Šis un tas
What about Gaiziņkalns?
Ed Viesturs on the summit of Broad Peak in Pakistan. (Photo from edviesturs.com)
June 19, 2005
Ed Viesturs, son of a Latvian mechanical design engineer and a German mother, describes himself as “America’s leading high altitude mountaineer.” His recent adventures in mountain climbing are chronicled in a June 18 article in The New York Times. Viesturs on May 12 became the first American and only the 12th person to climb all 14 Himalyan peaks measuring more than 8,000 meters (about 26,000 feet), according to the article.
His latest conquest was Annapurna in Nepal, a goal of his since childhood, according to Viesturs’s own Web site, www.edviesturs.com.
Viesturs has a reputation of being a careful climber, willing to cut short efforts to reach a summit if it means living to climb another day.
“My primary goal is to get down, not to go up,” he told reporter Bob Sherwin.
Viesturs also has made his climbs without supplemental oxygen, a challenge for even the best climbers.
Viesturs’s efforts spread beyond the mountain-climbing circuit with the release of Jon Krakauer’s 1996 book, Into Thin Air, and the 1998 IMAX film, Everest, both of which describe a tragic May 1996 day on Mt. Everest when eight climbers died. You can read more about the making of the film in a Mountain Zone interview with Viesturs.
He also is the co-author of the 2003 book, Himalyan Quest.
We can’t help wondering if Viesturs has ever climbed Latvia’s highest peak, the 312-meter Gaiziņkalns?
(Thanks to Andris Grunde for the tip.)
— Andris Straumanis
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Comments about this article
Irene Beinarovics
I just had to find out more about this remarkable Latvian after I saw the movie "Everest" at the Science Centre in Toronto. I was awestruck by the challenges this man and the entire team faced, including camerament and pilots, the breathtaking beauty of the location (breathtaking in more ways than one) and the advances of technology such that you had such a wide open view of what lay before and above you. I was deeply touched, moved and exhilerated. Thank you Ed and everyone for taking us up there with you.
31 Mar 2007 (United States)
Janis Barobs
Several years ago I attended a lecture by Ed Viesturs at the Women's Club in Minneapolis. The lecture and slide show on his adventures in mountain climbing was facinating. Following the presentation, Viesturs held a book signing session. While he was signing a copy of his book that we had purchased, I asked Mr. Viesturs if he has ever climbed Gaizinkalns. He looked at me rather strangely and said with a smile that he has not climbed Gaizinkalns. He does not speak Latvian but did tell us briefly about his father being Latvian and that he, himself was from Chicago. Perhaps there is still hope that he may climb to the summit of Gaizins!
12 Apr 2007 (United States)