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about this issue by scott maclennan the mountain fund causes like girls education international northeast india project benefit el salvador and others this month we want to introduce you to other people who like you are part of the mountain fund our supporters come from a diverse cross section of society though many are related to outdoor activities and sports mountain lovers like us to get to know all of our donors better we ve added an email link on page 9 where you can send us your story tell us who you are what you do and what you passion is and you may just end up in the mountain fund news be sure to check the front page of our site at www.mountainfund.org as we update news there regularly this is a special issue of the mountain fund news it s different from our regular news in that we are introducing you to some of the people who are fans and supporters of the mountain fund you already know what we do around the world to support the people of the mountains and the environments they live in you all ready know about our programs to bring sustainable health care women s and children s programs and micro-credit to peru nepal and elsewhere and you already know about help to other like minded people who want to start their own tokyo quarterly autumn 2008 1

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mountain fund news changing the world one village at a time inside exclusive elbrus 1990 by kevin cooney do what you like find out what some mountain fund supporters are doing that they like volunteers at mountain fund see what hundreds of people have fun doing every year in nepal do what you like contest give us your story be the star attraction in the next mountain fund news you know you want to mountain fund news august 2009

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do what you like by scott maclennan mountain fund i got an email from a long time friend and mountain fund supporter timy fairfield the other day if you don t know timy he is in the photos on this page timy is one of the strongest and most talented boulderers in the world distinguished as being one of only 3 north american men to have ever won a professional level international rock climbing competition he is the only american to have ever won professional level international events in all three disciplines of the sport on rock he has sent v14 saadhu ­ sheng dian 02 he is the first american to climb 8c in france maginot line/le plafond ­ volx 96 fourmis aux chocolat ­ verdon 97 he has completed a route with a difficulty of 8b 14a in a single day puff daddy ­ socorro nm 98 timy is the first american to onsight v10 left martini ­ 95 in 97 he became the first one in the world to on-sight v11 future eaters ­ switzerland 97 since then he has on-sighted numerous other double digit boulder problems timy sent me this email asking me to vote for a short film he is in called do what you like to see the film and to vote for it please just click here look for the filmmaking competition link then for timy s film do what you like and vote i suggest you watch it as well as it features timy doing what he likes on the rock and it s artistry in motion to watch him climb the idea do what you like and you ll like what you did stuck with me continued on page 4 mountain fund news august 2009 3

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do what you like continued from page 2 by scott maclennan and got me thinking about how much all of us at mountain fund are doing what we like and liking what we do so this issue of the news is all about that theme people doing what they like for us it s helping the people in mountain regions find solutions to the problems they face due to poverty lack of access to capital bad governments sexist bias or racial/ethnic repression i can tell you honestly it s the most rewarding work i have ever done and i look forward to it every single day i am constantly amazed what just a little help can do to set the wheels of change in motion every day i privileged to see the courage of the people of the mountains who face hardships we cannot imagine every day somehow these lovely people come up smiling and keep on doing they have my total respect after k2 by amanda padoan sixteen of us kneel in the family s home hands cupped toward the sky children their mothers and their grandparents whisper a prayer nazir sabir one of the toughest mountaineers alive weeps from this village below a glacier two men left for k2 and never returned karim meherban and jehan baig were carpenters men who climbed not because they wanted to but because their families needed the money their deaths and nine others splashed across television screens from kansas to karachi and made the cover of the new york times in the disaster six children in pakistan and three in nepal lost their fathers last august the mountain fund began a sponsorship program for them we are joined by the mcdonnell family of kilcornan ireland who lost their son gerard in the tragedy through the generosity of mountain fund donors many who have never worn crampons we ensure the children get medical care and an education as we finish the prayer grief makes it hard for karim s father to stand nazir helps him and thinks of his own brother buried beneath an avalanche thirty years ago he passes donations into the hands of the two widows and promises to return the children watch him in silence too young to understand contained within those envelopes is a future amanda padoan pakistan program director august 2009 4

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steve house another mountain fund fan doing what he likes and liking what he did steve house is a world class climber mountain guide and a mountain fund fan in his first literary attempt beyond the mountain he shows he s also an accomplished and spell-binding story teller beyond the mountain is a gripping read destined to become a mountain classic and it addresses many issues to non-climbing life mentorship trust failure success goal setting heros and partnership steve s book is published by patagonia books and of course it s environmentally friendly and certified ancient forest friendly as well that s doing it right steve learned and heeded elevation gained and lost our fitness and skill is zero when i climb i know i will descend when i grow to love my partners i know that they may die when i run uphill my legs first get weaker then stronger and eventually weaker again the sum is zero and so the goals become the plot lines to our lives the stories in this book take place between 1988 and 2008 each time i returned to the infinite canvas of the mountains with a new goal to plot a new route traverse a peak climb a route faster than anyone before or to climb alone what had only been accomplished by a team of men my most rewarding days were days when i cut away everything when i redefined my understanding of necessity writing these stories has been unexpectedly cathartic i have come to a clearer understanding that climbing has the power to distill the full spectrum of life into a few days or even a few hours at the same time i sharpened my realization that doing ­ climbing ­ is the only way to understand this my hope for beyond the mountain is that it inspires a few to go simply and to climb well to see for themselves remember the simpler you make things the richer the experience becomes if you d like to support our fan steve house you can follow these directions hi scott the best way to get a copy is to send a check for $35 per book to steve house po box 2069 terrebonne or 97760 include you mailing address and i will mail a signed copy to any address in the usa here is a sneak preview at steve s book i ve never been a storyteller most climbers are like me quiet introverted physical people but i wrote this book because i wanted to explain something about why i climb to you but also to myself now that i ve finished it i am afraid i may have failed failed to answer questions such as why i take deadly risks why i leave home for months at a time and why i routinely spend my savings on air tickets to remote lands but i see success in degrees and failure provides valuable lessons the depth of any story is proportionate to the protagonist s commitment to their goal the complexity of the problem and the grace of the solution success must never be assured when i stood on the greatest summit i ve ever achieved success vaporized as many before i learned that the moment we think we have attained the goal we lose it success is empty the sum of all our luck judgments lessons mountain fund news august 2007 5

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photo by dan mazur elbrus 1990 by kevin cooney introduction by scott maclennan kevin and i have known each other since the third grade after the death of anatoli boukreev i was honored to be invited on the board of directors of a memorial fund that was established in his memory the experience and friendships i discovered as a member of that board lead me directly to the place i am today founder of the mountain fund when my good friend beth wald called me at home in boulder and said `could you take a russian friend who is staying with me out for a trail run or something and try to wear him out i thought that sounded like fun soon i was going hard up green mountain a small peak near my home in boulder colorado with anatoli boukreev chasing me over the next few weeks toli and i got to know each other through exercise and a limited shared vocabulary ­ mostly translated by beth ­ while toli absorbed american culture for the first time like how to select from a whole row of ice cream selections at the grocery store i was intrigued by the soviet training methods in the mountains based on the successes in the himalaya i knew about and the idea of visiting a culture that had largely been closed to americans for as long as i could personally remember added to the intrigue anatoli invited me to come over that fall and race up mt elbrus the highest peak in the caucasus ­ and with beth s help arranged for our friend patrick healy and me to be invited to competition on elbrus that september patrick and i were excited to travel to the soviet union and learn more about the high-altitude training methods and alpine competitions in the pamir we d heard about from friends who had participated in an american alpine club exchange in the late 1970s we had no mountaineering events like that in the u.s at the time soon we were getting faxed letters continued on page 7

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doing what you like mountain fund supporter kevin cooney s story from a mountaineering club in russia to allow us to get a visa to visit the soviet union for the elbrus race being the cost-conscious climbers that we were patrick and i scrounged for the cheapest way to get to st petersberg still leningrad at that time to meet our friends alexei and anatoli and travel from there to the caucasus that meant a flight to helsinki and the train to leningrad luckily when we arrived there tired and not able to say any russian words beyond spaceba our friends quickly whisked us from the train station to some waiting tea vodka and late night conversation after a couple of days enjoying the museums and beauty of st petersberg it was off by night train to moscow where we visited a variety of places so quickly it was a bit of a blur we caught a flight to mineralvoda sp which was much further than we had imagined at this point the 4 of us patrick anatoli alexei and i ­ bought fresh fruits and vegetables to accompany the mountaineering food we brought from the u.s ­ and patrick was able to persuade a taxi driver to take us into the mountains by offering him some marlboros from the u.s still a rarity in the age of glasnost we had heard we finally landed in a mountain hut undergoing some repairs and sorted gear several times while rains continued to keep us indoors except for a few forays onto the local bouldering circuit and some trail runs eventually we headed up a glacier as a foursome to try to bag a peak and get acclimatized before the upcoming race it continued to snow for the next several days and we headed back to the hut not having come close to any summits or even getting a good view of them but the stormy days were filled with toli playing `zoika and other russian folk songs on the guitar and someone always trying to get us to make a toast some another round of vodka we could not keep up we caught a ride in an rescue ambulance up the valley to the base of the ski area on mt elbrus and headed up to priutt 11 a few days before the scheduled race other racers were arriving from various soviet republics fresh from training in the pamir or the tien shan since the previous week the weather had not cooperated patrick and i really felt like we needed some acclimatization so we decided to go right up and camp on the saddle between the two summits of elbrus toli and alexei said they d just hang out at priutt 11 with the australian team and their pretty translator patrick was feeling punk from too much vodka and cabbage and i underestimated how windy that saddle could be our sleep-high approach to acclimatization would have to wait we headed back to priutt 11 and enjoyed tea and folk songs with our friends balyberdin and his assistant race director a lovely woman who had lost her husband to the himalaya announced there would be a `preliminary race to a midway point up the mountain that afternoon everyone was required to do it but the time did not count toward the final result the race to the summit would be the following day the `prelims were a quick dash ­ an opportunity for patrick and i to try out our secret weapon we had sneakers provided by nike ­ designed for javelin throwers ­ that had spikes in the heel as well as the toe we figured the weight savings of not having a boot and crampon could help us run uphill faster the javelin shoes worked like a charm ­ we were psyched while several of us were standing around the mid-slope finish of the day s timed event we heard a deep scream we saw one of the competitors sliding down the icy slope arms and legs flailing about we quickly ran back down to where he d landed he was pretty beat up ­ bloody knuckles cuts and scrapes on the face and a badly twisted ankle it took the help of several competitors to get the poor fellow back to the hut but by nightfall he expressed no pain ­ but i know that was the vodka talking mountain fund news august 2009 7

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the finals started early the next morning the wind was howling and no one really wanted to go outside until it was time to start no casual stretching and jogging to warm up the amazing thing is the crew that started for the summit in the dark in order to be official timers and provide first aid and hot drinks at the top the starting gun went off i told myself to keep toli in my sights but not to go out too fast as i was not sure of the pacing required as we went up the first direct portion of the mountain there was a small group of us `running together including patrick and me it seemed we quickly gained the high point from the prelims and then there was a traversing climb to the left i was feeling surprisingly strong and found myself out front with just toli for company i was zoned in on my breathing head down and going i looked up and saw that toli was headed off the track to the saddle and straight up to the right i rushed after him but it was hard to make up ground on this guy i was amazed when the summit appeared so quickly people in parkas with blankets and hot tea awaited us we had arrived in under 2 hours [note i think toli was 1:42 from priutt 11 and i was a few minutes back and soon others would join us on top the view was incredible with the twin summits of ushba finally visible to us across the valley and the sea in the distance while windy the day was brilliant and clear after welcoming other contestants we headed down i decide to go over and tag the taller summit from the saddle while everyone else headed straight to the hut and a waiting celebration after a quick trip across the saddle to visit the west summit i hurried down the mountain to join the group at priutt 11 by the time i got there the beer and vodka had started to flow patrick was deep in conversation with someone who spoke no english trying to explain the concept of `totally gnarly as a really strong guy his new russian friend said `oh buka which i am not sure exactly captures the sentiment but everyone we met at the event was incredibly nice to us there was a full evening of swapping stories planning expeditions and drinking toasts to international cooperation while we had brought trinkets from the u.s to share we were given gifts i cherish still ­ from an inlaid knife to babushka dolls there was a formal awards ceremony somewhere along the way and patrick and i were surprised to learn that we had won cash prizes for placing well in the race later back in the street markets in moscow we would spend some of the rubles buying art as gifts for our families back home ­ and leaving the remaining ones for our russian friends who had been such gracious hosts the elbrus race had provided a great excuse for us to travel the long distance from america to the caucasus but the friendships it helped forge lasted many years beyond that soon after the elbrus race i received a telegram from balyberdin asking if i wanted to join the russian team to climb mt everest the next

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year with him anatoli and others i quickly jumped on the chance and was fortunate enough to spend time high on everest learning what it meant to be tough ­ with no one nearby speaking english ­ actually no one else even at the south col or above but us balyberdin filmed us setting camps and wanted us to race up the mountain like we had on elbrus we chose not to over the next several years anatoli would become a close friend of both patrick and me spending months at our homes in boulder between sojourns to the himalaya he would work for patrick s landscape company rock climb with me fawn over beth and study his english ­ while he trained and planned his next expedition toli had an impact on everyone he met and he developed a strong group of friends across america joining many of them on trips to the big mountains i will miss both balyberdin and anatoli ­ they both are gone too early with a few more years i might have gotten the chance to wear toli out once may your spirit rise higher than mountains may your spirit rise higher than mountains i have returned from my fall expeditions and all my pain of the summer has lifted somewhat from my spirit into the crystal air of the himalaya compelled in that world you may know yourselves and beauty that is eternal the very best to you in the coming year anatoli boukreev santa fe new mexico january 1 1997 what do you like to do we want to hear from you what are you doing and what do you like to do tell your fellow mountain fund supporters your story submit your story and a photo or two to news@mountainfund.org join us on facebook as well at http www.facebook.com/group.php gid=46615857625&ref=share mountain fund news august 2009 9

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volunteering another case of doing what you like every year mountain fund is host to a lot of volunteers in nepal and peru this year we will have over 150 volunteers visit nepal the mountain fund in partnership with our sister organization the mountain volunteer nepal provides housing meals placement and logistical support to all those volunteers volunteers come for many reasons and work in many different sectors of social services in nepal some work with women s programs some in orphanages others teach at a school and some volunteer at local hospitals wherever they choose to spend their time as a volunteer they are giving their time and talents and all have paid considerable money to make the journey we have our own volunteer house in kathmandu and housing in pokhara and jiri as well in addition to volunteering at a specific location you may want to consider joining in for one of our treks we visit the beautiful rasuwa district and trek the tamang langtang or gossaikund routes often combining aspects of all three to give you the best possible trekking experience the group pictured above is from australia and were our recent guests nearly all are attending paramedic school together they visited our hospital in kalikasthan where they taught high school students a class in basic first aid the group trekked part of the tamang trail part of langtang trail and all the way over gossaikunda pass back to kathmandu via the helambu quite an ambitious undertaking all profits from our volunteer program goes to support our projects in nepal providing health care support for women and children and improving schools mountain fund news august 2009 10

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mountain fund on you tube did you know mountain fund has some great videos posted up on you tube we do to learn how to cook a chicken on the trail in nepal see what a bus ride in a remote area looks like when the road has turned to mud listen to stories told by our past volunteers learn about what $1.00 can do to change the world or see why you should be volunteering with us and coming on one of our treks visit the mountain fund s you tube page today and watch our videos here is the link to our page -http www.youtube.com/user mtnfund by the way we are not joking about the chicken movie we really do have that mountain fund news august 2009 11

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our sponsor dan mazur and summitclimb mountain fund could not be more thrilled to have summitclimb as our newsletter sponsor dan mazur is a good friend and one of the nicest humans beings you might ever get to know humble to a fault dan seldom talks about his prowess in the mountains his rescues of climbers like the famous case of lincoln hall or the large amount of charity work he has started funded sponsored and stimulated in nepal i m happy to tell you for him though mountain fund has been partners with summitclimb since we started not only has summitcliimb paid for our newsletter but dan has personally traveled and given slide show benefits on our behalf in nepal dan is closely associated with another partner of ours the mount everest foundation for sustainable development working together with summitclimb leading the way nunnery s have been restored schools improved clinics built and children s lives saved because of summitclimb we at mountain fund now also are partners with the service trek members foundation a group of trekkers that went to nepal with dan and came back to start their own fundraising efforts and the deboche nunnery restoration project saving people on mountains saving lives off the mountain that s as much a part of summitclimb as is organizing expeditions to the world s tallest peaks wherever you d like to climb walk hike and trek summitclimb should be your choice next issue women in nepal don t miss it sign up for this newsletter at www.mountainfund.org check out the additional news on our web site as well the mountain fund 139 madison ne albuquerque nm 87108 www.mountainfund.org

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