An all-star panel of climbers and adventurers will explore the Outdoor Industry’s complicated relationship with the world’s highest peak during Death on Everest 2012, a public discussion presented by Verde PR & Consulting, a full-service public relations and digital media agency, and Outside Magazine. The event takes place Aug. 2, 2012, at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market trade show.
Mt. Everest in 2012 saw speed attempts, historic climbs, and a larger media presence than ever before. During the one-hour event, Everest experts and climbers will discuss the world’s highest point, its challenges and how Everest is perceived by the mainstream media.
The panel includes Outside Magazine senior editor Grayson Schaffer, The North Face's Conrad Anker, Eddie Bauer/First Ascent's Melissa Arnot, Outdoor Research's Chad Kellogg, and National Geographic correspondent Mark Jenkins. This past spring, Schaffer and Jenkins both reported from Everest’s Base Camp, during which time Jenkins also successfully summited the mountain. All other panelists were on Everest this spring climbing. Verde’s founder and CEO, Kristin Carpenter-Ogden, will moderate the panel, which takes place at 5 p.m. at the Marriott Salt Lake City Center in Salon D.
“People are understandably drawn to the world’s highest place, and that’s created quite a fascinating, dynamic and sometime tenuous situation on Mt. Everest,” said Sam Moulton, executive editor of Outside. “Given events this spring on Everest, including photos out of base camp showing lines of climbers heading up the mountain, the impressive feats attempted and in some cases accomplished there, the related media coverage, and the relationship to the Outdoor Industry, both Outside and Verde felt it would be timely to explore the subject in more detail, with a panel of experts who were actually there.”
Schaffer has been writing and photographing for Outside Magazine for the past decade. He has reported from six continents and witnessed spectacular expeditions. This past spring, his stories and photographs were picked by media outlets around the world.
Anker is one of the most esteemed mountaineers of our time. Among many other accomplishments, he has . climbed the Vinson Massif via three new routes, made the first ascent of Pansar Peak via a 7,000 foot ridge with Peter Croft, and provided insight into early climbing years by finding George Mallory, a lost preeminent Everest explorer of the 1920s. More recently, Anker climbed the Shark’s Fin, a long-attempted new route on Mt. Meru in India. He was part of an expedition on Everest this spring.
Melissa Arnot is an iconic woman mountaineer who has summited Mount Rainer over 90 times and Everest four times.. Arnot has tackled other significant peaks, such as Aconcagua, Ama Dablam, and Kilimanjaro. She is also a professional mountain guide.
Chad Kellogg has attempted to set two speed records from Mount Everest Base Camp to summit and back, including one attempt this spring. Kellogg has climbed challenging routes around the world, including the first ascent of Pangbuk Ri in Nepal, the first ascent of Black Crystal Arete, Kitchatna Spire, Alaska, and just before his trip to Everest this spring climbing the West Face of Cerro Torre in Patagonia, Argentina.
Mark Jenkins is a field staff writer for National Geographic Magazine, and the author of three award-winning books: The Hard Way, To Timbuktu and Off the Map. Along with being a critically acclaimed author, Jenkins is a Guinness Book of Sports Records holder (his coast-to-coast crossing of Siberia by bicycle, a 5-month, 7500-mile journey, earned him that honor), and an accomplished climber. He summited Everest this spring.
