2006 Climb
In 2006, there was an ascent of Mount Everest by Ali Bushnaq, Dudu Yifrah and Micha Yaniv, members of the Everest Peace Project. The climb is the main focus of the documentary film Everest: A Climb for Peace.
Ali Bushnaq
Ali Bushnaq is a Palestinian (Bosniak from Palestina). He was born in Nablus, but later he and his family moved to Jordan. He went to college in the United States. At the time of the expedition, he, his wife, and three children lived in Abu Dhabi. Ali is an athlete who has played rugby, and run marathons. His climbing experience includes climbing Mount Shasta in California and several climbing expeditions in the Alps and Himalayas. In 2005 he summited Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa.
In 2006 Ali reached the elevation of 7000 meters (23,000 feet) in his bid to summit Mount Everest. Although Ali, who is not a professional climber, was not able to reach the top of Everest at 8,848 meters (29,029 feet) , he became the first Palestinian ever to reach 7000 meters elevation. Ali believed that some of his Arab friends would no longer talk to him because of his decision to climb Everest with Israelis.
Dudu Yifrah
Dudu Yifrah is an Israeli who was born in Northern Israel. At the time of the expedition he was 32 years old. A member of the Israeli Alpine Club, his climbing experience includes summiting Mount Blanc, the Matterhorn, Kamet and others. He is also a great rock climber, who has climbed almost every rock climbing site in his native Middle East region. In 2006 Dudu summited Mount Everest. He became the second Israeli to successfully climb Everest, reaching the top on May 18, 2006 at 6:51am . Dudu served in the Israeli Defense Forces in an elite commando unit. At one point his unit was stationed in Gaza. Six weeks after he came home after successful ascending Everest, Dudu was called to fight in the Israel-Hezbollah War.
The expedition leader for the project, Lance Trumbull, recalls talking to Dudu just before he was called for active duty, when Hezbollah was firing rockets to Northern Israel:
| “ | I was speaking with him on the phone from the United States. As I was talking to him he was saying, "can you hear that – the missiles are landing near my home" – I told him to get in the bomb shelter. But he just said "I was a soldier, and this is Israel, I am used to this". | ” |
Dudu works in his family business, still serves in the military, and continues climbing in his free time.
Micha Yaniv
Micha Yaniv is an Israeli who was born in Tel-Aviv and who at the time of the expedition was 40 years old. Micha, his wife and three children live in Jerusalem. He studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he received a bachelor's degree in math and physics.
Micha became interested in climbing in 1988, and is a climbing instructor for the Israeli Defense Forces. He is also an active member of the community, and a volunteer teacher for needy kids.
Micha climbs all surfaces, including rock and ice. He has climbed mountains around the world in Switzerland, Italy, France, Peru, Nepal, Tibet, India, and is only one of a handful of Everest summiteers who has also climbed El Capitan in Yosemite. On May 18, 2006 at 9:35 a.m., he became the third Israeli who successfully climbed Everest.
When he is neither climbing nor volunteering, Micha is working on a Ph.D. in Geophysics.
Read more about this topic: Everest Peace Project
Famous quotes containing the word climb:
“All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind. All intellectual and artistic ambitions are permissible, up to and even beyond the limit of prudent sanity. They can hurt no one.”
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924)