Obama Pride On Everest

[bigtree]

from the Obama Diary:


Two supporters from Montana show their Obama 2012 pride at a base camp on Mt. Everest.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/barackobamadotcom/7173797324/in/photostream

[Recursion]

1. Also: some notable Everest summit attempts about to be made

Phil Henderson, part of the NatGeo north face team, is hoping to be the first African American to summit
Bill Burke, 70 years old, is going to try to summit from both the north and south sides this season
Conrad Anker is trying the west ridge approach with the other Nat Geo team

As of yesterday, most climbers were in their initial Camp 2 stay and the sherpas were setting up Camp 3. Summit is projected for May 20-22.

Also, in very sad news, a sherpa was killed when an ice formation on the cwm (yes, that's really a word) collapsed. Unusually warm temperatures have made the approach to Everest much more dangerous than it has been in the past.

(sorry, I'm an Everest geek...)

[bigtree]

2. cool

thanks for the update, Recursion

[harmonicon]

3. Who is Bill Burke, and why hasn't an African American been able to summit him? (nt)

[Happyhippychick]

4. There was a great show about actual climbers a few years ago. Is there still such a thing?

I find Everest fascinating as well.

[mainstreetonce]

5. Cwm

I knew it was a word from online word games, but I didn't know what it meant. Thanks.

On to the summit with the Obama sign. Forward.

[jimlup]

6. Cheers to a fellow Everest geek!

I am too... I have not been as attentive this year as I am most years. I've followed the AAI team a little this year. If I ever got the opportunity to try Everest I would be likely going with AAI (Alpine Ascents International.) I'm actually Everest qualified through them but I'm sure that if I tried to sign up they would recommend that I attempt Denali first. If only a had a spare $6000 I'd sign up for Denali tomorrow!