What kind of person risks frostbite, hypothermia, cerebral edema, hypoxia, and even death? What kind of person spends tens of thousands of dollars to expose themselves to -100° F temperature, hurricane winds, and less than 2/3 oxygen in the air. Who would do all that? Well, the kind of person that believes in the extraordinary. Someone who believes they have the guts, soul, and determination to make it past the death zone and stand up on the summit with their arms raised high knowing they achieved the extraordinary.
Doing the extraordinary is not just about personal achievement, more importantly is about how the act itself can create change in the world. The goal of my Everest climb in 2010 is to bring awareness and the funds to clean up Everest. I will be joining an eco-expedition to the Nepal side of Everest. The media often reports of the triumphs and the sad deaths, but they rarely talk about how such a beautiful place is becoming a dump.
Doing the extraordinary is not just about personal achievement, more importantly is about how the act itself can create change in the world. The goal of my Everest climb in 2010 is to bring awareness and the funds to clean up Everest. I will be joining an eco-expedition to the Nepal side of Everest. The media often reports of the triumphs and the sad deaths, but they rarely talk about how such a beautiful place is becoming a dump.
Nepalese consider the mountain a holy place called Sagarmatha, but their land has been desecrated. Droves of foreigners come each year to climb Everest but they leave their wrappers, O2 bottles, and human waste behind. On the south col, there is about 10 tons of trash. The once pristine mountain has became the "world's highest garbage site". Even above the clouds on earth, we have contaminated with trash. It is unthinkable to throw our trash on the ground in our national parks but why does the same "pack in, pack out" concept not apply in another country. This eco-expedition will offset the carbon from flights, eat only local organic produce, use solar power and wind turbine for energy, and pack out all trash and human waste from the mountain. After the expedition is completed, I want to spend two weeks clean up the camp sites and educating tourists on how to better preserve the land for the future generations. Because that’s the bigger picture…sharing the beauty we have today with those we have yet to experience it.
