The Value Of Life – By Roger Collins
It has been about 2 weeks since returning from Kenya, and many prominent things have been entering my life as of recent. Every morning I open my door to hear the birds chirping from the tree branches which connect to the tree that stands on my front lawn. It has been about 2 weeks since returning from Kenya, and many prominent things have been entering my life as of recent. Every morning I open my door to hear the birds chirping from the tree branches which connect to the tree that stands on my front lawn. I look around and see little black...
read moreHow students overcame their challenges – Our Cho Oyu Challenge wrap up
It’s been just over a month since I reached the summit of the 6th highest mountain on Earth – Mt. Cho Oyu – and only now am I returning home to my very own basecamp here in Ottawa, Canada. I can’t help but look back at my experience in the high Himalayas and wonder what it would have been like if Kheiry, my climbing partner had made it. You see, once you’ve reached a certain level in high altitude mountaineering, as with many things in life, you need to continually re-invent yourself in order to find...
read moreFindingLife reaches the summit of Mt Cho Oyu
Elia Saikaly reaches the summit of the 6th Highest Mountain on Earth
read moreA final challenge – Ask yourself these 3 questions – By Elia Saikaly
I challenge you to take a moment to ask yourself these three questions: Do I know what I am most afraid of? Do I dare to dream of facing it? Am I living my most adventurous life? One of the greatest risks you can take, in my opinion, is to publicly declare the undertaking of a challenge where the outcome is uncertain. In my case, the odds of successfully reaching the top of Mt. Cho Oyu were rather slim especially when taking into account that last season there were very few summits. Once I evacuated my climbing partner Kheiry, sent...
read moreThe men and women behind the success of our 8000M expedition – By Elia Saikaly
More often than not, the support teams on successful 8000M ascents remain the unsung heroes. It is almost classically executed by Westerners to omit the names of all of those who helped them achieve their goal of standing atop one of the world’s highest peaks. The following is my attempt to share with you the many men and women who helped make this ascent possible. Few have the ability, the stamina and the resources to truly attempt something like this completely on their own. The dream began with the man, my friend, who...
read moreNot without my baby – Crossing the Tibetan Border
Today I bore witness to a truly incredible sight – Love in its most formidable and unconditional state. A fundamental response to survival that left me astounded and quite honestly purely dumbfounded. On one level, I felt extremely guilty for having captured this on video, yet in the same breath I felt a responsibility to share what I saw with all of you. As I was crossing the Tibetan (Chinese) border, preparing to enter Nepal after an extremely arduous climb, I noticed a dozen Nepali women swarm our transport truck, each determined to...
read moreEndless suffering – The Summit of Cho Oyu part 2- By Elia Saikaly
It’s 1:00am and we still haven’t left camp for the summit. The wind is violently shaking our little North Face tent at 7100M above sea level. What happened to our perfect weather forecast? I’m currently breathing supplementary oxygen and I’m finding it challenging to see through the mask. I’m also slightly paranoid about my toes. I ALWAYS have issues with my toes above 8000M and the wind sounds unforgivably cold. I force myself to consume dehydrated vegetables and pasta in a pack and I ceremonially prepare for the...
read moreA tale of hardship and calculated risks – The Summit of Cho Oyu part 1
The truth is that I’ve been sick ever since Kheiry left. After evacuating him from ABC (5700M) I had to climb back through a storm, got lost in the middle of the night in snow up to my waist, nearly lost all sensation in my left foot and never fully recovered. For those that are unaware, up here cuts don’t heal, cold’s don’t just ‘go away’ and any form of sickness evolves into a much more serious condition. Perfect. All I had to was get up an 8,201M giant and apparently I had 4 days to do it! I received a...
read moreTo rise or to retreat? A dilemma above the clouds
I’m currently living in a yellow tent amongst hundreds of others at 5700M above sea level. My climber partner Kheiry and our assistant Jeremie along with 2 of our strongest climbers have left Tibet and abandoned the climb. Kheiry had the humility to accept to be evacuated, as much as we all contributed, he saved his own life. Truth is: I miss him. Dearly. I sit in his seat as I type this email unsure of what to do next. The evacuation has left me exhausted. Yesterday I climbed to Camp1 at 6400M, trying to regain the passion for...
read moreHardship Never-ending – Evacuation Part 2
As I watched the jeep drive away with my climbing partner Kheiry, Jeremie, Pema and Namgyal, it suddenly hit me: I was mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted. The truth is this: While Kheiry was sick, I put myself 2nd and failed to share the fact that I wasn’t well and that my own pulse/ox (the amount of oxygen saturation in the blood) measured 68/100. At sea level, this measurement would grant you a one-way ticket to the emergency room, at near 6000M it is not uncommon, however it is a warning sign to slow down and recover....
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