the Alps in only 102 days in early 2007. It is thought he was suffering from HAPE. When I got to C1 at 5pm, Miha was already wrapped-up and laying just outside of camp. Both deaths were a great tragedy.

We arrived back at ABC late morning on the 6^th October exhausted but content after 5 long days. We had luckily managed to summit before the Jet Stream hit. Coming down below C1 I saw behind me sitting right above Cho Oyu a large Lenticular Cloud, which usually means very powerful winds circling the peak. We were actually the last ones to summit for the season. Next day the yaks arrived to carry out all our gear and the rest of the supplies and garbage. It was finally great to be getting off the mountain and going back home to our families and lives. A washed-out road delayed our return by a day. We managed to get back to Kathmandu at night October 9^th, and the following morning I called home and received bad news from Rosanna that my Mum had passed away September 29^th.

It was really strange because on the 29^th I had repeatedly tried calling home but was unable to make a connection using the SAT phone. I did manage to reach her October 1^st, the day before we left ABC for the summit. I had asked her about Mum but she was reluctant to say much. I knew something was wrong, but didn’t expect that. I very much appreciate that she held back the heartbreaking news. I would not have been able to do anything and I definitely needed all of my energy and concentration for the mountain. This essay and my summit is dedicated to my mother; Kathleen Armstrong Stewart Fairhurst, 95. Besides being a very loving mother, she was a real trouper.

I have a great deal of respect for every member of my team. Nathan Dolbeare, Louis Carstens, Paul Garry, Karel Masek, Mike Chapman, Al Schumer, Chris Bergum, Greg Vernovage, Mike Hamill.

Favorite pictures

Prop. - frozen in time

Magical Landscape

Back at Patriot Hills

Spinning Wool

Proud Lama

Aconcagua from plane

Aconcagua C4 19,500'

Summit Ridge

Camp 2, 11,200'

Hauling Sleds & Heavy Packs

Camp 3, 14,200'

Approaching C4 17,000'

West Buttress Route

C4 17,200'

Summit Ridge

McKinley Summit

Favourite Links

BLANCHE at 15, my Inspiration & Best Friend

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Although the vast majority of photos are mine, I have used some amazing pictures from my climbing partners. Recently in the 2008 Cho Oyu album, there are some shots from Nathan Dolbeare, Colorado; Paul Garry, California; & Louis Carstens, South Africa. In the 2007 Denali album, I have included some great shots from Terri Schneider, California. Likewise the Mount Washington album has many shots from my good friends Francis Tremblay and Gilles Barbot. I am indeed grateful. I hope in time to identify the photos individually in the albums.

theodorefairhurst - theodorefairhurst

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Everest Poster 36"x24"

EVEREST (album 1)

Everest Ice Fall

EVEREST (album 2)

Everest-Western Cwm

EVEREST (album 3)

Everest-Lhotse Face

EVEREST (album 4)

Everest-Summit

EVEREST Final Update (Expedition 2010)

ANTARCTICA 2009

ANTARCTICA & MOUNT VINSON / Jan.2009

CHO OYU, TIBET/ expedition Sept./Oct. 2008/1st album

CHO OYU, TIBET/ expedition Sept./Oct. 2008/2nd album

DENALI/MT. McKINLEY, ALASKA/ expedition May 2007

MONT BLANC, FRANCE/ Sept. 2006

ACONCAGUA, ARGENTINA/ expedition Jan. 2006

BOLIVIA, HUAYNA POTOSI/ 2002

MOUNT WASHINGTON, NEW HAMPSHIRE/ Our Winter Challenge Playground

MOUNT EVEREST, NEPAL/ 1969

BRYCE CANYON, UTAH/ April 2006

Mt. Everest summit: 23 May 2010

Everest from Balloon, Leo Dickinson

JUMPING for JOY in ANTARCTICA

ANTARCTICA & MOUNT VINSON January 2009

Philosophy

Denali 2007

Denali's 'Rivers' of Ice

Mount Washington

Everest 1969

Bryce Canyon

Sandstone Castles

Mount Vinson 2009

Vinson - nearing C2

Mount Shinn

Summit Ridge

Summit- group photo

Twin Otter returning

Eternal Beauty

ANTARCTICA & MOUNT VINSON "TRIP REPORT' Jan. 2009

CHO OYU/ VINSON POSTER

PERU November 2001 (35mm photos to digital)

Machu Pichu/ Tingri/ Mount Nevado Maria Huamantilla

Aconcagua Essay April 2006

Denali (Mount McKinley) Alaska - May 2007 Expedition

Cho Oyu expedition 2008

Favorite pictures

2009-01-03

Prop. - frozen in time

Magical Landscape

Back at Patriot Hills

Spinning Wool

Proud Lama

Aconcagua from plane

Aconcagua C4 19,500'

Summit Ridge

Camp 2, 11,200'

Hauling Sleds & Heavy Packs

Camp 3, 14,200'

Approaching C4 17,000'

West Buttress Route

C4 17,200'

Summit Ridge

McKinley Summit

Favourite Links

BLANCHE at 15, my Inspiration & Best Friend

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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