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Eric Alexander, Vail, Colorado, Climber age 30. Eric grew up in the Colorado Rockies and started climbing and backpacking in his teens with a local youth group. Since then he has traveled and climbed throughout the Rockies, Tetons, Alps, and scampered up a few volcanoes in Washington and Mexico. Eric has has worked as a professional ski patroller in Vail and in the French Alps. He has been working with Vail's blind skiing program and currently manages a mountaineering shop. Eric always returns to the mountains even after adventures like bicycle and motorcycle touring throughout the U.S. and Europe. |
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Luis Benitez, Boulder, Colorado, Climber, age 27. Luis has spent the greater portion of his life in the mountains. Being partially raised in the Andes of Ecuador in South America, he began guiding when he was eighteen and has gone on to establish his own guide service that has taken him climbing all over the world. When Luis is not working as a guide, he is a senior Course Director for the Colorado Outward Bound Schools mountaineering program. Just last spring Luis attempted a first American ascent on a 7500m peak in the Himalayas. He currently, with two others from his team, holds the American high point for the route. |
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Bradford Bull, Denver, Colorado, Climber, age 32. Climbing is definitely in his genes as he has climbed with his father on three continents over the last 10 years. Brad has been on three expeditions to the Himalayas, summitting Mt. Everest (1995) and Mt. Lhotse (1998). Other successful summits include Mt McKinley in Alaska and Mt Elbrus in the former Soviet Union. Brad "worked" for three years as a guide at the University of Colorado's Outdoor Adventure Program teaching courses in ice climbing, rock climbing, avalanche safety, kayaking and mountain biking. Brad's passion for photography has resulted in published photographs in Outside and Rock&Ice Magazines. Brad's EMT training has proven extremely useful in remote locations when he has needed to provide medical attention to team members. |
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Didrik Johnck, San Francisco, California, Team Photographer and Climber, age 27. After a successful climb on Cho Oyu in 1997 and running base camp for an Everest Expedition in 1998, this will be Didrik's third expedition to the Himalayas. Didrik has been climbing since the age of 15 and was lured into mountain climbing by his love for backcountry snowboarding. Didrik made his way through the Sierra Nevada with the Boy Scouts and then the Oregon Cascades and after finishing school he went on to travel the world in search of remote and exciting places and ended up in the mountain regions of Russia, Africa, Central and South America, and ultimately the Himalayas. Didrik is a Geography graduate from the University of Oregon and lives and works in San Francisco as a photographer. Some of his imagery from previous expeditions is at www.johnck.com. |
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Chris Morris, Wasilla, Alaska, Climber, age 33, began rock climbing at age 13. Growing up in the northern New Mexico mountains gave him many opportunities to hone his rock climbing skills. Chris climbed and guided professionally throughout the southwest for four years before moving to Alaska. He currently owns his own guiding business, Mountains and Rivers, which gives him the opportunity to run trips throughout North and South America. Guided trips include Aconcagua in Argentina, the mountains of the Alaska Range, Chugach and the Brooks Range. He also guides remote wilderness treks and the many rivers of the Alaskan Arctic. His interests include ice and rock climbing, mountain biking and boating. |
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Steve Gipe, Bozeman, Montana, team physician and climber, age 49. Steve has worked as an emergency physician in Bozeman since 1984. He is medical advisor for the Bridger Bowl Pro Patrol, county search and rescue, and Jackson Hole Mountain Guides. He has been an active climber since fifteen,and worked in Wyoming as a course leader for the National Outdoor Leadership School for twelve years until 1979. He climbed Denali in 1990 as a volunteer park ranger, and was a climbing member on the 1994 Sagarmatha Environmental Expedition. This will be his third Himalayan climbing expedition. |
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Pasquale "PV" Scaturro, Lakewood, Colorado, Expedition Leader and Climber, age 43. A veteran of seven Himalayan expeditions including summits on Mt. Everest and Cho Oyu, PV has also successfully climbed into the mountain regions of Pakistan, Russia, Africa, Europe, the Andes, and of course North America. PV also enjoys white water rafting "expedition style" and has logged a number of first descents of rivers in Africa. PV explores for oil and gas internationally when not climbing or rafting. |
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Kami Tenzing Sherpa, Khumjung, Nepal, Expedition Sirdar and Climber, age 38. Kami, was born and raised in the Solu Khumbu area of Nepal and is a veteran of over 22 Himalayan expeditions, including Everest, Shishapangma, Cho Oyu, Lhotse, Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, Makalu, Pumori, and Putha Hiuuchuli. Kami has climbed with members of the team on Everest in 1998 and 1995 and Cho Oyu in 1997. Kami is married and has two children. |
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Erik Weihenmayer, Englewood, Colorado, Climber, age 32. Erik is a speaker, writer, and world-class adventurer: an acrobatic skydiver and scuba diver, a long-distance biker and marathon runner, a skier and mountaineer, an ice climber and rock climber, who has scaled Mt. McKinley (1995), El Capitan (1996), Kilimanjaro (1997), and Aconcagua (Argentina - January 1999). What sets him apart, more than his adventurous bent, is that he is blind, but has never let his blindness interfere with his passion for an exciting and fulfilling life. Erik's feats have earned him Connecticut's Most Courageous Athlete Award, ESPN's ARETE Award for courage in sports, the Distinguished Arizonan Award, the Gene Autry Award, induction into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, and the honor of carrying the Olympic Torch through Phoenix. In July, he received the IDEA Award from the Association of Physical Fitness Professionals. When Erik is not climbing, he speaks to over 60 corporations and schools a year about not letting obstacles steer us away from the dreams of our lives. Erik has been featured in Life Magazine, People Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Inside Edition, Hard Copy, 20/20, the Today Show, Good Morning America, American Closeup, the Discover and Learning Channel, and much more. On October 31, he was featured on the cover of Parade Magazine. Erik is currently writing an autobiography and has published articles in Climbing Magazine, two editions of Chicken Soup for the Soul, The American Journal of Medicine and Sports, and a variety of corporate catalogs and adventure web sites. |
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