Ben Clark (mountaineer)

Last updated

Ben Clark (born 1979) of Clarksville, Tennessee, is a mountaineer and commercial filmmaker. Ben started rock climbing in his late teens and progressed to larger, more challenging mountains in his early 20s, eventually spending a decade pioneering alpine and ski mountaineering routes in the Nepali and Tibetan Himalayas. On May 22, 2003, at the age of 23, Ben became the second-youngest American to summit Mount Everest, via the North-Northeast Ridge Route, and also launched a film career.

Clark's 2003 expedition to Mount Everest was captured by filmmaker and friend, Jon Miller, and made into a documentary written and directed by Ben Clark and titled, "Everest: The Other Side." The film premiered on Dish Network Pay-Per-View in May 2005. Additional footage that did not make it into the final product was released in a series of video podcasts, entitled "The Rest of Everest."

Clark continued to pursue his career as a filmmaker without the risk of high mountains and only in 2016 returned to the Himalayas to run. Clark has completed an unreleased as of yet film titled "The Snowman Trek," chronicling his 2016 expedition to Bhutan's Snowman Trek and setting a speed record around it.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kangchenjunga</span> Third-highest mountain in the world

Kangchenjunga, also spelled Kanchenjunga, Kanchanjanghā and Khangchendzonga, is the third-highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at 8,586 m (28,169 ft) in a section of the Himalayas, the Kangchenjunga Himal, which is bounded in the west by the Tamur River, in the north by the Lhonak River and Jongsang La, and in the east by the Teesta River. It lies in the border region between Nepal and Mangan district, Sikkim state of India, with three of the five peaks, namely Main, Central and South, directly on the border, and the peaks West and Kangbachen in Nepal's Taplejung District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Everest</span> Earths highest mountain

Mount Everest is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation of 8,848.86 m was most recently established in 2020 by the Chinese and Nepali authorities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeti</span> Alleged ape-like creature from Asia

The Yeti is an ape-like creature purported to inhabit the Himalayan mountain range in Asia. In Western popular culture, the creature is commonly referred to as the Abominable Snowman. Many dubious articles have been offered in an attempt to prove the existence of the Yeti, including anecdotal visual sightings, disputed video recordings, photographs, and plaster casts of large footprints. Some of these are speculated or known to be hoaxes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tenzing Norgay</span> Nepali-Indian mountaineer (1914–1986)

Tenzing Norgay, born Namgyal Wangdi, and also referred to as Sherpa Tenzing, was a Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer. He was one of the first two people known to certainly reach the summit of Mount Everest, which he accomplished with Edmund Hillary on 29 May 1953. Time named Norgay one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reinhold Messner</span> Italian mountaineer, adventurer and explorer (born 1944)

Reinhold Andreas Messner is an Italian mountaineer, explorer, and author from South Tyrol. He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent of Everest without supplemental oxygen. He was the first climber to ascend all 14 peaks over 8,000 metres (26,000 ft) above sea level and he also did it without supplementary oxygen. Messner was the first to cross Antarctica and Greenland with neither snowmobiles nor dog sleds and also crossed the Gobi Desert alone. He is widely considered as the greatest mountaineer of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed Viesturs</span> American mountain climber

Edmund Viesturs is a high-altitude mountaineer, corporate speaker, and well known author in the mountain climbing community. He is the only American to have climbed all 14 of the world's eight-thousander mountains, and was the 5th person to do so without supplemental oxygen. Along with Apa Sherpa, he has summitted peaks of over 8,000 meters on 21 occasions, including Mount Everest seven times.

<i>The Abominable Snowman</i> (film) 1957 film by Val Guest

The Abominable Snowman is a 1957 British fantasy-horror film directed by Val Guest and written by Nigel Kneale, based on his own BBC television play The Creature. Produced by Hammer Films, the plot follows the exploits of British scientist Dr. John Rollason, who joins an American expedition, led by glory-seeker Tom Friend, to search the Himalayas for the legendary Yeti. Maureen Connell, Richard Wattis and Arnold Marle appear in supporting roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apa Sherpa</span> Nepalese mountain climber

Apa, nicknamed "Super Sherpa", is a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer who, until 2017, jointly with Phurba Tashi held the record for reaching the summit of Mount Everest more times than any other climber. As part of The Eco Everest Expedition 2011, Apa made his 21st Mount Everest summit in May 2011 then retired after a promise to his wife to stop climbing after 21 ascents. He first summited Everest in 1990 and his last time to the summit was in 2011.

Russell Reginald Brice is a New Zealand mountaineer. He was the owner/manager of Himex, a climbing expedition company. He has summited Cho Oyu seven times, Himal Chuli and Mount Everest twice, as well as Manaslu in October 2010, which was his 14th summit of an 8000 m peak.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohan Singh Kohli</span> Indian mountaineer

Captain Mohan Singh Kohli is an internationally renowned Indian mountaineer. An officer in the Indian Navy, who later joined the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, he led the 1965 Indian expedition which put nine men on the summit of Everest, a world record which lasted for 17 years.

Sibusiso Vilane OIB is a South African adventurer, motivational speaker, and the author of the book To the Top from Nowhere. An adventurer, marathon runner, mountaineer, and expedition leader, he has also served as the Chief Scout of Scouts South Africa.

Victor Saunders is a British mountaineer and author. He trained as an architect at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. His first book, Elusive Summits, won the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature in 1991. He became as a UIAGM/IFMGA ski and mountain guide in 1996 and joined the SNGM in 2003. Saunders first reached the summit of Mount Everest in May 2004, and went on to climb it several more times. In 2020 he became president of the Alpine Club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Himalaya Trail</span> Long-distance hiking trail

The Great Himalaya Trail is a route across the Himalayas from east to west. The original concept was to establish a single long distance trekking trail from the east end to the west end of Nepal that includes a total of roughly 1,700 kilometres (1,100 mi) of path. There is a proposed trail of more than 4,500 kilometres (2,800 mi) stretching the length of the Greater Himalaya range from Nanga Parbat in Pakistan to Namche Barwa in Tibet thus passing through, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet. Although an actual continuous route is currently only a concept, if completed it would be the longest and highest alpine hiking track in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janusz Majer</span>

Janusz Majer is a Polish alpinist, himalayanist and traveler. He is co-founder and co-owner of ADD Company, the owner of Alpinus brand (1993–2001), co-founder of Mount Company, the owner of the HiMountain brand which produces outdoor clothing and equipment and co-owner of the large chain of HiMountain shops in Poland. Since 23 November 2013 he's been the head of the program "Polish Himalayas".

<i>High Ground</i> (2012 film) 2012 American film

High Ground is a 2012 documentary film about eleven veterans who set off to climb the tallest peak in the Himalayas to heal the physical and emotional wounds of war. The expedition is led by blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind man to summit Mount Everest, and a team of experienced mountain climbers who guide this team of wounded veterans up the summit.

Colonel Narendra Kumar, PVSM, KC, AVSM, FRGS was an Indian soldier and mountaineer. He is known for his expeditions across various mountain ranges such as the Himalayas and Karakorams, and respective subranges such as the Pir Panjals and Saltoro Mountains. His reconnaissance efforts on the Siachen glacier were key to the Indian Army's reclamation of the forward posts of the glacier in Operation Meghdoot in 1984. He was the deputy leader of the first successful Indian Mount Everest expedition in 1965.

After World War II, with Tibet closing its borders and Nepal becoming considerably more open, Mount Everest reconnaissance from Nepal became possible for the first time culminating in the successful ascent of 1953. In 1950 there was a highly informal trek to what was to become Everest Base Camp and photographs were taken of a possible route ahead. Next year the 1951 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition reconnoitred various possible routes to Mount Everest from the south and the only one they considered feasible was the one via the Khumbu Icefall, Western Cwm and South Col. In 1952, while the Swiss were making an attempt on the summit that nearly succeeded; the 1952 British Cho Oyu expedition practised high-altitude Himalayan techniques on Cho Oyu, nearby to the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snowman Trek</span> Hiking trail in Bhutan

The Snowman Trek is the longest hiking trail of Bhutan that extends from Laya to the high Bhutanese Himalayas, covering up the northern part of the Kingdom. It was created by the yak herders of the country.

References