Ryan Waters Becomes First American To Complete Unsupported "Explorers Grand Slam"

A foot note to last week's story about Eric Larsen and Ryan Waters becoming the first team to reach the North Pole on foot in more than four years. In the process, Ryan earned himself a unique distinction that is worth mentioning. He has become the first American to complete the "Explorers Grand Slam," aka the "Adventurers Grand Slam" completely unsupported, a feat that is certainly worth celebrating

In order to complete the Grand Slam, an explorer must summit each of the 7 Summits (tallest mountains on each of the seven continents), and visit both the North and South Pole. Ryan has previously climbed each of the mountains and skied to the South Pole, but he needed an unsupported expedition to the North Pole to fill out his resume. When he and Eric reached that point last week, he became the first American to complete the Grand Slam in unsupported fashion. He is also just the 39th person in the world to ever accomplish the Grand Slam as well.

If you followed Ryan and Eric's expedition over the past few months, you know the challenges they faced in going to the North Pole. It took them 53 days to travel from Ellesmere Island to 90ºN, with harsh weather, incredibly difficult surface conditions, and massive physical and mental challenges along the way. They boys have since been picked up from the Pole, and have made their way back home for some much deserved rest.

I'll post an update on news from the Arctic tomorrow, but I thought that this bit of information was worth sharing on its own. Ryan has been undertaking some incredibly tough adventures over the years, and I suspect that this North Pole expedition was the toughest of his career. We'll have to wait to see where he goes from here, but he has quite the impressive list of accomplishments to his name.

Celebs Find Success On Kilimanjaro Climb

Last week I told you about a group of young celebrities that had traveled to Africa to attempt to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro for a cause. At the time, the team was just preparing to set out on their expedition which was being undertaken in an effort to raise awareness of the importance of clean drinking water in developing parts of the world. Today we received word that the expedition was a success, with all the members of the squad reaching the summit.

The expedition, which is called Summit on the Summit II, was led by Grammy Award nominated musician Kenna, who organized a similar climb back in 2010. This time out, Kenna was joined by actors Justin Chatwin (Shameless) and Beau Garrett, (Tron: Legacy) as well as singer Mark Foster (Foster The People),  amongst others. The group was led by experienced mountain guides Melissa Arnot and Dave Morton, each of whom has years of experience on mountaineering expeditions.

At 5895 meters (19,341 ft), Kilimanjaro is the tallest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing peak in the world. Each year, it draws thousands of climbers who attempt to make their way to the summit along mostly non-technical routes. A Kili climb is, in a sense, a tough hike that is made all the more challenging due to the altitude. The celebrities spent seven days on their ascent, which was along the very scenic Marangu Route.

Kenna formed the Summit on the Summit organization as a direct response to witnessing the water crisis first hand in his homeland of Ethiopia. But rather than just contribute to a cause that was already spreading the word about the water crisis, the musician wanted to do more. So he formed SOTS and rallied some of his friends to the cause, creating a global buzz about the importance of clean drinking water. The first Kilimanjaro climb was big success, garnering all kinds of media attention. That has directly led to this second climb, which has been a good reminder that this issue continues to be an important one.

Congratulations to the climbers on a job well done.

Antarctica 2012: Summits On Vinson!

Yesterday was a busy one on the highest peak in Antarctica as teams claimed the first summits of the season on Mt. Vinson. The remote peak stands 4892 meters (16,050 ft) in height but challenges climbers with its high winds and often brutally cold temperatures. That wasn't the case yesterday however, where improved conditions made for an almost perfect day for climbing.

The Berg Adventures squad was amongst the first to reach the top, putting several team members on the summit. They arrived on top at about 3:25 PM local time, after taking about six hours to complete the ascent from High Camp. Their route took them up the steeper west side of the mountain, which is more demanding, but made for a quicker climb in the near-perfect conditions. The BA team estimates that there were approximately 24 total climbers from all teams that topped out in this first push. The climbers are now safely back in High Camp and should complete their descent today.

The Adventure Consultants team put two climbers on the summit as well, taking 9.5 hours to make the round trip from HC to the top and back. Their post-climb dispatch says that temperatures were a balmy -20ºC/-4ºF on the summit, which is relatively warm for Vinson. The climbers will descend back to Base Camp today where they expect to hop an ALE flight to Union Glacier where they'll await word on the return trip to Punta Arenas, weather permitting.

Finally, the IMG team also completed their climb of Vinson yesterday, taking roughly 10 hours to go from High Camp to the summit and back. By all accounts it was a text book climb, with guides making good decisions about when to go up and the entire team executing the plan to perfection. They're safely back in HC as well and will complete the descent back to BC today.

This pretty much wraps up the first round of climbs on Vinson but there will be more to come over the next few weeks. Considering the mountain is one of the Seven Summits, it is a milestone climb for anyone considering an attempt on all of those mountains. The window for making that climb is fairly narrow each year, so I would expect similar reports from other climbing teams through the end of December.

Congratulations to all of the climbers who topped out yesterday. Well done!

Adventurer Makes History In The Last Desert

Earlier this week I posted a story on the Last Desert ultramarathon, a tough six-stage, seven-day race that just wrapped up in Antarctica. The event capped the 2012 edition of the 4 Deserts series of races and was a grueling event that tested athletes both physically and mentally.

One of the competitors in the event is a 60-year old adventurer by the name of Len Stanmore and by completing the race he has managed to add yet another accomplishment to his already impressive resume. Len is now officially the first person to ski to both the North and South Pole, climb all of the Seven Summits and run each of the 4 Deserts ultras. That's quite a bit of adventure for one lifetime.

Len's adventurous life actually began back in 1998, when he sold off his successful telecommunications company and suddenly found himself financially secure and with plenty of time on his hands. A bit out of shape and looking for ways to motivate himself, he decided to set a goal for climbing Kilimanjaro and in 2001 he did just that. After that he was hooked, and soon found himself pursuing a host of other active endeavors including running in the Transrockies Run and numerous marathons, in addition to the expeditions mentioned above.

Perhap's Len's greatest achievement falls in the realm of fund raising for his favorite charity. At the end of the Last Desert, he'll have raised more than $100,000 for Trekking for Kids, an organization dedicated to improving orphanages around the globe through the use of purpose-driven, socially-conscious treks. The non-profit actually organizes some of the world's most iconic treks and sends hikers off on adventures as a way to raise funds for the cause. Some of those treks include hikes to Everest Base Camp, up Kilimanjaro and through the Andes of Peru.

According to the official results of the Last Desert, Stanmore has finished 31st of 49 competitors, putting him right in the thick of the pack. But considering he adventurous outlook on life and approach to raising funds for a good cause, I'd say he more than finished out front. You definitely have to respect a person who has found a way to enjoy their life and pursue all of these great adventures, while still finding a way to give back in the process. We should all be so fortunate.

Mayhem Is Raising Funds For The Heroes Project!

I've written about The Heroes Project on a couple of occasions in the past few months. It's the non-profit organization founded by Tim Medvetz that helps wounded veterans recover from their injuries and regain personal strength and self confidence through climbing expeditions. The group recently climbed Kilimanjaro with Marine Staff Sergeant Mark Zambon, who lost both of his legs while serving a tour of duty in Afghanistan.

Like all organizations of this type, The Heroes Project is always looking for ways to raise funds to support its efforts. They recently received some help in that department in the form of actor Dean Winters, who many readers will recognize from such television shows as Rescue Me and Oz. He also happens to play the part of "Mayhem" in a series of popular insurance commercials that are currently running here in the U.S. Dean has set up a Wish page in which he is asking for donations to help fund an upcoming Heroes Project expedition to Indonesia to climb Carstenz Pyramid. Dean is looking to raise $15,000 for the cause, which will help pay for US Army Retired Sgt. Noah Galloway to join the climb. Noah suffered an IED attack in Iraq, losing his left arm above the elbow and his left leg above the knee.

Here's a video of "Mayhem" explaining why he wants to help and encouraging us all to give to the cause. If you'd like to donate visit the Wish page by clicking here.

The Heroes Project: 7 Summits, 7 Warriors

I received a note last week about an amazing organization that is helping wounded soldiers to re-connet with their lives by climbing some of the biggest mountains on the planet. The non-profit is called The Heroes Project and it works with disabled vets to assist them in overcoming their injuries and giving them renewed hope through the challenge of taking on the Seven Summits.

The organization was founded by Tim Medvetz, who many of you will probably remember from the television show Everest: Beyond The Limit. Through that show we learned that Tim had suffered a brutal motorcycle accident but that he was determined to still do extraordinary things despite the damage that had occurred to his body. In summitting Everest, Tim was able to show what was possible for those who were recovering from life altering accidents.

After returning from Everest Tim decided he wasn't done climbing and he wanted to help others who were in a similar position that he was once in. So, he founded The Heroes Project and set about visiting the Seven Summits, taking wounded vets along with him for the climb. Currently the group is doing fundraising for a Kilimanjaro climb that is scheduled to take place next month. There, on the highest peak in Africa, they hope to once again have an overwhelmingly positive impact on the life of a soldier that has suffered wounds in combat.

The video below gives a bit more information about the organization and is a great introduction to what they do.

Video: Inspired To Climb - Denali

This video may be a month old, but I only just came across this morning. It is a 20 minute short film on climbing Denali, the highest peak in North America at 6194 meters (20,320 ft). It is a physically demanding mountain to climb and due to its extreme northern latitude, the weather is fickle and unpredictable even under the best of conditions. The film demonstrates all of that and more and is a fantastic look at what it takes to climb this impressive mountain.