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.
Category Archives: Dispatches
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield
October 19 LUKLA, NEPAL – At Outward Bound we tell everyone that participates in our programs that “there is more in you than you know.” I used to think this phrase summed up the efforts and goals of OB as an organization pretty succinctly. After working with these Soldiers on this amazing expedition, my perceptions have shifted to a whole new level.
Summit day was… (awesome, hellish, brutal, intense…)
October 18 MONZO, NEPAL – Didrik ambushes the team and asks them to complete the following sentence, “Summit day was…”
Rational thinking, an irrational pursuit
October 18 MONZO, NEPAL – Mountain climbing is an irrational pursuit.
On our extraordinary summit day, I had the honor of climbing with Specialist Steve Baskis. His combat injuries left him completely blind and with limited use of his left hand, but with an admirable inner strength that will always serve him well.
Across the skyline, huge giant mountains…
October 15 PHERICHE (This post was held up @12 hours due to an Asia-wide satellite outage) – What a day! I almost don’t know where to begin this was such an exciting day. After trekking for 10 days we finally approached our summit day with excitement. It was really hard to get any sleep before making our climb. I was extremely restless.
Steve Baskis talks summiting Lobuche with the Today Show on msnbc.com
October 15 PHERICHE, NEPAL – Soldier Steve Baskis spoke from Pheriche to the Today Show on msnbc.com about the personal challenges of summiting Lobuche and what the experience means to him.
Summiting Lobuche: A step-by-step account
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.
Outside Online posts about summiting
Outside Online published a nice blog post about the expedition and summiting Lobuche.
SUMMITED!
Oct 14 LOBUCHE HIGH CAMP – The team summited Lobuche approximately 12 hours ago, 9:00 a.m. Nepal Time (11:15 p.m. Eastern, Oct 13). Our first word that they’d done so actually came via our Soldiers to the Summit Twitter feed. The team tweeted the following (via satellite phone):
Our real goals: demonstrate courage and encourage others
October 13 PHERICHE, NEPAL – As we are about to separate to our two summit expeditions, I want to remind you that Lobouche and Everest Base Camp is not the goal. The goal is to demonstrate the courage and resilience of you, our injured soldier; and to encourage others who have been injured that they too can accomplish exceptional goals.