EverestHistory.com: Roland Hunter

Roland Hunter summited Everest via the standard north east ridge route on May 22nd, 2001. A little bit about him in his own words below...

A year ago I moved to Calgary, Canada and started climbing in the Canadian Rockies. During the winter I have ice climbed on the falls in the Bow Valley, Ghost River Valley, Yoho National Park and the Icefield Parkway and by Spring starting to ski tour. In April I spent a week ski touring in the beautiful South Cariboo range in British Columbia with Mark McDermott who I had climbed Everest with in 2001.

I have skied and climbed in the Alps many times, after having spent the winter in Chamonix in 1995/96. I have climbed Mont Blanc twice, with the second time skiing from the summit.  The highlight of that winter in Chamonix was skiing the Haute Route to Zermat with a friend, Andy Whelan.  Other areas visited include the Dauphine Alps, Bernese Oberland, and the Zermatt valley including an ascent of the Matterhorn.

I have been on several expeditions further afield, my first trip being to climb Marble Wall (6100m) and Khan Tengri (6995m) in Kazakstan. Two years later I joined a post monsoon expedition to Shivling in India, where we unfortunately did not summit due to bad weather and high avalanche conditions.  The next year I went with two friends, Nick Stopford and Andy Whelan, on a successful expedition to Mount McKinley (Alaska).

In 2001 I joined a pre monsoon expedition to the North ridge of Everest, I went again with Nick Stopford who had been on the Denali expedition. The expedition was a non-guided logistically supported expedition, and at the end of May while the expedition was beginning to wind down we were lucky enough to get some favourable conditions on the mountain and I summited with Mark McDermott (who used no supplemental oxygen).

I moved out to Canada soon after returning from Everest and have thoroughly enjoyed exploring the Rockies, with rock climbing in the Bow Valley on well known classics such as Yamnuska and Ha Ling peak and climbing in the amazing Bugaboo Range in British Columbia.

I was inspired to join an expedition to Kangchenjunga after listening to George Band give a slide show on the first ascent of the mountain at the Banff Mountain Festival. I have been fortunate in receiving sponsorship for this expedition from PricewaterhouseCoopers, Berghaus and pastures-new.co.uk.

Expeditions:

•       North East ridge of Everest (May 2001)

•       Denali (June 1999)

•       Shivling- Indian Himalayas

•       Khan Tengri and Marble Wall, Tien Shan

•       Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

•       Two treks in the Indian Himalayas (Nanda Devi region)

Rock & alpine

•       North face of Athabasca
•       Kain route on Bugaboo spire
•       West ridge of Pigeon spire
•       North east ridge Ha Ling peak
•       Yamuska- Red Shirt route
•       Mont Blanc- Gouter and Aiguille de Midi routes (winter)
•       Contamine Mauzead & Cherie couloir on Tacul Pyramide, Mont Blanc
•       Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis, Scotland
•       Matterhorn, Hornli Ridge

Ice climbing

•       Iceclimbs in the Canadian Rockies
•       Professors Falls (grade 4)
•       Murchison (grade 4+)
•       Riverview, Kicking Canyon
•       Grotto canyon (His and Hers and the Falls)
•       Haffner Creek
•       Fortress Falls
•       Joker & This House of Sky (Ghost)
•       Week of iceclimbing in Ouray and ascent of Stairway to Heaven (Silverton)

Ski touring

•       Haute route- Chamonix to Zermatt
•       Week ski mountaineering in the Cariboo Mountains, BC
•       Ski mountaineering in Chamonix valley (winter 1997), including skiing the Rectiligne couloir, ENSA couloir, Envers de Plan and Poubelle couloir
•       Ski touring in the Bernese Oberland, Switzerland
•       Lake Louise to Lake O’Hara via 3 passes 

 The coverage of his Kangchenjunga International Expedition 2003 is here.

 

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