View Full Version : ED did it....all 14 8000 meters...
Huckasaurass
05-12-2005, 12:52 PM
Ed Viesturs made it...first american to climb all 14 8000 meter peaks...
Congrats and a tip of the hat to ED...
Annapurna (http://travel.msn.com/firsts/annapurna/default.armx)
enjoy
Matt
NtrentT
05-12-2005, 01:23 PM
Wow, now thats an acomplishment !
Good news indeed....All without "O's"....Quite an achievement in the midst of a wonderful career.
He's a pretty good rock and ice climber too....that puts him among the greats of all climbing. Messner is still the best all around for folks keeping score, but I bet Reinhold has called to offer congratz already!
JayTux
05-12-2005, 05:19 PM
That's pretty amazing...I've read that his lungs can take in 40% more oxygen than the average human beings due to their size or something like that...can anyone confirm that?
14 8000 meters!
:eek:
Rider.Steve
05-12-2005, 05:49 PM
That's pretty amazing...I've read that his lungs can take in 40% more oxygen than the average human beings due to their size or something like that...can anyone confirm that? 14 8000 meters! :eek:
I believe that this factoid about Viesturs' lungs was publicized in the movie "Everest", the Omnimax film that David Breasheers produced that documented their 1996 climb of Everest. The film also documented tangentially the tragedy that spring that "Into Thin Air" focused on.
The other guy in 1996 who went up Everest without O2 was Anatoli Boukreev, who was a guide for one of the ill-fated expeditions. Ironically he was killed in an avalanche climbing Annapurna (I think last year Xmas Day).
Steve
JayTux
05-12-2005, 05:53 PM
The other guy in 1996 who went up Everest without O2 was Anatoli Boukreev, who was a guide for one of the ill-fated expeditions. Ironically he was killed in an avalanche climbing Annapurna (I think last year Xmas Day).Steve
Yeah, I read about Boukreev in The Climb, its a really great book, highly recommend it.
BladeGirl
05-13-2005, 08:27 AM
I believe that this factoid about Viesturs' lungs was publicized in the movie "Everest", the Omnimax film that David Breasheers produced that documented their 1996 climb of Everest. The film also documented tangentially the tragedy that spring that "Into Thin Air" focused on.
More than a tangential documentation, Bressheers used his transmission equipment to help connect one of the climbers who perished with his wife thousands of miles away, in a "phone call." I had read "Into Thin Air" before seeing "Everest" but when I saw the film and heard them talking to each other, and he knew he was not going to make it and this was the last time he'd get to talk to her it was incredibly moving. I'm getting all teary just thinking about it. :(
-BG
Huckasaurass
05-13-2005, 08:27 AM
That's pretty amazing...I've read that his lungs can take in 40% more oxygen than the average human beings due to their size or something like that...can anyone confirm that?
14 8000 meters!
:eek:
I have read the same thing. I think if you read all the articles attached to the first link I posted you'll find some reference to that. He is pretty much the inventor of acclimitization. I think for this trip he spent like a month on Cho Oyu in Nepal. He didnt summit though as on of the climbing members fell victim to cerebral edema and had to be brought down viesturs did that while his climbing partner for Annapurna summited.
Theses guys are amazing individuals.
Matt
Huckasaurass
05-13-2005, 08:30 AM
Yeah, I read about Boukreev in The Climb, its a really great book, highly recommend it.
Should read both Climb and Into Thin Air (Krakauer) both cover the same incident, but from TOTALLY different perspectives.
Personally I like the Climb perspective as it came from a truly respected high altitude mountaineer Anatoli Boukreev. Incedentally Anatoli perished a year after that tradgedy on everest, attempting Annapurna. Apparently Annapurna claims one life for every 2 climbers to attempt its summit..
Those are STAGGERING number IMO.... :eek:
Matt
Should read both Climb and Into Thin Air (Krakauer) both cover the same incident, but from TOTALLY different perspectives.
Personally I like the Climb perspective as it came from a truly respected high altitude mountaineer Anatoli Boukreev. Incedentally Anatoli perished a year after that tradgedy on everest, attempting Annapurna. Apparently Annapurna claims one life for every 2 climbers to attempt its summit..
Those are STAGGERING number IMO.... :eek:
MattBeck Weathers did a book too, "Left for Dead"... It is also pretty good. I was very impressed with his honest look at himself as well as his will to live.
Huckasaurass
05-13-2005, 09:51 AM
Beck Weathers did a book too, "Left for Dead"... It is also pretty good. I was very impressed with his honest look at himself as well as his will to live.
Thats the one they left for dead no?
I will have to pick that up.
By the way I agree with yer earlier statement about Messner, but he isn't american right? If he isn't then Viesturs is the BEST AMERICAN climber.. right? Eh...they are both awesome in my book..
I still think the sherpas are the real deal...again just IMO
Matt
Thats the one they left for dead no?
I will have to pick that up.
By the way I agree with yer earlier statement about Messner, but he isn't american right? If he isn't then Viesturs is the BEST AMERICAN climber.. right? Eh...they are both awesome in my book..
I still think the sherpas are the real deal...again just IMO
Matt
They left the Japanese woman behind too...
The Beck book was OK... Barely made it through...
I really wasnt into his personal journey to rebuild his family and all the religious stuff...
The recounts about Everest and his physical recovery were prett cool...
Every recount of Beck stumbling accross the col with one are frozen straight out and no gloves is amazing... then they put him in a tent and left him for dead again... The door blew open during the night.. He had snow on him... And managed to get back up again!
Then he opted to let someone take a heli ride down before he went...
Just amazing...
Huckasaurass
05-13-2005, 10:00 AM
They left the Japanese woman behind too...
The Beck book was OK... Barely made it through...
I really wasnt into his personal journey to rebuild his family and all the religious stuff...
The recounts about Everest and his physical recovery were prett cool...
Every recount of Beck stumbling accross the col with one are frozen straight out and no gloves is amazing... then they put him in a tent and left him for dead again... The door blew open during the night.. He had snow on him... And managed to get back up again!
Then he opted to let someone take a heli ride down before he went...
Just amazing...
Yeah I remember it being mentioned in the other 2 aforementioned books...anything, to me, at that altitude is simply amazing..the physical strength as well as the mental are just astounding.
Matt
Ispoiler
05-15-2005, 08:23 PM
If I remember correctly Ed Viesturs Has a buch of first assents in the rockies as well as the Northeast that Jeff Lowe described as "way ahead of their time."
Should read both Climb and Into Thin Air (Krakauer) both cover the same incident, but from TOTALLY different perspectives.
Matt
Glad to hear more good reviews. Into Thin Air is next on my reading list. I've left it on the shelf until now, partially due to it's sensationalist reputation. Glad to hear that another good account of that story exists. I'll keep an eye out for Climb. I'm a bookhead, not having been in a movie theater since 2003, but Everest rates highly to me. Saw it from the front row (last seats) of the Museaum of Science Omnimax theater and my well craned neck only added to the authenticity of the experience.
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