Everest 2007:  Mountain Madness Everest Expedition: More Summits

One of our favorite pictures: a climber up high getting ready to go for it in 2004 ©EverestNews.com

May 24, 2007 6:00 a.m. South Col

Willie, Tendi and Brian have returned safely to the South Col. Willie called in with some more details from the climb. The team left for their summit push at 9:00 p.m. They made it to the South Summit at around 1:00 a.m. and realized they were moving too fast to have daylight on the summit without an extended wait. They found a bit of shelter in a feature in the snow and tried to wait it out for some daylight but soon became too cold and needed to get moving again to warm up.

At this point the winds had died down and they could not waste a good window of weather for continuing the ascent. All three of them arrived at the summit at exactly 2:50 a.m. in calm, but dark conditions. After a brief stay on the summit, they began their descent and arrived back at the South Col at 6:00 a.m. They will rest for a few hours and then clean up camp before continuing down to Camp II. The boys are tired, but are all feeling strong and very happy about their successful summit.


May 24, 2007 3:00 a.m. Everest Summit

A short message relayed via satellite phone confirmed that Willie, Tendi and Brian successfully summitted at 3:00 a.m.! They are all reported to be feeling strong and healthy and expect to be back at the South Col by mid-morning and continuing on to Camp II later today. We will have a more detailed report when they are back to the South Col.


May 23, 2007 9:00 p.m. Summit Push

A satellite phone call was relayed into the Mountain Madness Seattle office. Willie, Tendi Sherpa, and Brian began moving up and were feeling strong. Conditions are somewhat windy, but Willie had a good feeling that it would calm down. We will post more details when the next call comes in.


May 23, 2007 Camp III

Tonight Brian, Jaime and Willie are at camp III, hopefully sleeping well and holding up with energy for their climb. They plan to start moving at 6:00am, suited up and with the oxygen flowing on their trip to south col. Everyone seemed to move at a consistent pace today, and they were all in camp by 1:00pm.

This is just a short report to keep everyone informed. Details of the climbing route have been outlined in previous dispatches. The difference is, this time Willie and Tendi don't have to fix ropes! More tomorrow as the boys start moving into committing ground. Peace to you back home.

May 23, 2007 Camp III: Tonight Brian, Jaime and Willie are at camp III, hopefully sleeping well and holding up with energy for their climb. They plan to start moving at 6:00am, suited up and with the oxygen flowing on their trip to south col. Everyone seemed to move at a consistent pace today, and they were all in camp by 1:00pm.

This is just a short report to keep everyone informed. Details of the climbing route have been outlined in previous dispatches. The difference is, this time Willie and Tendi don't have to fix ropes! More tomorrow as the boys start moving into committing ground. Peace to you back home.

Earlier: May 21, 2007 Camp II: It's back on the mountain again for Willie and Tendi! This morning they left with Jaime to head back up to camp II, where they will meet Brian, and move up to camp III together tomorrow. Willie and Tendi Sherpa had about three days rest in base camp, during which time Brian was acclimatizing at camp II, with a day trip up to camp III. Brian's health is holding up so well that we have faith he will have a good shot at the summit in 2 days time. These days there is a lot of traffic up there, so we are hoping Willie finds the route much easier this time, not having to break trail. As for Tendi, he was Willie's partner on their last summit day, fixing lines together all night, out in front of everyone, even spooning with each other for two hours while waiting for more rope, at one point. That's a strong foundation to a trusting climbing relationship, so we know the two of them will be a good team for Brian on this attempt.

As for Jaime, he will be climbing Lhotse, if all goes well, and his amazing ski turns of last week have become legendary around base camp. We are hoping he is able to make a ski descent of all of Lhotse on the same night as our Everest summitters. We will stay posted on him for the next few days, too.

All is well in base camp, as groups are leaving daily, rocks are falling out from beneath tents, and it is downright pleasant weather most of the time. Tomorrow we hope to report a timely arrival at camp III, where the climbers will start oxygen and indeed, the ball will be rolling. We are sure Brian is very excited for this monumental step in progress up the mountain, and until then, standing by.....

Background

Mountain Madness will return to Everest in Spring 2007 with a commercial expedition led by Willie Benegas, The final commercial team will be announced soon... But they have several clients. They will again attempt from the South (Nepal) side of the mountain. Christine Boskoff, owner of Mountain Madness sadly passed away in 2006.

The Climber: Willie Benegas

Born and raised in the wild heart of Patagonia, Willie Benegas, along with his twin brother Damien, have pursued a long apprenticeship in the mountains.  As one of the "young bucks" of the world-class North Face team, Willie has pushed his craft on the big-walls of Yosemite, the airy summits of South America, and the loftiest peaks of the Himalaya. The boundless duo, now hailing from Berkeley California, completed their first major new ascent with a route up Patagonia's West Face of Pilquitron (VI, 5.9, A3) which is still unrepeated.

© David Keaton

 At 20, they climbed Fitz Roy's impressive Supercouloir as well as routes on Guillaumet and Poincenot.  In the following years, Willie has ticked off the South Face of Aconcagua, a new route on the North Face of Pakistan's Nameless Tower (VII), record speed ascents in Yosemite valley, and attempted major new routes on the legendary North Faces of Thalay Sagar and Jannu.

But simply overcoming technical routes or highest summits is not enough for this 30 year old climber.   He gathers equal satisfaction by introducing others to the wide-world of mountain experience.  To help fulfill this goal, Willie and Damien established Patagonian Brothers Expeditions specializing in South American guided climbs and treks.  They also lead expeditions for Out There Trekking (UK, OTT) in Africa, South America,  and on Himalayan giants such as Cho Oyu.

Willie has many plans for the future, but he often gets the same question; why do you climb?  When asked about the draw of high places, he says "a mountain  adventure will carry over into many facets of your life, teaching about yourself, your co-existence with nature, and respect for other people's cultures." 

Willie's Brief Resume below

FILMS:

HIGHLIGHTS:

ABOUT WILLIE: Born and raised in the wild heart of Patagonia, Willie Benegas has pursued a long apprenticeship in the mountains. Willie has pushed his craft on the big walls of Yosemite, the airy summits of South America, and the loftiest peaks of the Himalayas. Willie completed his first major ascent in the winter of 1987 with a route up Patagonia's West Face of Pitriquitron (VI, 5.9 A3 W2/3), which has still not been repeated. At age 20, he climbed Aconcagua's impressive South Face, as well as Fitzroy. In the following years, Willie "ticked off" the first ascent of the North Face of Pakistan's Nameless Tower "Book of Shadows" (VII, 5.10+ A4 W14), made record speed ascents in Yosemite Valley, and attempted major new routes on the legendary North Faces of Thalay Sagar and Jannu. In 2001, he set the world record speed ascent/descent of the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere, Aconcagua (22,831 ft.), summited Everest for a second time, and ran the legendary Leadville Ultra 100-mile Race. In the spring of 2002, Willie reached the Top of the World yet a third time. However, simply overcoming technical routes and conquering summits around the world is not enough for this 34-year-old climber. He gathers equal satisfaction by introducing others to the world of mountain experiences and exploration.

Willie has many plans for the future, but he often gets the same question, why do you climb? To this he simply says, "A mountain adventure will carry over into the many facets of life, teaching yourself about yourself, your co-existence with nature, and the respect for people's cultures."

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