On month before our departure, I can introduce you our expedition members.
Leader
Russell Brice is the expedition leader. this new Zealander of 55 years has climbeb Mount Everest twice and organize since numerous years expeditions on high himalayan summits. His company, Himalayan Experience, based in Chamonix has an excellent background in safety and rate success. Its teams of guide and sherpas have a huge experience on Everest.
Guides and Staff
The western guides who lead clients have 15 Everest summits :
* Adrian Ballinger, english lives in Aspen Colorado, fan of snow slopes of La Grave; He has his own company : http://www.alpenglowexpeditions.com. He summited Manaslu this fall.
* Shaun Huston, English, lives in Chamonix
* Hiro Kuraoka, Japanese, twice at Everest summit
* Dave Mc Kinley, new Zealander
* Dean Staples, new Zealander, 6 summits
* Shinji Tamura, Japanese, lives in Switzerland
* Mark Woodward, new Zealander, 5 summits
Monica Piris will be our doctor on our expedition. Spanish as my brother in law, she is specialist in high altitude medicine.
Haydon Fisher, new Zealander. Great Idea from Russell Brice, a chef for good meals at base Camp.
Film Crew
Ed Wardle, Scottish, Director;
Mark Whetu, new Zealander, cameraman with 5 summits;
Ken Sauls, USA; cameraman 3 times at summit
Kirsty Mitchell, English, microwave technician
But this expedition won’t have any chance of success even to be close from summit without sherpas’ fantastic job. From base camp to the high altitude, their behaviour and uncommon forces are really impressive. The Sherpa (Tibetan:ཤར་པ། "eastern people", from shar "east" + pa "people") are an ethnic group from the most mountainous region of Nepal, high in the Himalayas. Sherpas migrated from eastern Tibet to Nepal within the last 500 years. Their First name come from their birthday: Dawa (Monday) ; Mingma (Tuesday) ; Lhakpa (Wednesday) ; Phurba (Thursday) ; Pasang (Friday) ; Pemba (Saturday) ; Ngima (Sunday). Sherpa is their last name. To distinguish each other, Sherpas used to add their village : Mingma Sherpa from Pangboche or Pasang Sherpa from Khumjung for instance.
Members
Billi, Germany
Journalist, She lives in Nepal.
John, South Africa.
He lives in the beautiful city of Cape Town which I have very good memories from a trip with my wife's family. Very excited by this climb, it will be his first experience on a 8000 metres. He has already climbed Aconcagua (6980m) highest peak in America.
Antoine, France.
he will be our only compatriot on this expedition. He has a lot of experience on himalayan trip It will be his eighth expedition and his second on Everest after a failure in 2005 at 7500m. He has to his credit a great success on Cho Oyu (8200m). Please note his excellent time on running a marathon by 3 hours. We also thank him for all the advices he has provided to us.
Stuart, England.
Megan, USA.
She is fortunate to live in the beautiful bay of San Francisco. In 2007, she had to turn back at 8600 meters. This year, she wants to put all chances with her by choosing Himalayan Experience as guide to Everest. I urge you to read on her website her impressions of her 2007 climb, and also look at her very finest pictures showing real talent as a photographer http://hitopadventures.blogspot.com/..
Christopher, United Kingdom.
He took part of Himalayan Experience’s Cho Oyu expedition in 2007 but was unable to reach the summit due to disastrous weather conditions. His story is available on his blog: http://www.chrisdovell.blogspot.com/. He lives in London but regularly comes in Chamonix to enjoy sunny summits of Mont Blanc range.
Lance, USA
Veterinarian from Winconsin
Jon, USA
He climbs with Lance in the rockies.
James Holliday, USA
Asbjorn, Thomas, Bjorn, Norway.
Norwegian team has extensive experience in high altitude because it has successes on Cho Oyu (8200m) and on Aconcagua (6980m), and in addition, it has great knowledge in very cold conditions ! Team will start 2008 with improvement in their gear from their own experience in Norway and from an expedition to the South Pole. http://www.everest2008.no/ for our readers who speak Norwegian. Tor will go along his companions until Advanced Base Camp.
Christopher, Irlande.
Robert, South Africa.
He lives in Durban on east coast. He has already climbed Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua and Mount Elbrus among the 7 summits. He will have a website http://www.climbofhope.com/. He also look for raising funds for cancer research in South Africa.
Christopher, Angleterre.
Valerio, Italy,
He lives between London and Milano. He works as me on financial markets.
Gerald, South Africa.
He lives in Cape Town as John. His house is situated just below the famous Table Mountain, which is a good training ground. The ascent of Table Mountain by foot rather than cable car, is a beautiful way to enjoy the beauty of Cape’s bay.
David, United Kingdom.
He has already climbed Everest twice, has even made the traverse by climbing down Nepalese face last year. What does he want to do this time in 2008 ? He seeks the ultimate ascent without oxygen ! His ascent serves also as charitable purposes in benefit of cancer research. I urge you to read his book available in pdf format on its site www.davidtait.com.
Alec, USA.
He lives in Fairbanks, Alaska, He sees from his window Denali (Mount McKinley) highest peak in North America. Our exchanges have been very warm because we both have little experience with high altitude, we share the same nervousness in front of this challenge.
Ellen, USA.
She is the first American woman to have climbed Everest from both sides. She joins us to make the ascent of Lothse 8516m.
Bruce, USA.
Qiu Xi Qiang, China
He lives in Berkeley California.
Shokichi, Japan.
Takenori, Japan.
Christopher, Belgium
He lives in the USA.
Lobuche East Peak (6119m)
Elsje, South Africa.
Shane, South Africa.
Ian, Australia.
Monique, France.
My mother lives in Lille. She made plenty of expeditions in Andes and Himalayas before this trip. Her altitude record is Aconcagua Summit (6980m).
