A well-known American Mountaineer”In 1963 Tom and Willi Unsoeld made the first ascent of Everest’s West Ridge; traversed the mountain (another first), ran out of oxygen, spent a night in the open at 28,000 feet – legendary!

Jon Krakauer writes in Into Thin Air : “Hornbein’s and Unsoeld’s ascent was, and continues to be – deservedly – hailed as one of the great feats in the annals of mountaineering”.

Tom wrote in “Everest: The West Ridge”: “The night was overwhelming empty. The black silhouette of Lhotse was lurking there, half to see, half to assume, and below us. In general there was nothing – simply nothing. We hung in a timeless gap, pained by an intensive cold air – and had the idea not to be able to do anything but to shiver and to wait for the sun arising”.

Tom was Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine, where he studied human physiological limits and performance at high altitude – his life was (is) a link of medicine and mountaineering.

Tom and Kathy moved to Estes Park, Colorado in 2006, and at 80 Tom is still incredibly active – he climbed Long’s Peak (visible out the front window of his home) in August 2010.

Words are inadequate to express our thanks for Tom’s support of, and active involvement, in our Project.