Alan Arnette Summits Elbrus

Congratulations are in order to my friend Alan Arnette this morning, as he has knocked off yet another of the Seven Summits. In an audio dispatch this morning Alan announced that he had successfully reached the top of Mt. Elbrus, the tallest mountain in Europe. This is the fourth successful expedition in Alan's  7 Summits Climb for Alzheimer's project.

Located in the Western Caucasus Mountains in Russia, Elbrus stands 5642 meters (18,510 ft) in height. It is a popular climbing destination in Eastern Europe, and is considered one of the more moderately challenging climbs in the Seven Summits. That said, Alan reports that it took his team about seven and a half hours to reach the summit, from High Camp, today, although he sounded in great spirits and good health when he phoned in his dispatch.

Alan has now added Elbrus to his list of successful summits, joining Vinson in Antarctica, Aconcagua in South America, and Everest in Asia. Back in July he attempted to climb Denali, the tallest peak in North America, but was eventually forced to give up the climb due to persistently bad weather. Next up, he'll head to Africa in September to climb Kilimanjaro.

The 7 Summits Climb for Alzheimer's is a very important and personal project for Alan, who lost his mother to that awful disease a few years back. He is climbing to raise awareness of Alzheimer's as well as money to fund research with the Cure Alzheimer's Fund. A great cause for sure, and a great way to help the process.

Richard Parks Completes 737 Challenge

I've mentioned Richard Parks and his 737 Challenge in the past, but wanted to do a follow-up to report that he has completed the expedition, which had the ambitious goal of climbing the Seven Summits and visiting the Three Poles, in just seven months time.

According to this story, from Wales Online, Parks finished his journey last week by reaching the summit of Mt. Elbrus, the highest mountain in Europe. You would think that after he knocked off Everest in the spring, that Elbrus, which stands 5642 meters (18,510 ft) in height, would be a relatively easy climb, but according to the story, Richard struggled to the top as his strength and energy waned. Then again, getting so close to his final goal, and having traveled and climbed a lot in the past six+ months, I guess it should be expected that he would be a bit tired.

While standing on the summit, Parks said that his accomplishment hadn't set in yet, but a blog post that came a few days later allowed him to share some thoughts on the journey. He was back home in the U.K. at that point, and has a lot of media appearances on his agenda, and it sounds like he's still struggling to come to grips with his accomplishment.

The expedition website says that the official time to complete the 737 Challenge was six months, 11 days, 7 hours, and 53 minutes. In that time frame, Richard managed to climb the seven highest peaks on each of the seven continents, while also visiting the "three poles." That would be the North and South Pole of course, and the summit of Everest, which is sometimes referred to as the "third pole." While his polar journeys were last-degree ski expeditions, this is still one very impressive accomplishment. The travel time alone would be enough to wear a lot of people out, let alone climbing mountains and skiing through frozen wastelands.

It should also be noted that Parks undertook this journey to raise funds and awareness of the Marie Curie Cancer Care organization, a great cause that has inspired a number of adventurous Brits.

Congratulations Richard, well done!

Sherpa Climbs Seven Summits In 42 Days

Way back last March of last year I posted a story on Ang Chhiring Sherpa, who at the time was attempting to set a speed record for climbing the Seven Summits. Fast forward a year, and he has accomplished his goal and in highly impressive times.

According to this story, which is in French, (use Google Translate), A.C., as he has known, managed to knock off each of the seven summits in just 42 days of accumulated climbing. That's the amount of time he actually spent on the mountains itself, and not his his total time from start to finish of all of the mountains. The individual times for each of the peaks looks like this: Mount McKinley- 12 days; Kilimanjaro - 16 hours, 37 minutes round trip!); Elbrus - 8 hours, 14 minutes; Kosciusko - 2 hours, 32 minutes; Aconcagua - 7 days; Vinson - 4 days;  and Everest - 19 days.

A.C. actually finished off his quest last may when he completed his climb of Everest, but I hadn't seen confirmation of his final time until this story was send my way by Louis-Philippe Lonke earlier today. While the news might be old, it is still a very impressive time and accomplishment that deserves a salute.

It should also be noted that A.C. wasn't making the climb just to achieve a record. He was also raising funds and awareness for the Himalayan Women & Children Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping to educate women and provide basic health care and other services for those living in the Himalayan mountains.

A worthy cause to say the least.