UBC Okanagan professor climbs mountain to raise money for prostate cancer research

Edmond Rivère, a professor of French at UBC Okanagan, recently returned from a 13-man mountaineering expedition to the highest mountain in the Americas, Cerro Aconcagua (6,962m or 23,000 feet), to raise funds for researchers working to defeat prostate cancer and to raise public awareness of the importance of early detection and treatment of the disease.

"Personally, I've done a lot of mountaineering, but this was my first high-altitude expedition," says Rivère, who is also an avid rock climber and paraglider. "I've wanted to climb Aconcagua for a while, so when I heard about my colleagues' plan to raise money for prostate cancer research and awareness, I thought, ‘sure -- let's do it'."

Rivère was one of five people from the Okanagan Valley to make the trip. Collectively, the expedition raised about $200,000 for the UBC Hospital Foundation and the Prostate Centre at Vancouver General Hospital.

"The group from the Okanagan paraglides together, so the deal was to go to the summit and fly all the way down to Punta del Inca, a 40-kilometre glide," says Rivère.

Paragliding from the summit has been done before, but Aconcagua is one of the windiest mountains on the planet. "Of 18 days on the mountain, we only had one day without wind, which blew at an average of about 60 to 80 kilometres per hour, night and day. To fly the summit you need only one thing: light winds on the summit and hardly any wind in the valley. We had a forecaster checking winds every day on Aconcagua at different elevations."

Although not the most technically difficult climb for mountaineers, Aconcagua does present its own challenges. The base camp is at an elevation of 4,200 meters, meaning mountaineers must acclimatize themselves to avoid health risks such as pulmonary or cerebral edema, which is fluid in the lungs or brain caused by high elevations and can result in death.

"It takes three days of walking to get to Base Camp from the village of Punta del Inca -- about 60 kilometres -- and we had mules to carry the equipment and food, which weighed about 60 to 80 kilograms per person," says Rivère. "Then once we reached Base Camp, we had rest days, hiking days and flying days. We actually had a good flight on the second rest day."

After days of carrying equipment from base to Camp One and then Camp Two (at about 6,000 m), the expedition was facing a time crunch, so the men decided to head from Camp Two straight to the summit, instead of moving to Camp Three. Six of the 12 men reached the summit -- a good success rate for any expedition.

"I wasn't one of them, though, because I wanted to climb and paraglide," says Rivère. "We had an emotional and exciting moment at Camp Two, because we got a call from our forecaster Jerry Mason who said that there would be a flying window between midnight and mid-day the next day. That evening we packed our wings and climbing gear preparing for the final assault towards the summit hoping to fly from the top the next day."

However, that night a number of the paragliding team members experienced mild stomach problems and headaches from the high altitude.

"It was really hard to swallow, but at 4 a.m., we decided not to go," says Rivère. "I think we did the right thing -- we didn't feel 100 per cent, and it's a 16-hour climb from Camp Two to the summit, so if anything happens, there are no rescue possibilities."

Although Rivère didn't get to fly the summit, he said it was a great adventure and a very successful way of raising awareness and funds for an important cause. The Aconcagua Climb for Prostate Cancer Research team was composed of individuals in their late 40s and older, all with a passion for adventure and physical challenge.

Last Final Report from Kevin

January 3, 2010

"Come on, Kevin! You're almost there!"

With these words of encouragement ringing in my ears, I breathlessly crawled and stumbled up the final rocky hump to stand on the summit of Cerro Aconcagua in Argentina, 6,962 m above sea level. How appropriate that those words were shouted by my good friend, Brad Henry who, in November 2007, invited me to join his newly created "Climb For Prostate" project. Those final steps to the summit were the culmination of two years of training, acquiring equipment, and campaigning to raise awareness of prostate cancer as well as funds for the Vancouver Prostate Centre. Brad's choice was a natural one: Dr. Martin Gleave, one of Canada's foremost Urologists and founder of the Vancouver Prostate Centre, is Brad's brother-in-law.
During the last two years, Brad and I were joined by eleven other men, all between the ages of 47 and 60, most of whom had never met one another prior to this challenge. Each of the participants had his unique reason for joining the team. Each had his own wonderful contribution to make to the project. What united the team was a common spirit of adventure and a willingness to put one's creature comforts aside to take a measured risk for a higher cause. We all wanted to contribute to the defeat of this disease which can deprive men of some of the best years of their lives.
Members of Team Prostate, or the Prostate Boys as we call ourselves, come from the Fraser and Okanagan Valleys. All have spent time talking to groups and individuals about the need for men to be more aware of the high risk of Prostate Cancer and and the benefits of early detection. All have spent the last year preparing mentally and physically for the demands of climbing the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere. The team tackled Mt. Rainier, elevation 4,392 meters, twice in the summer of 2009. To add an extra element of challenge, several of the members are paraglider pilots and hoped to fly from the summit of Mt. Aconcagua. To this end, we climbed Mt. Baker and flew from the summit in July 2009. Perhaps most significantly, Team Prostate worked tirelessly to raise a total of almost $200,000 (to date) for the Vancouver Prostate Centre.
Our Aconcagua expedition began on December 22, 2009. For three days, we hiked 42 km through two desert valleys. Although the bulk of our equipment was carried by teams of mules, we were challenged by the sweltering heat and dust storms raised by the relentless winds roaring down the valley from Mt. Aconcagua. We arrived at Plaza Argentina, or Base Camp, in time for a Christmas which was unlike any we had ever experienced. We spent the next days living, eating, breathing and laughing in this windy, lifeless, moonscape the height of Mt. Rainier. Only occasionally did the winds abate. At dawn on Boxing Day, seven of us huffed and puffed our way 500 meters up a scree-covered mountain on the south side of the valley and were able to fly our paragliders down to Base Camp in time for breakfast.
December 29th We began to move supplies up steep gravel slopes and ice towers, called penitentes, to High Camp One at 5000 meters where we spent more days acclimating=letting our blood adjust to the thin air. On January 1, we slowly climbed another five hours up to the second high camp where the 5800 meter elevation began to become uncomfortable for all and dangerous for some. Here, team member Dr. Don Scaman, of Abbotsford, was asked to treat a member of another group who developed a life-threatening case of pulmonary edema. Scaman's quick injections of dexamethasone likely saved the young man' s life, but his climb was over and he descended with the help of his team-mates.
January 2, three of our team developed various symptoms related to altitude and decided to descend. Three other members also descended, mainly to support the ones with health concerns. This left six: Brad Henry, Don Scaman, Jim Weatherall, Randy Kolarcik, John Leblanc and me. With a forecast for strong winds from our communications/weather specialist, Jerry Mason, we all agreed to give the mountain one more day. We planned to assess the weather and our personal conditions early the following day and either make a summit attempt or depart the mountain for good.
January 3, we awoke at 4:00 am. The sky was clear, the temperature about -25C, with winds under 20 km/hr, so we began what I called a "stroll", prepared to turn around at any point if the wind became dangerously strong. Wind chill can cause frostbite very quickly at this altitude. As we made our way along the steep mixed rock and snow slope of the Polish Traverse Route, the sun rose and the wind began to diminish. Our stroll became a slow slog in ever warming weather.

Nine hours later, one by one, all six of us reached the summit, along with many other climbers who had ascended from both sides of the mountain. For thirty minutes, we relaxed on top, taking photos and videos and dedicating our success to the entire team, as well as to people in our lives suffering from prostate cancer.

Don Scaman summits Mt. Aconcagua. His partner captures the moment.

Then began the long walk down, this time with gravity on our side. It was a very, very long day - almost 15 hours by the time the last of us returned, absolutely exhausted, to Camp 2. We were too tired to eat, let alone cook, but thankfully, two our mates, John and Don, hiked all the way back up from Base Camp got the stoves lit and cooked us each a much needed hot drink before we lapsed into exhausted sleep.
This unselfish act epitomizes the spirit of Team Prostate. Those of us lucky enough to stand atop Mt. Aconcagua acknowledge that all thirteen climbers contributed to the success of the six, and all should be recognized for their support and contributions to the climb. It is with the utmost gratitude and respect that I conclude by thanking all my teammates for their part in the greatest adventure I've ever had. Thank you Ken Hurley, Keith Britz, Edmond Rivere, Glenn Derouin, John Arnold, Don Parmenter, Randy Kolarcik, Jim Weatherall, John Leblanc, Brad Henry, Don Scaman and Jerry Mason. You guys truly rock!
Although the climb is over, our website, climbforprostate.com will continue to accept donations for the Vancouver Prostate Centre until February 28, 2010. Please help us reach a final total of $200,000!
The Climb For Prostate Team would like to thank The Prostate Center at VGH, the local media, our sponsors, the hundreds of people who contributed to the fight against prostate cancer and most of all, our families and friends who supported this enormous undertaking. You have all made this project a huge success.

This report was published January 26, 2010 in the Chilliwack Times Newspaper

Final Blog Update 4 January

Late last night, just before dark, I received confirmation from John Arnold that everybody that had stood on the summit yesterday was safely back at Camp Two, tired, exhausted…..but safely back.

This morning, I was up at 6am to prepare for a short hike with Edmond and about an hour down the trail I heard from Brad that Camp Two was just beginning to stir and prepare for the carry down to Base camp via Camp One.

It’s now close to 3pm local time and any time now I expect to see some familiar faces hiking into Base camp, grinning from ear to ear! It’s been an incredible journey, adventure, challenge and education for everybody involved and it took nothing short of the whole team to put 6 members on the top of Mt Aconcagua. Each individual had an invaluable input to the success of this climb, it just wouldn’t have happened, or succeeded without the 13 inspirational characters who left Canada and their families behind just before Christmas 2009.

We would all like to take this opportunity to thank our family and friends from the bottom of our hearts, without their support we would have never achieved the success seen here in Argentina. See you soon!

We Made it!!

Blog Update 3 January

The weather update yesterday evening, looked quite favourable for the 6 Team members remaining on the mountain. They decided that they would reassess their situation at 4am this morning and decide on the way ahead. I spoke with the team at 8am and due to their fit and healthy state and another weather window opening up, they decided to make a bid for the summit from Camp Two – an 18 hour round trip. The timing would put them on the summit around 2pm local time, we gave a call on the radio but nothing was heard.

It’s a beautiful hot sunny day here, +30C and fresh snow on the surrounding hills transforming the landscape around a busy Base Camp as yet another dozen mules bring in more climbers hoping to grab their few minutes of glory on top of the world.

Just after 3pm local time, 10am Pacific Time, my radio came to life, it was Brad calling from the summit of Mt Aconcagua, 6,962 meters above sea level, the highest point in the western hemisphere, Brad Henry, Randy Kolarcik, Don Scamen and Kevin Ault had made it to the summit with John LeBlanc and Jim Weatherall only an hour behind them. A fantastic result for the whole of the Climb for Prostate Team. With the temperature on the summit at -18C, there’s not a lot of time for celebration, just time enough for a hug and photos and then start the long journey back to Camp Two. Despite mild headaches the guys are elated and in good spirits. They’ll be met back at Camp Two by John Arnold and Don Parmenter who have thoughtfully climbed up again from Base camp to help with the carry back down.

Blog Update 2 January 2010

It was an early rise for me this morning, 0615, stove on, hot tea, porridge (ok, oatmeal, I’m English you know) all because of the possibility of Eddy and Glenn flying down from Camp Two. They needed accurate weather information for landing and it was perfect with almost calm conditions. Unfortunately, they decided to call the flight off, they were still very tired from their carry to Camp Two, a hard but sensible decision. Shortly after their decision, they too felt they had gone as far as they could on the climb and both decided to return to Base camp, another two members of the team reaching personal bests on the climb.

Not long after Eddy and Glenn’s decision, Don Parmenter, who has been trying to shake a headache for the last couple of days also decided it was time to come off the mountain and as I type this blog, through the snow showers, John Arnold is coming down the mountain with Don. It truly is a big mountain but everyone is remembering it’s about the experience and adventure and not just making the summit.

So six of the team remain at Camp Two, Kev, Brad, Don, Randy, Jim and John and I’ve a feeling the next weather update I’ll pass them later this afternoon will make a decision for them. Time is now getting short as the mules for our return to Puenta Del Inca are booked for 5 January.

Blog update by Jerry

Blog Update 1 January 2010

Happy New Year from Base Camp – Aconcagua

As you probably know, we took a lot of technology with us to Argentina, not only the latest in paraglider wings and harnesses, but state of the art compact 2 meter band radios for communication, satellite phone, netbook computer, video and still cameras and of course Ipods. All this technology will obviously only run for so long before it requires recharging. Luckily, one of our sponsors, Voltaic Systems, provided one of the latest solar panels available at cost price. The Voltaic Generator is unique as it can actually recharge a laptop computer, a task we actually completed with Ken’s full size Toshiba Satellite. It’s a great piece of technology adding flexibility to my task here at Base Camp keeping all our technology running, so many thanks to Jeff at Voltaic Systems.

I’ve just heard from the team on the mountain, they’ve all moved out of Camp One and are on the way to Camp Two taking the opportunity of a slackening wind this afternoon., With a weather window of Saturday morning looking like the only opportunity for summiting, the climbing schedule was changed to make best use of this window. Because of this, Keith and Ken made personal decisions to end their climb at this point, each attaining a personal best, Ken 20000ft and Keith just over 18000ft. They will arrive back at Base Camp late this afternoon. Meanwhile, Brad, Kev, John and Don Parmenter are going to make a bid for Camp Three today. Early Saturday morning the wind is forecast to be as low as 10km/hr, but Saturday night, forecast to increase to 50km/hr and even more in the following hours. So if any member of the team is to stand a chance of standing on top of the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere, it will have to be early Saturday Morning. Watch this space!

Blog update by Jerry

Blog Update 31 December 2009

I think it was on an episode of ‘Ellen’ that I saw a women enter what looked like a phone booth, with a thousand dollars laying on the floor, a fan was switched on underneath the booth and whatever she could grab in one minute was hers to keep. Well do remember that plush little bathroom booth I showed you yesterday, well instead of dollar bills, picture toilet tissue…..get the idea? With winds gusting 35 – 40 km past these steel booths it would make for a terrific game show, but you’re not trying to grab or catch anything, actually quite the opposite…..just ask Glenn!

Brad celebrates his birthday today at 16000ft and with winds even stronger up the mountain at Camp One; I don’t think he’ll be having any candles on his cake today. Happy Birthday Brad! Team members that rested yesterday have carried today to Camp Two, but the wind has been very strong which makes it really tough going. Those that carried yesterday have battened down their tent and are enjoying a day off. The team will enjoy a brief respite with the wind Friday evening, which could possibly see them all at Camp Two that same day, however that window is very small and the forecast has a substantial increase expected over the weekend, it really is just like a game of chess.

Every Morning here at Base Camp, a local helicopter heralds the start of each day at 7.45am. It brings in new personnel or evacuates sick climbers or brings in new barrels for those plush bathroom booths that seem to feature so much in this blog. Each booth is on a hill because it rests on top of one of these barrels and obviously after a period of time they fill up. So there you have it, the myth is busted, it’s not just at your place of work that s*#t flies!

Blog update by Jerry.