After five years of planning and training, a team of Utah climbers is counting down for its assault on the world's highest mountain.
Utahns on Everest will attempt to scale Mount Everest via the Great Couloir of the North Face in August. If the 11-member team gets just one person to the summit, the trek will be a success, said Douglas S. Hansen, expedition organizer.Hansen first sought a permit to climb Mount Everest in 1984; in 1987, the Mountaineering Association of the People's Republic of China approved his request.
"We've been training ever since," Hansen said. "We didn't think this would come to pass, but we knew if we didn't work for it, it surely wouldn't come to pass."
Since its inception five years ago, Utahns on Everest has seen 30 potential team members come and go. Some members discovered during practice climbs that they physically couldn't handle high altitudes; for others, the technical difficulties involved in a large-scale climb proved more trying than they anticipated. And some found the long-term financial and time commitment overwhelming.
"We're down to a lean, mean machine now," Hansen said.The team remains solidly Utahn and continues to train as a unit; that camaraderie and esprit de corps will help Utahns on Everest get to the top, Hansen said.
The team has practiced for Everest by climbing mountains throughout the West and Northwest, as well as in Europe, South America and Mexico. The team also has taken advantage of Utah's winter landscape to prepare for conditions they'll encounter on Mount Everest. In 1990, team members rang in the New Year atop Mount Timpanogos.
Wednesday they climbed the Great White Icicle, a frozen 600-foot waterfall in Little Cottonwood Canyon. But much of the team's focus is now on getting its gear to China and raising money still needed to back the adventure.
Fund-raising is proving about as tough as the climb that lies ahead. Utahns on Everest tout the climb as a way to promote environmental safety and awareness and boost the state's image.
"It's a good clean adventure that people could share from a distance," Hansen said.
Attention on Utah's bid for the 1998 Winter Olympics stymied much of Utahns on Everest's local fund-raising attempts. Instead, much of the team's financial support to date has come from Nippon Coporus of America, a Japanese company. In Japan, climbing is an immensely popular sport.
"That (the amount of Japanese vs. Utah support) makes me feel really bad," Hansen said. "Right now it's kind of sad that more people haven't helped. It will be good for the state and help improve its image."
Initially Utahns on Everest outlined a "really nice" $500,000 budget. The team since has readjusted its sights on a "shoestring" budget of $200,000. The group still needs to raise at least $100,000.
Because of tight finances, Utahns on Everest only will be able to equip six team members with the supplies and oxygen necessary to climb the last 2,000 to 3,000 feet to the summit.
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(Additional information)
Note: Did not appear in the Metro Edition.
- Utahns on Everest will climb Mount Everest in August.
- The elevation of Mount Everest is 29,028 feet. In comparison, the elevation of Mount Timpanogos is 11,750 feet.
- In 1953, Edmund Hillary became the first person to reach the top of Mount Everest. Since then, slightly more than 200 climbers have reached the summit; 100 died trying.
- It will cost Utahns on Everest a minimum of $200,000 to put one or more people on top of Mount Everest.
- Utahns on Everest has 11 team members from all over the state and representing various backgrounds. Two team members will maintain the base camp on Everest. Team members are: Craig Bishop, Hinckley, Millard County, member of the Utah National Guard; Howard "Doc" Chuntz, Orem, attorney; Doug Hansen, Pleasant Grove, owner of Hansen Mountaineering; Keith Hooker, Provo, emergency room physician; Stan Smith, Salt Lake City, podiatrist; Lee McCullough, Salt Lake City, attorney; Pam McCullough, Salt Lake City, nurse; Howard Lewis, Orem, assistant manager of married housing at BYU; Glen McGettigan, Provo, retired contractor; Dennis Chapman, Provo, Susan Martin Construction; and Corey Child, Provo, public relations at Sundance Ski Resort.