Two Scandinavian adventurers plan to stand on the summit of Everest, take a deep breath, point the skis toward Tibet and ski down the north face of Everest. The ultimate first ski descent from the summit of the highest peak in the world.
Swedish Tomas Olsson and Norwegian Tormod Granheim both come with a load of experience. Their ski adventures together have taken them to an 8,000 m high summit and down 60° steep slopes.
The most recent adventure in 2004 was a ski descent of Cho Oyu in Tibet. They both managed to make "clean" ski descents of the sixth highest peak in the world. They did it without the use supplementary oxygen and high altitude porters. In addition they managed to make an uninterrupted ski descent from the summit at 8,201 m to 6,400 m without using ropes or any other climbing gear.
The pair said they could see the north face of Everest from the summit of Cho Oyu.
"It was inspiring and I could feel how I was drawn towards Everest. After a magic moment on the summit I turned my back to Everest and skied powder on the summit plateau of Cho Oyu. Incredible to ski powder above 8,000 meters."
Their ambition was to, after Cho Oyu, ski another 8,000 meter high mountain, Shisha Pangma, but this was stopped by Chinese authorities. Unexpectedly the Chinese authorities closed down the mountain due to "bad weather" and the two were stopped from even trying climbing the mountain.
Tomas and Tormod both live in Chamonix in the French Alps. On a daily basis they train in the Mont Blanc region. They have made ski descents of steep classics such as Couloir du Diable (50-55°) and the north face of Aiguille du Midi (50-58°).
