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In two months, he will try to follow in their footsteps but live to tell the tale. If he succeeds, Pospischil said, he will be the first Long Islander to reach the top. He plans to leave later this month, although -- with all the preparation that is needed -- the actual climb to the 29,035-foot summit of the highest mountain on Earth will be in mid-May.
Over the next three years, Pospischil, 59, wants to try to join an even more select club by becoming one of the oldest people to scale the Seven Summits -- the highest peaks on each of the seven continents -- a feat only about 200 people have achieved. He has already successfully climbed the tallest peak in Europe, Mount Elbrus. "I will be the oldest American to do it," Pospischil said.
Pospischil's two adult daughters are not encouraging him. One, in fact, is avoiding talking about the trip until he returns.
It is, perhaps, just a bit ironic Pospischil spends much of his working time in a place dedicated to what lies beneath the sea. He is chief fiscal officer at the Atlantis Marine World aquarium in Riverhead, where adventure is safely presented behind glass and in a simulated submarine ride. Pospischil has worked at the aquarium since its 2000 opening.
Hankering for adventure
But part of his life is a pattern of adventure -- he was born in northern Illinois, became a Marine Corps fighter pilot and later a flight instructor.
And, though he started climbing relatively late in life, Pospischil is no novice. He has reached the summit of Mount Rainier in Washington, the hardest climb in the lower 48 states; Mount Cayambe and Mount Cotopaxi in South America; Mount Elbrus in Russia, which is the highest mountain in Europe; and last year he climbed Cho Oyu in the Himalayas, the world's sixth-highest mountain, at 26,906 feet.
Part of the attraction of climbing a mountain, he said, is the actual ascent. There are no distractions, no interruptions -- although he will be blogging and e-mailing from his base camp and the three other camps that will be set up as part of the trip. The climb requires an intense focus on every step you take for the better part of two months, he said -- a focus honed by the knowledge that any misstep in preparation could be fatal.
Five-person climbing party
There will be five people in Pospischil's climb party -- Casey Grom, who has climbed several other mountains with Pospischil, and three Sherpa guides. And while Pospischil will be talking to them as they climb above 20,000 feet to the summit -- as it gets hard to breathe, climbers take regular breaks, and talking helps ensure that the altitude has not taken its mental toll on climbing partners -- he also will be climbing alone.
"Climbing is very personal," he said. "It's just you and the mountain. You find out a lot about yourself. The mountain just sits there. It brings out the best of you and the worst of you. It's almost a religious experience up there. Once I start climbing, I get all my ropes untangled. That's what it does for me."
It's not a cheap undertaking. Mount Everest is on the border between Nepal and Tibet. It will cost about $70,000 door-to-door for the trip, which covers the equipment, yak rental, the food, the guides and even the special permit from Nepal to climb [China has closed its side to climbing parties until after this summer's Olympic Games], which costs about $25,000. Atlantis is giving him two months off and is helping cover trip expenses. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Pospischil said.
Jim Bissett, a managing partner at Atlantis Marine World, said supporting Pospischil is a way of expanding the purpose of the aquarium. "My goal is to get the public to spend more time thinking about the environment, [and] the aquarium does this in a fun and exciting way," he said. "The Himalaya and Everest were once at the bottom of the ocean, 70 million years ago."
Bissett said that when Pospischil returns from his climb, he will give talks to school groups at the aquarium about Everest's relation to the seas. "We are very excited to be able to offer Bob's lectures to children and families of Long Island," he said.
2,000 have made climb
Climbing Mount Everest has become so popular that China is paving a 66-mile dirt road at a cost of nearly $20 million for climbers to reach a base camp -- the highest asphalt-paved road in the world.
More than 2,000 people have climbed to the peak of Everest; nearly 200 climbers have died on the mountain, and many of their bodies remain there. The climbers from "Into Thin Air" perished after being trapped by an unexpected storm. But, in recent years, improvements in climbing equipment have cut the fatality rate in half.
This year, climbers trying to reach the summit of Mount Everest will be speaking 30 different languages, and -- at times -- so many climbing parties will be on the same routes that some climbers will have to wait for others to use the same ropes to get up or get down. If the weather turns bad or if some of the climbers run out of oxygen, those delays can turn deadly.
Climbing is expensive in other ways, too. Big mountains take their toll on climbers, and there is no way to discount it. Pospischil wants to gain 10 pounds before the climb because he expects to lose 20 pounds during his trek. The thin air and cold temperature near the top should have him burning 10,000 calories a day.
Even at the relatively secure base camp, where Pospischil will store all his supplies and prepare for the ascent, there are problems. It will take days to acclimate to the low oxygen level there -- at 16,400 feet there is only half as much oxygen as at sea level. From there, his party will work its way up to the last of four camps at which they will prepare for the climb, and they will stay at the final camp until they get a weather report that says it is safe to go through the "death zone" -- the last few thousand feet to the summit.
It's an appropriate name in many ways. At extreme altitudes -- above 24,600 feet -- the body starts to shut down. Food is not digested. Small cuts do not heal. People do not sleep, because sleep returns breathing to the levels that are normal for sea level, and carbon dioxide builds up in the bloodstream, awakening sleepers with a choking sensation.
Climbers who go into the death zone above 25,000 feet face many problems. Their breath becomes rapid as their bodies try to get the oxygen they need, and their pulse rate increases. They risk high-altitude cerebral edema as more blood flows to the brain and it begins to swell, which can lead to coma or death. A similar condition, high-altitude pulmonary edema, can develop as additional blood flows to the lungs and begins to leak into air sacks. It can lead to death by drowning, as the lungs fill with fluid.
Life at the top
There is a drug, dexamethasone, which can be injected as emergency first aid. It helps a climber to regain movement long enough to descend out of the death zone.
At Everest's peak, human life cannot be sustained for extended periods, even with oxygen. The cold, which drops from minus 2 to as low as 76 below zero, seeps in, and the body begins to draw blood to the core, protecting the heart and the brain and leaving the limbs without enough heat or energy to keep all the cells alive. A few days in that zone can be fatal.
After reaching the summit, most climbers start down in less than an hour to make the descent in daylight. Pospischil plans to spend less than a half-hour there. The longest anyone has stayed at the top was less than a full day. No one gets carried down from the death zone. At that height, climbers have to stop and take three or four breaths for each step they take. Just moving an arm or a leg is an exertion.
If all goes according to plan and the weather cooperates, Pospischil and his party will begin their climb to the summit around midnight on a day in mid- to late May -- the most popular time of year to ascend.
The climb to the top is made in the dark, because that is the coldest time, and ice warming in the sun can become unstable. If something goes wrong, there is a whole day of light to try to figure out some way to solve the problem. And it is easier to see the way down.
"Climbing is optional. Getting down is mandatory," Pospischil said, repeating a climber's motto.
Taking the measure of Mount Everest
More than half a century after it was first scaled, Mount Everest still captures the imagination of adventurers around the world. But it's become far more expensive and complicated to get to the top -- even as technology has improved. For the record:
For years, there have been disputes about the mountain's height. In 1852, Indian mathematician and surveyor Radhanath Sikdar calculated its height at 29,000 feet. But in 1999, scientists supported by the National Geographic Society and Boston's Museum of Science were able to operate a Global Positioning System at Everest's peak and calculated the mountain's new official height -- 29,035 feet.
At the peak, the warmest daytime temperature, in July, is just below freezing. In January, the coldest month, it drops to as low as 76 below zero Fahrenheit.
Everest's peak reaches the lower limit of the jet stream, and sustained winds of more than 100 mph have been recorded there.
The tallest mountain in the world was once known simply as Peak 15. It only became Mount Everest in 1865, when it was named for Sir George Everest, the British surveyor-general of India who was the first person to officially publish its height and location.
The air on top is so thin that the oxygen is only about a third of the amount at sea level.
The fastest descent was in 1988, when Jean-Marie Boivin of France paraglided down in 12 minutes.
More than 2,000 people have climbed to the summit of Mount Everest since Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the top May 29, 1953. Nearly 200 climbers have died on Everest, and many of their bodies remain there.
The cost of going up Mount Everest is about $65,000 per climber, but prices can vary, depending on how many are in a party and other factors. Typical expenses, according to National Geographic Adventure magazine, will include two nights' stay at a hotel in Katmandu, excess baggage charges on Thai airways for climbing equipment, guide fees, yak rental to carry that equipment to base camp, a radio permit, a satellite phone permit, a garbage and human waste disposal fee, oxygen masks and regulators, and several hundred dollars to pay for the rituals to appease the mountain performed by the guides before each climb.
- Mitchell Freedman
SOURCES: National Geographic Society, Encyclopedia Britannica
Bob Pospischil is using his trip to raise money for the Islandia-based Contractors for Kids, a nonprofit charity that provides financial aid to the families of sick or injured children. Donors can make a pledge at the group's Web site, contractorsforkids.org, or by calling 888-208-5437.
Watch him online
Starting on Thursday, Pospischil plans to post photos of his daily journey, at least for much of the trip and the setting up of his four camps. You can view them at
www.newsday.com/everest.
Peak performer
Nesconset's Bob Pospischi dreams of becoming the oldest American to scale the Seven Summits, the highest mountain peaks on each continent.
(Note: One summit is in dispute; 7,310 -foot Mount Kosciuszko is the highest peak in Australia, but some climbers consider Oceania the seventh continent. In that case, the Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia, at 16,023 feet, is the highest peak)
1. Africa Mount Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) 19,339 feet
2. Asia Mount Everest (Nepal) 29,035 feet
3. Europe Mount Elbrus (Russia) 18,481 feet
4. North America Mount McKinley (Alaska) 20,320 feet
5. South America Aconcagua (Argentina) 22,840 feet
6. Antarctica Vinson Massif 16,067 feet
7. Australia Mount Kosciuszko 7,310 feet
Oceania Carstensz Pyramid (Indonesia) 16,023 feet
To see more of Newsday, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newsday.com Copyright (c) 2008, Newsday, Melville, N.Y. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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