Use Google Earth to Map John Rudolf's Progress

I’ve not seen another site use Google Earth to track their progress; John Rudolf’s climb of Mt. Everest is the first I’ve come across. Google Earth is a mapping of the Earth’s surface and when it’s used to map the Khumbu region it’s really impressive.

Mt. Everest Base Camp and the summit on Google Earth.

To add this feature to your site, and there are a lot of possible uses, you need to install the Google Earth 3d plugin, which will allow your uses to view the interactive map. On John’s site Kurt Hunter, from 3DGeo Trail by RainOn* provided the technology. Take a look at John’s site and engage his interactive map tracking feature. The yellow line is of course the boundary between two countries; in this case Nepal and China and if you don’t know where to look for the summit of Mt. Everest follow the yellow line sort of to the northeast. The north face is in shadow.

Back to John’s post for the day. This one is a video post for an IPCR dinner, to raise money. And of course everyone has to have some marketing angle or cause to pitch. That’s how many get the money to climb Everest. I certainly don’t begrudge John for this worthy effort, but a word of caution should always be exercised to appreciate the genuine of the person pushing the cause as well as the people who the climber claims will receive the money or benefit.

I don’t think anyone would argue about Sir Edmund Hillary’s cause for rebuilding the economy of Nepal and an educational system within that county as being the best recognized or legitimate effort surrounding Mt. Everest climbers.

Mt. Everest History & Facts – Offers a great selection of information categories using a pull-down menu.

Most Ascents:
Eleven, 24th May 2000 Appa Sherpa became the first person to climb Everest 11 times-Ten, Ang Rita Sherpa, Babu Chiri Sherpa all ascents were oxygen-less.

*I was unable to locate the RainOn website. If Mr. Hunter runs across this post please contact me and I’ll create a workable link to access RainOn.

Trekking along with John Rudolf towards colorfully creative Kathmandu

The trip to Kathmandu on your way to Everest is itself a pretty interesting thread to this adventure woven into the fabric of your life. It’s full of brilliant colors, foreign languages, new and exotic smells foreign to your olfactory senses and people like you’ve never experienced.

On his blog John Rudolf reports today he’s flown via Los Angeles to Bangkok and then in reverse back to Kathmandu. I flew via Chicago and London then onto Bangkok and backtracked to Kathmandu. It’s a series of long flights and as a traveler, to some extent you look and feel different than everyone else around you. Many are dressed for business and your business is filling mountaineer boots. For his age his fitness level will make him stick out like a sore thumb on a piano player. But then it changes. It's true right up until the last flight where he might run into other climbers with the same level of adrenaline pumping through their veins. Kathmandu's airport is small, but clean and is a well organized terminal. The people are friendly, customs quickly moves you through and out to the cab stands.

In Kathmandu we stayed at the Hotel Yak & Yeti, which appears to still be intact after the Maoist revolution. (Bagh Bazaar, Kathmandu, Nepal, (0)1 424 89 99) It’s close to Durbar Marg, the Royal Palace, the Hotel Annapurna and still sort of off the well beaten path. Visit the website by following the link to see this is truly a five star accommodation. I sat in the restaurant and the guide explained that Sir Edmund Hillary in the 1953 expedition laid out the expedition's gear on the tennis courts just outside in the courtyard area. I stared in amazement trying to imagine for a moment the historic significance and wishing I had an photograph of the scene back then in 53'.

Guiding Service – Alpine Ascents, International
Owner - Todd Burleson
Guiding Team – Vern Tejas, Lakpa Rita Sherpa, Garret Madison, Michael Horst and Ellie Henke.
Climbing Team Members – Vanessa Folkerts, Donall Healy, Michael Kraft, Alison Levine, D.C. McDonald, John Rudolf, Jan Smith and Victor Vescovo.

I’ve travelled with Alpine Ascents back in 2000 or 2001 to Africa and Kilimanjaro. They have some great images on the AA website that you may enjoy watching.

From reading AA’s tweet (Twitter) it seems John’s post is a bit delayed which isn’t unusual. AA reports the team is “stuck in Kathmandu with gastritis.” But then says April Fools! They go on to report the team has safely landed in Lukla and has begun the trek up the first hill towards base camp.

The airstrip in Lukla can’t be compared to any airport you’ve ever travelled to. Before you even get to it all your gear is weighed and flown via a small plane from Kathmandu. The plane is one that isn’t like a normal airline plane. It seats around 12 to 20 if I my memory is serving me well. A lot of the room is taken up with gear. The climbers are all crammed in together. The cockpit is wide open and the windshield is in plane view from most passenger seats. You could hug the pilot if you chose to do so. During the flight you can see the peaks all around you. The plane flies pretty low to some peaks it overflies and everyone is buzzed with the excitement of seeing nothing like you’ve every before experienced. Climbers react to all of this by either talking or sitting in silence. It’s an emotional overload for these adrenaline junkies. Here you are starting the trip that has taken you so many months of preparation and so many miles of blood, sweat and now you are seemingly near tears as you see it unfolding around you. Our guide turned to us and said, here comes Lukla you won’t want to miss this landing.

As the plane approaches the airstrip you won’t believe this is where you’re about to land. The plane flies straight into a mountain and if by chance it didn’t stop you’d be toast. As it approaches this highly elevated landing strip you seemingly hold your breath, which at this altitude isn’t the wisest thing to do. But it does stop and you do get out, suck in some O’s and walk out of the airport, if I can call it that, and through the town of Lukla which is colorful and amazing all at once. Down this narrow path that winds through the town’s center, by shops, Sherpa’s, Yaks and Knacks. You can buy anything you didn’t find even antacid tablets for the gastritis that is surely to visit your intestinal track from time to time. My eyeballs fell on the bottles of Everest Whiskey which we discussed on our trek to Mt. Everest’s base camp.

Already too long for today, I won’t discuss it now, but later I’ll revisit this airport because if you think the landing was exciting wait till you takeoff to head back to Kathmandu.

That’s enough for one day. You’ve a flavor of the vibrant colors of this ancient civilization that grows in the early stages of this walk to base camp. Enjoy this Easter weekend.

Alpine Ascents Twitter

John Rudolf to Attempt Mount Everest

Mountaineer, John Rudolf is on his way to Mount Everest hoping to summit sometime during the window. He’s a 62-year-old portfolio manager of Summit Capital Management and Summit Special Situations Fund, LP and Co-Portfolio Manager of Summit World Partners Fund, LP. Rudolf received an undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame and then Columbia University Graduate School under the Herbert Lehman Doctoral Fellowship. I picked up the news from a New York Times writer and that led me to John’s 7 Summits blog. He’s climbed Kilimanjaro in Africa (Tanzania), Aconcagua in South America (Argentina), Elbrus in Europe (Russia) and Denali in Alaska (North America). He’s also climbed Vinson Massif in Antarctica. There isn’t much on his site. The New York Times article is more friendly promotion than factual. We’ll have to follow this blog to see how it develops over time. Andean Health (AndeanHealth) is now following your tweets on Twitter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlITgWcJMSM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlITgWcJMSM

I'm still figuring this platform out and don't yet know how to add YouTube videos but we'll figure it out. Until then I'm going to post the YouTube link.

The above photograph isn't Mr. Rudolf, it's actually me with a young Sherpa boy from the Khumbu region of Nepal. I visited in 2002.