The Skier/Climber

Craig Calonica, Lake Tahoe, California native, 15 years climbing in the Himalayas, including 3 Everest Expeditions, has climbed over 25 Big Wall Routes, mostly on Yosemite's El Capitan and 25 years technical climbing experience worldwide.

The Climbing Team

Craig Calonica and five Sherpas who have summited Everest no less than five times each. Sirdar Lakpa Dorjee (from Solo Khumbu) and Kikami Sherpa are the two lead climbing Sherpas.

The Filming Team

Peter Chrzanowski is known for his excellence in creating extreme ski films.

Pawel Boryniec and Martina Stimmerling will master the technical side of the live video transmission and communication.

Mount Everest
Just the Facts

Elevation: 29, 028'; five miles up; the world's highest summit is at about cruising altitude of a jet

Local Names:
Sagarmatha (Nepal)
Chomolungma (Tibet)

First Ascent: 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary, NZ and Tenzing Norgay, Nepal

The Man Who Fell Down Everest: Yuichiro Miura made the famous 1971 attempt to ski Everest, but after making a few turns from the South Col, he pulled a parachute and slid thousands of feet on his butt.

Getting Warmer: Hans Kammerlander became the first person to ski from the summit of Everest after climbing the Northeast Ridge in May of '96. Lack of snow forced him to down-climb sections between 8,600 and 7,000 meters, leaving a full top to bottom ski descent still undone.

Because it's there: in 1924, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, GBR, were last seen going strong for the top. It is unknown if they reached the summit before disappearing.

First Oxygenless Ascent: 1978, Reinhold Messner & Peter Habeler, AUS

Wind: climber Dave Breashears has compared the ominous sound of evening winds on the upper mountain to that of a 747 jet taking off endlessly.

As good a reason as any: "Expeditions are good spacers -- time and distance for weighing and evaluating life back home as well as beginning to understand somewhere new." -- Pete Boardman, 1975, from "Everest the Hard Way"