Bob Mackin
News Reporter

GORAN Kropp cycled
four months and |
climbed another two
just to experience four
minutes of joy.

But it was worth it.

The Swedish adventurer set
out trom Stockholm on two
wheels Oct. 16, 1995, with one
thing on his mnid: to conquer
Mount Everest on a solo, self-
sufficient expedition.. Without
bottled oxygen.

. <The 11,000 kilometre bike
trek took him through Sweden,
Germany, Czech Republic,

~. Slovakia, Hungary, Romania,

Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan
‘and «India before he reached
; Nepal and the base of world’s

tallest mountain in April 1996.

“I wanted to do something
new. on Everest,” he said dur-

Goran Kropp climbed Everest solo in 1996

ing a recent tour of B.C.
“Many expeditions show up
these days with a lot of help
trom oxygen and everything.
They take all the help they can
to get to the summit and I
wanted to set a new standard
and do something new on
Everest.”

Kropp climbed to within 90
metres of the sammit May 3
1996, when conditions dictat-
ed he turn back and try again
later. A week later, 1] climbers
were killed in the worst acci-
dent on the mountain. Scott
Fischer and Rob Hall, friends
of Kropp’s; were mong the
tives claimed.

“TI was really evout this
because | knew both Scott
Fischer and Rob Hall, and liked

them very much. I thought of

abandoning this expedition.”

orn

mat Open2 Scturdays. a month Open evening me :

He pondered how far he
had gone and didn’t think it
was worth starting again. When
he finally made it May
23,1996, he passed the bodies
of Fischer and Hall on the way
to his four-minute stay at che
top of the world.

“I tele that I reached the
border between life and death,
so I just wanted to go down as
fast as possible.”

He returned home, via bicy-
cle, wrote Ultimate High: My
Solo Ascent of Everest with
David Lagercrantz and released

Sunday, November 28, 1999 - North Shore News - 25

a documentary called J Made

Last May he returned to
Everest for a climb with his
pirlitiend and spent half an
our on the summit. On their
way down, they brought 25
empty oxygen bottles. That’s
all they could carry. Another
500, he estimates, litter the
slopes. He said he did it to

“show Everest the dignity it
deserves.”

In February he'll be cross:
country skiing from the north
of Russia to the North Pole and
back, It’s his way of training for
his next really big adventure in
2003. That’s when he plans to
sai} to Antarctica and climb the
frozen continent’s highest peak,
Mount Vinson.