I just added a page to my blog where you can download some pictures to use as desktop backgrounds on your computer. I won’t repeat what it says so just head on over there:
http://blog.mazurw.com/desktop-wallpaper/
Enjoy!
Posts Tagged ‘wiktor mazur’
Desktop Wallpaper – For You
Thursday, June 2nd, 201117 May 2010 – What did I do at the Summit?
Tuesday, May 17th, 2011Today is the one year anniversary of me standing on the top of the world, and I thought I would share with you what I did during my time on the summit. When I read things like “First Tweet Sent From Top of Mount Everest” and people’s reactions, or what they think they would do at the summit, it makes me think back to when I was up there.
So here goes. I think we got up to just below the summit at around 7:40 am. First thing I did was take off my backpack, kneel down, take a breath. Then I start thinking, OK, what did I want to do up here again?
One of the first things I did was take out my cell phone, which I had been keeping warm in a pocket close to my body. I turned on my Nokia E51 hoping to get a signal so that I could send a text message home. I had had limited success sending texts from Base Camp thanks to the new tower close by, and I hoped either that or the Chinese tower that was supposed to be nearby could give me a connection. I started typing the message, but I got a little cold in my fingers, and seeing that the phone wasn’t catching a signal I put it away.
One of the next things I did was check my watch for the absolute barometric pressure. People always say “the pressure on the top of mount Everest is 1/3 of sea level”, and I just wanted to see if that was true, and how close to 1/3 it was! Anyways, I checked, but didn’t write the number down, and the way altitude works is you easily forget. So I didn’t write down the exact number, but later wrote it down as what I remembered it to be approximately, and it was indeed right at the 335 hPa mark.
Next I took out my camera and checked to see if it was working. Unfortunately the battery was dead (due to the extreme cold), but I had one (or maybe even two?) spare batteries nice and warm in the same pocket I kept my phone (it was a crowded pocket). I popped that in and it worked! Pictures started to be taken at 7:45 am.
One of the things I did, it probably wasn’t next but sometime earlier, was disconnect my oxygen mask from the bottle. That way I could move around without needing my backpack on my bag. I had promised myself I wouldn’t do this after seeing the effect it had on me on the summit of Cho Oyu, but at this altitude it’s difficult to think logically. I guess I wanted to not carry my backpack, or maybe Lhakpa, my Sherpa, encouraged me to leave my pack on the ground. Whatever the reason, I disconnected it, but left my mask on my face (to keep it warm and prevent freezing of inlet and outlet ports).
Next comes all the picture taking. I took some pictures, first in the direction that the sun was shining on, then in the direction we came from, and kinda all around. Then I gave the camera to Lhakpa and he took some pictures of me holding the World Vision flag. This was all with me sitting just below the summit, and only at about 8:00 am I have pictures of myself on the actual peak. (Remember, Everest summit doesn’t count unless you get to that very point!)
We kept taking pictures and videos, swapping cameras, and the pictures stop at about 8:15 am. That’s when it seemed like there was nothing else left to do, or more accurately, I felt like I should get the hell out of there because it was impossible to knock the thought out of my mind that we still had a long way to go down; we started packing up. I took my second pair of goggles out of my bag so that I would have an unfogged set. I put everything in my bag, put a little bandanna around my face to cover the sun burn (I would later have to stop and have Lhakpa help me cut a hole in that bandanna with my ice axe so that I could breathe the oxygen more freely). When we were about to set off I remembered it would be cool to have a 360 degree panorama from the summit, so I filmed that, and kept my camera on me so that I could take pictures as we were going down. That last video was taken at about 8:33 am. So, I guess we spent just over 45 minutes on the summit.
That’s about it! Seems like a lot to write for a pretty uneventful stay on the top of the world. I didn’t quite get into what my thoughts were but that was all just altitude induced stupidity and not much else.
Best of luck to all the people heading up the mountain this year. Take care!
Everest 2011: Summits and Deaths
Monday, May 9th, 2011Just a quick update on the things happening on Everest this year. May 6 saw the first Sherpa team reach the summit from the south (Nepal) side, fixing ropes to the summit as they went. This now opens the doors for any and all teams to follow and try reaching the summit when the next weather windows come.
Also, there have been two deaths already reported on Everest this year, both on the south side. One of them was an American, and you can see a story on him here. When I read a story like that it definitely brings things into perspective again of what can happen out there, and my thoughts and prayers go out to the family.
Anyways, now is a time to be staying on top of Everest action, as more and more teams plan for the summit, and more news should be hitting the streets as people do and don’t make it. For some of the latest news keep an eye on http://everestnews.com/, they usually have the latest.
Hope everyone is enjoying their May so far! For those coming to my presentation at the CPL this Saturday, see you there! That will be three days away from my one-year Everest summit anniversary.
Take care!
After Everest, come hear about my trip!
Monday, November 22nd, 2010Since coming back from Mount Everest, I have managed to keep quite busy with life and haven’t written anything for a while. I have given a few slide shows to friends and family, and passed along some of the stories, but I’m now doing one as an open event! I will be doing a talk and showing pictures from my trip this Thursday, I encourage everyone to come out! But this event is not just about me, it’s a little different than the other presentations I’ve done; this event is organized along with World Vision, there will be printed pictures from my trip, and it will all be tied in to the larger picture of my fund raising efforts and World Vision as a whole. So even if you have seen my pictures before, you haven’t seen it like this!
If you’re at all interested in my Everest adventure, or in my fundraising campaign, come on out! The official invite can be seen here, or read on:
You’re invited to an inspirational photo exhibit. This one day, open house features photos by Wiktor Mazur, a local World Vision Child Sponsor, who climbed Mount Everest.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Open House from 6:00 – 9:30 pm, with Wiktor sharing his story at 6:30, 7:30 and 8:30
Health Sciences Centre, by Foothills Hospital
Theatre 3 (2nd floor, elevator available upon request)
3330 Hospital Drive NW
Calgary AB T2N 4N1Back from his climb, Wiktor wants to share with you – through photos and stories – the challenges he endured and the triumphs he celebrated. Inspired by the children who live each day in poverty, Wiktor took on the grueling journey of climbing to the world’s peak, Mt. Everest; hoping to help these children enjoy life to its fullest.
Come see what he saw from the top of the world – see his photos and hear his story about climbing Mt. Everest.
SPECIAL FEATURE for Calgary: Seeing life through the lens of a child is a powerful experience.
Using a photography workshop, sponsored children, in Bangladesh and Zambia, learned basic composition and photography techniques. Then they took the cameras into their world – offering a rare photographic insight into the lives of sponsored children. They captured images of things they want to change and things they are proud of. The result is a celebration of their vision and their enthusiasm.The children were also asked to photograph what they want to share with the world. Now you are invited to share in that experience with them – and see how the children look at their world.
Visit www.worldvision.ca/Events for more information (including map and parking information).
Suffering and Hope
Sunday, May 30th, 2010For those who may not have been reading my blog too much, I often talk about how much suffering is involved in mountain climbing. What we have to put our minds and bodies through in high altitude mountaineering is not easy; you can’t quite train away the suffering that will have to be endured while acclimatizing on the mountain. It is the main reason I did this climb for charity, it was my way of putting myself into the suffering of those most needy in the world. On that note, there is a quote I heard just today that might put that suffering into a bit of perspective, for why people do it:
“We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us.”
Maybe if you’re ever going through some tough times yourself (climbing your own internal Everest) keep the above in mind.
Below, a couple more pictures from the summit, holding flags of the Knights of Columbus. My fellow Knights supported me on this climb both in moral support and donations, so much thanks to them all!
Snow Blindness and Sun Burn
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010I do not feel like writing too much right now, so I will post another couple of pictures that might tell their own story. While going from Camp 3 to Camp 4 I got sunburned on my cheeks under the sides of my eyes. That is what caused the scabs on my face. Also, while coming down from the summit I got mild snow blindness, which lead to my eyes and upper face being swollen. All together it looked like I got into a fight with the ugly stick and lost badly.
Making little mistakes on Everest like I did does have consequences. It’s an unforgiving mountain. Now things are better, I am in Kathmandu, once again back in civilization, enjoying it tremendously. My face seems to be healing well; while I still had scabs on my face it was a definite conversation starter. I got myself a haircut, now all I need is a real job.
Take care everyone and see you soon!
Namche Bazaar, 3440m
Saturday, April 3rd, 2010Today we are taking a rest day at Namche Bazaar, our second stop on the way from Lukla to Everest Base Camp. If you look at our latest dispatch (which I see hasn’t been posted yet) you’ll know that everyone is doing good, and our bags not being here is the only issue that’s not perfect. So I wanted to elaborate on that a little bit because that’s pretty vague.
Myself, I am not feeling 100%. I started getting a little bit sick as we were leaving for our hike. I usually only get sick when I don’t sleep, and that was the case in Kathmandu, due to the jet lag. Also, the hotel room I was in was freshly painted and I seemed to get a little bit of an allergic reaction to that (or who knows what else that may have been in my room?) Anyways, it made me wonder what kind of paint they use in Nepal, somehow I don’t think it’s the latest and greatest in non-toxic paint, and I wonder how much lead is in it? Not something I would normally ask but under the circumstances… Anyways, I had a sore throat on the first day of our hike and felt pretty weak, right now I’m a little stuffed up, but luckily I have been sleeping a lot lately and seem to be getting over it.
I also have some stomach issues, I frequent the bathroom often among other things, but it’s something I experienced already on Cho Oyu, so I’m not too worried about it. I needed stomach antibiotics last time to sort that out, this time I’m hoping the pro biotic tablets I have can help.
There’s others on our team that are not at their best. One member has Giardia (sp?), another got a sore throat at the same time as me, but rather than get better his sore throat has been spreading lower, and now it’s sitting in his lungs. Others are getting typical headaches, things like that.
So things are not all perfect, but honestly this is about standard for these kinds of expeditions. But because it’s normal, don’t expect to hear these kinds of details in the dispatches that we send out.
That’s it for now, we’ll be another week or so in getting to base camp, I’ll try and write more if there’s anything worth mentioning, and if I have internet access. Hope everyone has a good Easter!
News from Kathmandu
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010Just a quick update on how things have been going since arriving in Kathmandu. It’s much better to come here and already know the place, as well as some people, and mostly I have been catching up with people that I met on my last expedition to Cho Oyu. Otherwise we’re all getting those last minute things, packing our bags, and hoping everything goes well on the way to basecamp. For us going to the South we hope the flights are going and there’s no weather issues that might delay them. For the guys going to the North they hope that Tibetan visa and permit issues are all cleared up for their departure. In this part of the world, those little things can end up taking a lot of time and effort and energy, but luckily we got some good people helping us and taking care of those details!
Permission to climb Mount Everest
This morning we had a breakfast meeting with all the people that will be climbing Everst South, and there’s 8 of us on the permit, as you can see above. It was good to finally meet everyone, and it seems like we got a good group of people, energetic is one word I would use to describe everybody. There’s also two Finnish guys coming with us that are climbing Lhotse, the 4th tallest mountain in the world, which is done via the same route all the way to camp 4, then we split up and go to our respective mountains. But they’ll be a part of our group all the way!
That’s about it for now. The plan for tomorrow is to head to the airport at 5:00 am and get ourselves on a flight to Lukla, where the hiking begins.
Take care everybody, and until next time!
Chuck, myself, and big boss Dan Mazur at today's breakfast briefing
Everest Itinerary
Monday, March 29th, 2010“Two and a half months? Why does it take so long to climb Everest? What will you be doing all that time?” To answer some of those questions, and to give you an idea of what we might be doing any given week you consider checking this blog out, have a look below at our proposed itinerary. Some comments on it at the end.
Arriving in Kathmandu:
March 30) Arrive in Kathmandu (1300 meters/4,250 feet). Hotel.
April 1) In Kathmandu; visit temples, city tour, shopping and restaurants. Hotel.
Trekking to Basecamp:
April 2) Fly to Lukla (2860 metres/9,400 feet). Walk to Phakding (2650 metres/8,700 feet). Teahouse or camping.
April 3) Walk to Namche Bazaar (3450 metres/11,300 feet). Teahouse or camping.
April 4) Rest and acclimatization in Namche. Happy Easter! Check email, send messages at cyber-café, and eat at one of the many great restaurants in town. Teahouse or camping.
April 5) Walk to Pangboche (3750 metres/12,300 feet). Participate in a Buddhist Puja blessing ceremony with the local Lama at the monastery if you wish. Teahouse or camping.
April 6) Walk to Pheriche (4250 metres/13,900 feet). Visit the Himalayan Rescue Association health clinic. Teahouse or camping.
April 7) Walk to Dugla (4600 metres/15,100 feet). Teahouse or camping.
April
Walk to Lobuche (4900 metres/16,100 feet).
April 9) Walk to Gorak Shep (5150 metres/16,900 feet). Teahouse or camping.
April 10) Walk to basecamp (5000 metres/17,400 feet).
April 11) Rest, organization, and training day in basecamp.
April 12) Rest, organization, and training day in basecamp.
Climbing Everest:
April 13) Climb partway to camp 1 at 5800 metres/19,000 feet. Return to basecamp.
April 14) Rest in basecamp.
April 15) Climb to camp 1 at 5800 metres/19,000 feet. Return to basecamp.
April 16) Rest in basecamp.
April 17) Climb to camp 1, sleep there.
April 18) Walk to camp 2 at 6200 metres/20,300 feet, return to camp 1, sleep there.
April 19) Return to basecamp.
April 20) Rest in basecamp.
April 21) Rest in basecamp.
April 22) Rest in basecamp.
April 23) Walk to camp 1. Sleep there.
April 24) Walk to camp 2. Sleep there.
April 25) Rest in camp 2.
April 26) Explore route to camp 3 (7300 metres/24,000 feet), return to camp 2, sleep there.
April 27) Return to basecamp.
April 28) Rest in basecamp.
April 29) Rest in basecamp.
April 30) Rest in basecamp.
May 1) Walk to camp 1, sleep there.
May 2) Walk to camp 2. Sleep there.
May 3) Rest in camp 2.
May 4) Walk to camp 3. Sleep there.
May 5) Descend to camp 1 or camp 2. Sleep there.
Rest in Basecamp or Descend to a Lower Village:
May 6) Return to basecamp.
May 7) Rest in basecamp or descend to a lower village such as Pangboche.
May
May 9) Return to basecamp from lower village. Rest in basecamp. Happy Mother’s Day!
Summit Attempt:
May 10) Walk to camp 1, sleep there.
May 11) Walk to camp 2, sleep there.
May 12) Walk to camp 3, sleep there.
May 13) Walk to camp 4 at 8000 metres/26,200 feet, sleep there.
May 14) Attempt summit.
May 15) Attempt summit.
May 16) Return to camp 2, sleep there.
May 17) Return to basecamp.
May 18) Rest in basecamp.
May 19) Rest in basecamp.
May 20) Rest in basecamp.
May 21) Rest in basecamp.
May 22) Walk to camp 2, sleep there.
May 23) Walk to camp 3, sleep there.
May 24) Walk to camp 4, sleep there.
May 25) Attempt summit.
May 26) Attempt summit.
Going Home:
May 27) Return to camp 2.
May 28) Pack up camp 2.
May 29) Return to basecamp.
May 30) Pack up basecamp.
May 31) Pack up basecamp.
June 1) Trek down to Pheriche. Camp.
June 2) Trek down to Pangboche. Teahouse or camping.
June 3) Trek to Namche, Teahouse or camping.
June 4) Trek to Lukla. Teahouse or camping.
June 5) Flight to Kathmandu. Hotel.
June 6) Extra day in Kathmandu, in case of delay, and for sightseeing, gift shopping. Hotel.
June 7) Fly Home. Thanks for joining our expedition!
Of course this is just a proposed itinerary. The only thing 100% sure about this itinerary is that we will not follow it. Too many things vary from year to year to predict the detailed movements. But it’s an idea.
Another issue with this itinerary is that it proposes we cross the Khumbu ice fall at least 5 times up and down (it is between Base Camp and Camp 1). I have heard that some expeditions have changed their acclimatisation strategies to not cross the ice fall that often, as it’s the most dangerous part of the route. We’ll see what our plan is.
Here I go again on my own
Friday, March 26th, 2010Going to climb Everest is one of those things that not many people are going to attempt. That means those of us that do usually have to go on our own and join up with a group once we get there, a group of people we know nothing about. That’s one of the hardest parts, leaving all behind and heading out on your own. It gets better once we all meet up in Kathmandu, and start talking to people that have the same goal as us. But until then I’m on my own, and for me it’s a bit of a difficult part! I usually end up getting this White Snake song stuck in my head, I find it’s surprisingly fitting for this occasion. I’ll share some lyrics below, though it’s better if you hear the song:
I don’t know where I’m going
But, I sure know where I’ve been
Hanging on the promises
In songs of yesterday
An’ I’ve made up my mind,
I ain’t wasting no more timeHere I go again, here I go again
Tho’ I keep searching for an answer,
I never seem to find what I’m looking for
Oh Lord, I pray
You give me strength to carry on,
‘Cos I know what it means
To walk along the lonely street of dreamsAn’ here I go again on my own
Goin’ down the only road I’ve ever known,
Like a drifter I was born to walk alone
An’ I’ve made up my mind
I ain’t wasting no more timeI’m just another heart in need of rescue,
Waiting on love’s sweet charity
An’ I’m gonna hold on
For the rest of my days,
‘Cos I know what it means
To walk along the lonely street of dreamsHere I go again on my own
Goin’ down the only road I’ve ever known,
Like a drifter I was born to walk alone
An’ I’ve made up my mind
I ain’t wasting no more time