Phil Crampton | |
|---|---|
 Phil Crampton at Everest Base Camp in Tibet, May 2012 | |
| Born | Nottingham, United Kingdom |
| Occupation(s) | Mountaineer, Expedition Leader |
Philip James Crampton, commonly known as Phil Crampton, is a British born mountaineer and expedition leader, and owner of the mountaineering company Altitude Junkies.
Crampton's climbing achievements include successful ascents of Everest (10 times), [1] Cho Oyu (twice) and Manaslu (4 times). [2] He has led more than 40 expeditions to 8,000m peaks.
Crampton was born in the United Kingdom, but moved to the United States in his early 20s. He took up climbing and became an instructor. Initially he guided in North America, but later he started guiding in the Himalayas. He was an expedition leader with the mountaineering operators SummitClimb and Mountain Madness before setting up his own company, Altitude Junkies, in 2002. [3]
With Jon Otto he helped to set up the Tibet Mountaineering Guide School in Lhasa to train native Tibetans in the skills needed to guide mountaineering expeditions, and he taught there for many years. [4] [5]
Crampton was involved in the rescue of the Australian mountaineer Lincoln Hall, who was found alive high up on Everest's Northeast Ridge in 2006 after spending a night above 8,500 metres (27,887 ft). Hall had been left for dead and his death reported in the Australian press before he was found by members of the SummitClimb expedition team the following morning. Crampton's precise role in the incident remains unclear. [6] Previously in the expedition Crampton had aborted his attempt at 8,610 metres (28,248 ft) at the Second Step to bring down a teammate, Juan Pablo, who had been struck down with cerebral edema, and of his own rescue Hall described him as "the unsung hero of that morning". [7] In 2010 he assisted in the rescue of a commercial client Mike Herbert after he became ill with high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE) at 8,700 metres (28,543 ft) on Everest's Southeast Ridge.
Crampton was born in Nottingham, England, and when not on expedition divides his time between Kathmandu and Woodstock, New York, both of which he calls home. He is married to an American, Trish Crampton. [8] He is proud of his Nottingham heritage, and describes his heroes as the mountaineer Doug Scott, the fashion designer Paul Smith, and the former Nottingham Forest football manager Brian Clough, all of whom had roots there. [9]
Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports in their own right. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, and bouldering are also considered variants of mountaineering by some, but are part of a wide group of mountain sports.
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.
Anatoli Nikolaevich Boukreev was a Soviet and Kazakhstani mountaineer who made ascents of 10 of the 14 eight-thousander peaks—those above 8,000 m (26,247 ft)—without supplemental oxygen. From 1989 through 1997, he made 18 successful ascents of peaks above 8000 m.
Alan Hinkes OBE is an English Himalayan high-altitude mountaineer from Northallerton in North Yorkshire. He is the first British mountaineer to claim all 14 Himalayan eight-thousanders, which he did on 30 May 2005.
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 mountain peaks, and only the fifth person to do so without using supplemental oxygen. Along with Apa Sherpa, he has summitted peaks of over 8,000 meters on 21 occasions, including Mount Everest seven times.
Mera Peak is a mountain in the Mahalangur section, Barun sub-section of the Himalaya and administratively in Nepal's Sagarmatha Zone, Sankhuwasabha. At 6,476 metres (21,247 ft) it is classified as a trekking peak. It contains three main summits: Mera North, 6,476 metres (21,247 ft); Mera Central, 6,461 metres (21,198 ft); and Mera South, 6,065 metres (19,898 ft), as well as a smaller "trekking summit", visible as a distinct summit from the south but not marked on most maps of the region.
The Hillary Step was a nearly vertical rock face with a height of around 12 metres (40 ft) located near the summit of Mount Everest, about 8,790 metres (28,839 ft) above sea level. Located on the southeast ridge, halfway between the "South Summit" and the true summit, the Hillary Step was the most technically difficult part of the typical Nepal-side Everest climb and the last real challenge before reaching the top of the mountain. The rock face was destroyed by an earthquake that struck the region in 2015.
Lincoln Ross Hall OAM was a veteran Australian mountain climber, adventurer, author and philanthropist. Lincoln was part of the first Australian expedition to climb Mount Everest in 1984, which successfully forged a new route. He reached the summit of the mountain on his second attempt in 2006, miraculously surviving the night at 8,700 m (28,543 ft) on descent, after his family was told he had died.
Daniel Lee Mazur is a mountain climber, trekker, and expedition leader who has ascended nine of the world's highest summits, including Mount Everest and K2. In addition, he is known for several high altitude mountain rescues: the 1991 rescue of Roman Giutashvili from Mount Everest, the rescue of Gary Ball from K2 in 1992, the rescue in 2006 of Australian climber Lincoln Hall from Mount Everest, and the rescue of British mountaineer Rick Allen from Broad Peak. In 2018, Daniel Mazur was awarded the Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal "for remarkable service in the conservation of culture and nature in mountainous regions."
Andrew James Lock OAM is an Australian high-altitude mountaineer. He became the first, and still remains the only, Australian to climb all 14 "eight-thousanders" on 2 October 2009, and is the 18th person to ever complete this feat. He climbed 13 of the 14 without using bottled oxygen, only using it on Mount Everest, which he has summited three times. He retired from eight-thousander climbing in 2012.
Sergey Anatolyevich Kofanov is a Russian mountaineer.
Lopsang Jangbu Sherpa was a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineering guide, climber and porter, best known for his work as the climbing Sirdar for Scott Fischer's Mountain Madness expedition to Everest in Spring 1996, when a freak storm led to the deaths of eight climbers from several expeditions, considered one of the worst disasters in the history of Everest mountaineering. Notwithstanding controversy over his actions during that expedition, Lopsang was well-regarded in the mountaineering community, having summited Everest four times. Lopsang was killed in an avalanche in September 1996, while again on an expedition to climb Everest for what would have been a fifth ascent.
Michael Francis Parker was an Australian mountaineer and graphic designer. He climbed extensively in the Himalaya and Karakorum and summited five of the fourteen eight-thousanders. After ascending Makalu in 2009, he fell ill due to dissipated pulmonary and cerebral oedema and subsequently died in Kathmandu on 4 June, aged 36.
Pertemba, also called Pertemba Sherpa, is a professional Nepalese mountaineer, trek leader and businessman. He reached the summit of Mount Everest by the Southwest Face on the first expedition to successfully take that route, in 1975.
Adventure Consultants, formerly Hall and Ball Adventure Consultants, is a New Zealand-based adventure company that brings trekking and climbing groups to various locations. Founded by Rob Hall and Gary Ball in 1991, it is known for its pioneering role in the commercialisation of Mount Everest and the 1996 Mount Everest climb during which eight people died, including Hall, a guide, and two Adventure Consultant clients.
Edita Horrell, previously known as Edita Nichols, is a Lithuanian-born mountaineer and humanitarian aid worker. She became the first Lithuanian woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on 22 May 2013.
Ang Tharkay was a Nepalese mountain climber and explorer who acted as sherpa and later sirdar for many Himalayan expeditions. He was "beyond question the outstanding sherpa of his era" and he introduced Tenzing Norgay to the world of mountaineering.
Gary Ian Ball was a New Zealand mountaineer who summited Mount Everest twice, in 1990 and 1992.
Mount Everest in 2016 covers events about Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth located in Nepal and Chinese Tibet in Asia. It is a popular climbing destination for extreme high altitude climbers, with several hundred climbing each year despite various dangers.