Soldiers to the Summit

  Soldiers to the Summit logos are provided here for download. Download instructions: 1) Right click on the text link below to launch a pop-up menu, 2) Select the appropriate option, eg: Download Link to Disk, Save Linked File, Save Image, Save Image to Disk (the wording will be slightly different depending on your computer’s [...]

**** LATEST UPDATE  ***** Mt. Elbert climb switched to Quandary Peak Due to heavy snows last week and poor weather forecast for the next few days, the team decided to make the switch from Mt. Elbert to Quandary Peak. Read the original post with details of the project below … March 19 COLORADO – Erik [...]

The 2010 expedition would not have been possible without the generous support of our valued sponsors. We offer our deepest appreciation to them all. Thank you not only for your financial and material support, but for your amazing enthusiasm and spirit. Our team is inspiring!

This is intended to be the archive page for the 2010 Lobuche Himalayan Expedition. The Team The Sponsors The  Cause The Climb

A team of soldiers struggles together to achieve an objective. Some doubt their own abilities but find inspiration in their peers. Many onlookers say it cannot be done—overcoming life-changing injuries to move across the varied terrain in the highest mountain range on the planet: the Himalayas. Some will choose to confront the steep and technically [...]

The Climb The summit of Lobuche East is located just 8.7 miles from the summit of Mount Everest. At 20,075 feet, this striking peak required good physical conditioning and adequate time to adjust to the high altitude. From the airstrip in Lukla, it takes seven days of trekking through the spectacular Khumbu region to reach [...]

October 20 KATHMANDU – Outward Bound’s Luis Benitez talks to Didrik Johnck in this video clip shot back up in the Khumbu Valley about the Soldiers to the Summit team and the end of their hero’s journey.

October 18 MONZO, NEPAL – Didrik ambushes the team and asks them to complete the following sentence, “Summit day was…”

October 15, 2010 LOBUCHE HIGH CAMP – Decision was made to divide the group into two teams to synchronize summit times relative to climbing speeds. The mountain is divided into two distinct sections. The first half is rock slabs while the second half is steep snow and ice.

Oct 11 LOBUCHE BASE CAMP – Outward Bound’s Luis Benitez takes us on a tour of Lobuche Base Camp as inhabited by Soldiers to the Summit Himalayan 2010 Expedition. Luis gives a shout out to sponsor Quaker for the oats and other eats and to the whole sherpa team for the good care they’re taking of the team.

October 10, 6am PHERICHE – After months of planning and a week of trekking we finally got our first real glimpse of Lobuche this morning. Coming into Pheriche last night, the valley was fogged in and the Himalayas were hidden.

VIDEO October 8 TENGBOCHE MONASTERY- Soldiers to the Summit’s Expedition Medic Jeff Evans gives a rundown of the 33-member team’s medical status from the Khumbu Valley’s storied Tengboche Monastery, situated nearly 13,000 feet above sea level. (The video dispatch was made October 8, but could not be uploaded til 24 hours later.)

October 7, 9:30pm NAMCHE BAZAAR – VIDEO Soldiers Steve Baskis, Chad Butrik, Ike Isaacson and Chad Jukes reflect on their motivations for coming on the expedition.

October 6, 9:30pm NAMCHE BAZAAR – VIDEO Soldiers Nicolette Maroulis, Justin Moore, Katherine Ragazzino and Cody Miranda look inside to talk about their motivations for coming on the expedition.

VIDEO Soldier Steve Baskis describes what it’s like to arrive in “bustling” Kathmandu when you’re blind.

Thank you to P-Mate for your support!

Stratos is the world’s largest provider of Inmarsat services—including FleetBroadband, BGAN, SwiftBroadband, and Fleet. Not only does Stratos deliver nearly 50 percent of all Inmarsat services on the planet, but we are the only Land Earth Station Operator who reaches every single Inmarsat satellite in orbit. Proud sponsor of the Soldiers to the Summit Expedition.

Everest climbers Erik Weihenmayer and Jeff Evans narrate this video clip of the team climbing 13,294 James Peak in Colorado.

Soldier Ashley Crandall narrates this 1 min 46 second clip of the snow and ice training from the teams’ August 6th meetup at the St. Mary’s glacier in Colorado.

Big day on the glacier today. Lots of rope work, crampon and ice ace skills practice, snow travel, up down left right. Just arrived back in camp and are snacking heavily. The weather was great most of the day except for a heavy hail and rain storm when we were working on the steepest snow [...]

Last night: team phone call former pres GW Bush. This morning: gearing up at Bent Gate mountaineering in Golden, Co. Tonight: camped beneath the St. Mary’s glacier. Tomorrow: rope, crampon, ice axe, and snow skills practice.

We’re using the Motorola HT-1250 radios to communicate during the expedition.

The Soldiers to the Summit team had a training session in May in and around Camp Hale in Colorado. Camp Hale is high in the Rocky Mountains and the old training grounds of the 10th Mountain Division. Cody, Brian, and Steve did some quick interviews just after the team returned from climbing on Mount Champion, [...]

The Soldiers to the Summit team had a training session in May in and around Camp Hale in Colorado. Camp Hale is high in the Rocky Mountains and the old training grounds of the 10th Mountain Division. Steve did a quick interview just after the team returned from climbing on Mount Champion, one of the [...]

The Soldiers to the Summit team had a training session in May in and around Camp Hale in Colorado. Camp Hale is high in the Rocky Mountains and the old training grounds of the 10th Mountain Division. Ike did a quick interview just after the team returned from climbing on Mount Champion, one of the [...]