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PEAK FREAKS TEAM EVEREST 2011
The one thing
we love most about this business is the interesting people we get to meet, and this year is
no exception.
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Mark Schaible (American)
45, is from Colorado Springs, CO.  In
1999, Mark thought he was
on top of the world.
He was the number one rated USAF Experimental Test Pilot, a top 1%
Air Force Officer and had a 2-star hand written endorsement to go fly the
space shuttle in the NASA class of 2000.
Then something went seriously wrong... read about it here: www.markschaible.com
Now
he will climb Everest - "Against All Odds"
the name he has
chosen for his climb. Mark will providing SPOT Tracking throughout
his climb. Also have a look at "God
is my Wingman" - amazing interview and video.
After
beating terminal cancer, called Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia,
Mark knows he can do it, "I had cancer in my lymph system, cancer in
my blood and about 96% of bone marrow sample they took was
cancerous.
Multiple
treatments and a bone marrow transplant, he's been cancer free for more than
six and half years.
So
why climb Everest? To show people that have been given terminal illnesses,
that you can lead your life verses
accepting your life, " .
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 Nelson
Dellis (British/American)
is 27 years old, rather tall (6'7"), and has a seemingly insatiable
appetite for climbing mountains and improving his memory. Born in London,
England, raised in Paris, France, and then Miami, Florida - he's been all
over. But of all the places he's been, what he fell in love with the
most are the mountains. After setting foot in New Zealand's South Island
in 2004, he realized that not only did he want to look at mountains, he
wanted to climb them. He took a mountaineering course in the Washington
Cascades, then climbed Rainer (14,410ft), McKinley (20,320ft), Mont Blanc
(15,771ft). He's climbed numerous 14ers in Colorado and now will attempt
Everest (29,035ft).
CLIMB
FOR MEMORY: Nelson will be climbing to raise money Alzheimer's
disease research. Aside from being an avid climber, he also rigorously
trains his memory everyday. He is currently the 2011 USA Memory Champion!
He also holds two US records in memory:
(1)Most
digits memorized in 5- minutes- 248 digits (2)Fastest
to memorize the order of a full shuffled deck of playing cards- 63
seconds
Check
out the adjacent link to the Today Show video where Nelson's challenge was to remember 55
studio employees. Learn some valuable tips on how to train your brain. The
real test will be when Tim will ask him
to recall the number of the steps he took from a point on the Hillary Step
to the summit and back while in a hypoxic and exhausted state.
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 Georgina
Miranda 29;
is a native Los Angelino -an
avid traveler, and has a vested interest in human rights, animal rights,
and helping to end violence against women globally will be climbing
Everest this spring to help Empower Women in the Congo through the CLIMB
TAKE ACTION- 7 Summits Challenge
In
late 2007 after coming across an article depicting the violence against
women taking place in the Congo (Glamour
Magazine-read the article), I decided to create the Climb Take
Action~7 Summits Challenge initiative geared at raising funds and
awareness for women in Congo as I attempted to fulfil my dream of
climbing the world’s Seven Summits. It was unfathomable and
unacceptable to me that thousands of women and girls were being sexually
abused and that rape was used as a weapon of war and that no one knew
about it. My goal is to raise awareness to this crisis and help provide
the necessary physical, emotional, and economic relief needed by these
women in order to help them empower themselves. I figured people run
marathons, participate in triathlons, etc for charity; why not climb?
In
researching various humanitarian organizations actively working with
these women, I discovered International Medical Corps.
Being the amateur climber that I am, climbing the 7 summits is no easy
feat. It requires extensive training, mental preparation, and
commitment. Yet, reaching the 7 is a life dream of mine and my idea of
the ultimate personal challenge. I am 100% committed to achieving my
dream and helping others along the way. So far I have a couple of
summits down starting with (Mt. Elbrus, Russia 5642 m), and (Mt.
Kosciuszko, Australia, 2222m) then Mt. Rainer, Kilimanjaro,
Aconcagua and Denali.
Georgina
is attracting a great deal of interest in her challenge and looks
forward to others to joining in this initiative.
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 Pamela
Pappas (40) is
a nuclear pharmacist currently residing in Florida, USA. She is an
avid outdoor enthusiast, with a proclivity towards backcountry
self contained multi day hiking. She loves simply being on the
mountain and gaining all the self awareness being challenged by mother
nature offers.
"You quickly learn
what is at your core, when faced with adversity". She believes,
that being stripped down to basic survival conditions and performing
well is the greatest level of personal achievement. Passion for life
exists in your understanding and acceptance of its overwhelming
strength and fragility.
She has had successful
summits of Rainier, Elbrus, Kilimanjaro, Mustag Ata, Aconcagua,
Chopicalqui (Peru), Orizaba, Denali and a few others.
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 Kathy
Seitan, (American) 51, is a nurse who considers herself fortunate to be a
stay at home mom. She has 4 children. Zac is 21, Ryan 20, Cameron is 18
and Sara is 14.
She started climbing in
2002. She went to Kilimanjaro and was bit by the climbing bug. She has
since been climbing in Bolivia, Antartica, Argentina, Tibet and Alaska.
Her friend called her the ultimate "desperate housewife". They
joke whether she really likes the sport or the time away from home.
In her spare time
she is on the women's ice hockey team called the Stamford Stampede.
She most thankful for her
husband, Frank, who has been very supportive of her midlife crisis. She
feels blessed to have a family that pulls together to cover her while she
is away for two months. She is aware of hard it can be on her family
friends because her To Do List is extremely long when she comes
home.
Kathy is also part of the
climbing for CLIMB TAKE ACTION.....
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 Jan
Sinivaara (German/Spanish)
50, made a promise to himself that he will be fulfilling this
spring. "I made the decision in 1982 at Trolleveggen,
Norway that I would climb Mount Everest when I was 50. At that time I was
climbing just to find a place where base jumping could take place.
Back then I was passionate about skydiving an still today I feel the same.
Anyhow I was enchanted by
the mountains and kept on climbing whenever the weather was not suitable
for skydiving.
And - well, in a way, I
still do."
You can read the whole
story and more about this earlier trekking, climbing as well as recent
training at www.sinivaara.de
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 Matt
Wozniak
(American)
50; is from California. Matt’s
personal and professional life revolves around challenge, teamwork and the
pursuit of excellence. A life-long leader, entrepreneur, fixed wing pilot,
helicopter pilot, aircraft mechanic, Private Investigator, artist and
winery owner, Matt is drawn to what he believes to be one of the ultimate
mental and physical challenges – Everest.
Matt
is the CEO of an international market research company and owner /
Winemaker at his Northern California Winery.
His passions include his family (5 children), businesses, muscle
cars, art, flying …and adrenaline.
After
16 months of daily training, Matt looks forward to the challenge, personal
growth and introspection, learning from his fellow Team members and
working on his tan.
“Whether
you believe you can, or whether you believe you can’t, you’re
absolutely right” – Henry Ford
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 "Mark
"Mango" Mangles (Australian)
; is
an electronics engineer currently working for the Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park Authority in north Queensland. He is married to his
lovely wife Brigid and has two children, Steven, 24 and Nicole, 20.
Mango has a passion for the outdoors and adventure and each year
leads youth expeditions to developing countries. He has many years
of climbing experience mainly in Australia and New Zealand . In 2007
Mango made his first trip to Nepal and become the first to summit the
newly opened Baden Powell Peak (5718m). In 2008 he attempted Mt
Pumori and in 2010 Mt Everest, both with Peak Freaks. As well as climbing,
Mango enjoys kayaking, scuba-diving, bushwalking, caving and anything
adventurous."
"Adventure
before dementia"
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 Kevin
Farebrother
(Australian) 41, a Firefighter from Perth, western
Australia.
Another
impressive bio, he was in the British Army Parachute regiment and is an
avid rock climber and mountaineer. He has managed to participate in
mountaineering course around the globe including Yamnuska in Canada and
Alpine Guides in New Zealand, Austria, Germany and numerous others. He
climbed some of the big peaks like Mt. Aspiring, Kilimanjaro, Denali, Mont
Blanc four times and is technically a skilled mountaineer from our
assessment. Kevin
has been getting a lot of noise from Perth residents who are already
starting to cheer him on to the summit of Everest.
"If you can dream it you can do it" Dream
big!
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 Laura
Ross (American)
56, from Tarpon Springs, Florida, she is a fitness trainer and has the most impressive climbing
bio of the entire team.
I
couldn't possibly enter all her ascents without taking up the whole page
but I will offer the ones that most count for altitude climbs. They
include; Elbrus, Aconcagua, Vinson, Denali and Cho Oyo and attempted
Everest summit in 2008 with another operator but had to make the right decision
to turn back due to complications with an infection just shy of the
balcony.
As a life-long athlete she
completed 12 marathons around the world including 3 Boston Marathons.
She was also a nationally ranked triathlete. She's met and climbed
with the other ladies on the team and they commented to me that she is
"one tuff nut".
Laura
is dedicating this climb of Mount Everest to her 91 year old Father who
flew "The Hump" while serving in the China-Burma-India campaign
during World War II.
"A summit of Mount Everest will complete
Laura's odyssey'.
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 Martijn
Ebbing (Dutch) age 39
living in Switzerland.
Martijn is a marathon
runner in Switzerland and has successfully climbed Kilimanjaro and
Aconcagua and Mount Petosi. He is passionate about climbing Everest
with us this season. We look forward to climbing with Martijn.
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 Bengt-Goran
Hakansson (aka- BG)
53,
(Swedish) hopes to be the first from Skane, his home town Sweden, to stand
on top of Everest. His sponsorship funds raised are going to S.O.S
Children Village in Mombasa Kenya. He feels that doing something good will
help him reach the summit and safely back down again. To learn more about BG you
can refer to his website : www.bg-hakansson.se
His climbing
experience has been to the summit of Kala Pattar, the Matterhorn and
Island Peak. He has also taken the mountaineering program at the NMA
Mountaineering School in Nepal.
BG has made some good friends
at which he seems to do where
ever he goes. His creativity will certainly be an excellent asset to the
team. I once saw a photo of his make shift hot tub. A photo of him nestled
in the bucket of a back hoe, filled with water positioned over a camp
fire. I will be curious to learn of what he may muster up at base
camp? |
 Roger
Wright- (Australian)
43, from
St. Lucia, Queensland;
Even though I have
limited climbing experience I have successfully completed a number of
endurance events over the years, predominantly ultra distance running and
kayaking. My best personal achievement has been completing a 100 mile
track run in under 24 hours. After being on Pumori with Tim and Peak
Freaks last year I set my sights on the challenge of Everest.
My approach is
"You'll never know if you never have a go"
Many thanks to Lorraine
for putting up with all my training and supporting me as I chase a
dream...
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LEADERSHIP |
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Tim Rippel - Expedition Leader |
Angle Armesto- Mountain Guide
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Javier
Carvallo Contreras- Mountain Guide |
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SHERPA
CREW
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