Female Fort Carson soldier summited Mount Everest Tuesday in bid to raise PTSD awareness
The Gazette
By: Seth Boster
May 25, 2016
"I think about the fallen soldiers I'm climbing for every day, especially when things got difficult on the mountain."
Capt. Elyse Ping Medvigy,Fort Carson Capt. Elyse Ping Medvigy, was atop the world Tuesday.
Medvigy, 32, summited Mount Everest in the morning hours with a fellow active-duty soldier and a veteran in a climb for U.S. Expeditions and Explorations, a nonprofit seeking to raise awareness of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. According to a news release, the nonprofit believes Medvigy to be the first active-duty female soldier to scale Earth's highest mountain.
The Ridgway native was joined on the 29,029-foot summit with 2nd Lt. Harold Earls and retired Staff Sgt. Chad Jukes, who lost his right leg in Iraq. She was the first to reach the top among the group, at 7:40 a.m. Everest time, according to an online chronicle of the climb by the nonprofit. She and her team began the ascent on the mountain's north side April 25.
In a photo provided by the group, Medvigy is shown on Everest's peak holding pictures of Army Pfc. Keith Williams and Staff Sgt. Benjamin Prange. The two died during combat in Afghanistan.
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Showing posts with label Mount Everest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mount Everest. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Fort Carson Capt. Elyse Ping Medvigy Climbs Everest For PTSD Awareness
You saw this picture in the previous post and now you know why she did it!
Amputee Chad Jukes Reaches Top of Everest
Ex-soldier who lost a leg in Iraq reaches the top of Everest
USA TODAY
Gregg Zoroya
May 24, 2016
Chad Jukes, 32, made the climb with a prosthesis. A Marine veteran who also lost his right leg to a roadside bomb in Iraq, Thomas Charles "Charlie" Linville, 30, reached the summit of Everest on Thursday, becoming what is believed to the first combat amputee to conquer the mountain.
The current climbing season for the 29,029-foot mountain has been marred by the deaths of three climbers during the past weekend; two others are missing.
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Linked from TIME
USA TODAY
Gregg Zoroya
May 24, 2016
Capt. Elyse Ping Medvigy, an active-duty field artillery officer currently assigned to the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colo., was the first to reach the summit at Mount Everest from Team USX. Ping Medvigy is holding a picture of PFC Keith Williams and Staff Sgt. Benjamin Prange. Medvigy said via text message: "I think about the fallen soldiers I'm climbing for every day, especially when things got difficult on the mountain." (Photo: www.USX.vet)An Army veteran who lost his leg to a roadside bomb in Iraq reached the summit of Mount Everest on Tuesday, becoming the second combat amputee to climb the mountain in six days, according to a veterans group that sponsored the expedition.
Chad Jukes, 32, made the climb with a prosthesis. A Marine veteran who also lost his right leg to a roadside bomb in Iraq, Thomas Charles "Charlie" Linville, 30, reached the summit of Everest on Thursday, becoming what is believed to the first combat amputee to conquer the mountain.
The current climbing season for the 29,029-foot mountain has been marred by the deaths of three climbers during the past weekend; two others are missing.
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Linked from TIME
Friday, May 20, 2016
Afghanistan Amputee Veteran Reaches Top of Everest With A Little Help From Hells Angel
Wounded veteran Charlie Linville summits Mount Everest
CBS News
May 19, 2016
A 30-year-old Idaho native has become the first combat wounded veteran to climb Mount Everest.
The Heroes Project, a group that helps wounded veterans, announced Thursday that retired U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Charlie Linville had reached the 29,029-foot summit.
Linville had already reached the summit of some of the highest peaks in the world on one leg. He was defusing bombs in Afghanistan in 2011 when he was injured as an explosive device detonated, leading to the amputation of his right leg below the knee.
"Can't get any taller than Everest, you know?" Linville said, laughing. "There is nothing else."
The Heroes Project was started by former Hells Angel biker Tim Medvetz, who summited Everest in 2007, six years after suffering life-threatening injuries in a motorcycle crash. The experience inspired him to create the nonprofit organization that helps catastrophically injured war veterans climb the world's tallest mountains.
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CBS News
May 19, 2016
A 30-year-old Idaho native has become the first combat wounded veteran to climb Mount Everest.
The Heroes Project, a group that helps wounded veterans, announced Thursday that retired U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Charlie Linville had reached the 29,029-foot summit.
"I was looking for something to completely change myself... and really get rid of the demons that were created from war," Linville told CBS News in April as he headed to Tibet for his latest climb."The team is healthy and safe and currently descending the mountain," the group said in a statement announcing the feat.
Linville had already reached the summit of some of the highest peaks in the world on one leg. He was defusing bombs in Afghanistan in 2011 when he was injured as an explosive device detonated, leading to the amputation of his right leg below the knee.
"Can't get any taller than Everest, you know?" Linville said, laughing. "There is nothing else."
The Heroes Project was started by former Hells Angel biker Tim Medvetz, who summited Everest in 2007, six years after suffering life-threatening injuries in a motorcycle crash. The experience inspired him to create the nonprofit organization that helps catastrophically injured war veterans climb the world's tallest mountains.
read more here
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Amputee Iraq Veterans Taking on Everest Climb
Two Iraq veterans strive to be first combat amputees to climb Everest
USA TODAY
Gregg Zoroya
April 3, 2016
Chad Jukes lost part of his right leg after a roadside bomb explosion in Iraq in 2006. The same happened to Thomas Charles "Charlie" Linville when he was Marine in Iraq in 2011.
"There is a pressure to show the world that I can climb Mount Everest," said Jukes, 31, who, like Linville, has become a skilled mountain climber using a prosthesis. "To say, 'I have one leg, but I can climb Mount Everest. I have PTSD, but can climb Mount Everest. I have a traumatic brain injury, But I can climb Mount Everest.'"
Linville, 30, who is married and the father of two daughters, said he went from being a strong Marine to having people have pity for him after the amputation.
"Getting to the top I kind of view as vanquishing those demons, showing all these people that, 'Don't you have pity for disabled veterans because we're capable of so much more than you think," Linville said.
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USA TODAY
Gregg Zoroya
April 3, 2016
Chad Jukes lost part of his right leg after a roadside bomb explosion in Iraq in 2006. The same happened to Thomas Charles "Charlie" Linville when he was Marine in Iraq in 2011.
Now Jukes, a former Army reserve staff sergeant, and Linville want to defy their disabilities in the most extreme way — by climbing the highest mountain in the world within the next two months. They could be the first combat amputees to reach that summit.(Photo: The Heroes Project)The Heroes Project founder, Tim Medvetz, and Charlie Linville looking at Mount Everest in 2014.
"There is a pressure to show the world that I can climb Mount Everest," said Jukes, 31, who, like Linville, has become a skilled mountain climber using a prosthesis. "To say, 'I have one leg, but I can climb Mount Everest. I have PTSD, but can climb Mount Everest. I have a traumatic brain injury, But I can climb Mount Everest.'"
Linville, 30, who is married and the father of two daughters, said he went from being a strong Marine to having people have pity for him after the amputation.
"Getting to the top I kind of view as vanquishing those demons, showing all these people that, 'Don't you have pity for disabled veterans because we're capable of so much more than you think," Linville said.
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Monday, January 25, 2016
Amputee Veteran: Everest is his goal, happiness is his choice
For wounded Afghanistan vet, Everest is his goal, happiness is his choice
Modesto Bee
Katherine Jones
January 25, 2016
“At the same time, that’s life. Life always seems to give you a challenge.
He has climbed Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America, plus three of the four tallest volcanoes in Ecuador and the tallest peak in Mexico — all of which were training for Everest.
But Everest itself...
He has been to Base Camp twice. The first time was in 2014. After rigorous training in South America and climbing a 22,000-foot peak in Nepal multiple times to acclimatize, Charlie and his crew — Tim Medvetz from The Heroes Project and their Sherpas — arrived at Everest Base Camp.
They were a mere 24 hours from starting their climb to Camp 2 when an avalanche roared through the Khumbu Icefall, which separates Base Camp from Camp 2. Sixteen Nepalese guides were killed and the mountain was closed to further climbs.
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Modesto Bee
Katherine Jones
January 25, 2016
“At the same time, that’s life. Life always seems to give you a challenge.
“It’s whether we step up to the challenge or give up. Life always gives you challenges. It's whether we step up to the challenges." Charlie Linville
Since having his lower leg amputated after stepping on a bomb in Afghanistan, Staff Sgt. Charlie Linville has tried twice to climb the highest mountain in the world — and each time was turned away by devastating natural disasters on and near Everest. He wanted — and wants — to prove something to himself, to other veterans and to the world: That injured veterans can do anything. His climb is sponsored by The Heroes Project. Katherine Jones and Heroes ProjectCharlie Linville actually hasn’t climbed Mount Everest. Although it’s not for lack of trying.
He has climbed Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America, plus three of the four tallest volcanoes in Ecuador and the tallest peak in Mexico — all of which were training for Everest.
But Everest itself...
He has been to Base Camp twice. The first time was in 2014. After rigorous training in South America and climbing a 22,000-foot peak in Nepal multiple times to acclimatize, Charlie and his crew — Tim Medvetz from The Heroes Project and their Sherpas — arrived at Everest Base Camp.
They were a mere 24 hours from starting their climb to Camp 2 when an avalanche roared through the Khumbu Icefall, which separates Base Camp from Camp 2. Sixteen Nepalese guides were killed and the mountain was closed to further climbs.
read more here
Monday, April 20, 2015
Amputee Veteran Marine Taking on Everest
Ex-Marine amputee begins 2nd attempt to scale Everest
Associated Press
By Binaj Gurubacharya
April 18, 2015
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A former U.S. Marine who lost his right leg and several fingers in an explosion in Afghanistan is making a second attempt to scale Mount Everest to inspire others like him, a year after an avalanche that killed 16 Sherpa guides stopped him at the base camp.
Former Staff Sgt. Charlie Linville, 29, from Boise, Idaho, is using a specially designed metal foot outfitted with a climbing boot and another one with crampons in his quest to conquer the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) summit next month.
"My message is anything is possible. It is just not me being an amputee, but anyone sitting on the couch around the world that has problems — you can overcome life, it is just how determined you are," Linville said in Kathmandu on Friday, on his way to Tibet in neighboring China, from where he will set out on Everest.
He was an explosives expert serving in Afghanistan in 2011, when he went to investigate an explosion that wounded his colleague.
He was hit by another explosive device and seriously wounded, and two years later, had his right leg amputated below the knee.
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Associated Press
By Binaj Gurubacharya
April 18, 2015
"My message is anything is possible. It is just not me being an amputee, but anyone sitting on the couch around the world that has problems — you can overcome life, it is just how determined you are. –Linville said in Kathmandu on Friday
In this Thursday, April 16, 2015 photo, former U.S. Marine Charlie Linville holds his prosthesis during an interview with the Associated Press in Kathmandu, Nepal. Former Staff Sgt. Linville, 29, from Boise, Idaho, who lost his right leg and several fingers in an explosion in Afghanistan is making a second attempt to scale Mount Everest to inspire others like him, a year after an avalanche that killed 16 Sherpa guides stopped him at the base camp.
(AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha) (Niranjan Shrestha, AP)
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A former U.S. Marine who lost his right leg and several fingers in an explosion in Afghanistan is making a second attempt to scale Mount Everest to inspire others like him, a year after an avalanche that killed 16 Sherpa guides stopped him at the base camp.
Former Staff Sgt. Charlie Linville, 29, from Boise, Idaho, is using a specially designed metal foot outfitted with a climbing boot and another one with crampons in his quest to conquer the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) summit next month.
"My message is anything is possible. It is just not me being an amputee, but anyone sitting on the couch around the world that has problems — you can overcome life, it is just how determined you are," Linville said in Kathmandu on Friday, on his way to Tibet in neighboring China, from where he will set out on Everest.
He was an explosives expert serving in Afghanistan in 2011, when he went to investigate an explosion that wounded his colleague.
He was hit by another explosive device and seriously wounded, and two years later, had his right leg amputated below the knee.
read more here
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Amputee Marine Veteran Taking on Everest
Marine vet to conquer Everest despite leg amputation
Marine Corps Times
By Derrick Perkins, Staff writer
February 21, 2015
Marine veteran Staff Sgt. Charlie Linville isn't letting the partial amputation of his right leg stop him from reaching the summit of Mount Everest this spring — and when he gets there, he will plant a flag bearing the names of those who died in Iraq and Afghanistan and bow his head.
After all, that's the closest he will be to heaven so "I'll just say a prayer and thank them for making ultimate sacrifice," said Linville, 29, of Boise, Idaho.
After serving in Iraq with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines — a tour that saw him pass through Fallujah in 2007 — Linville swapped his military occupational specialty of assaultman for explosive ordinance technician.
Two months following the birth of his second daughter in 2010, Linville headed back overseas, this time for Afghanistan as a member of the 3rd Explosive Ordinance Disposal Company. Eventually, he was reunited with 3/5 attaching to the unit in Sangin.
It's there in 2011 that Linville suffered the injuries, including mild traumatic brain injury and lower spine trauma, which would later lead to the amputation of the lower portion of his right leg.
It was during his recovery that Linville found out about The Heroes Project, a foundation dedicated to training and then sending wounded warriors up the world's highest peaks. They initially slated Linville for Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia.
Linville wanted more of a challenge, though, and Everest remained unconquered by the group.
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Marine Corps Times
By Derrick Perkins, Staff writer
February 21, 2015
Charlie Linville, a wounded Marine veteran, has been training in preparation for climbing Mount Everest in the spring. (Photo: Courtesy of The Heroes Project)
Marine veteran Staff Sgt. Charlie Linville isn't letting the partial amputation of his right leg stop him from reaching the summit of Mount Everest this spring — and when he gets there, he will plant a flag bearing the names of those who died in Iraq and Afghanistan and bow his head.
After all, that's the closest he will be to heaven so "I'll just say a prayer and thank them for making ultimate sacrifice," said Linville, 29, of Boise, Idaho.
After serving in Iraq with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines — a tour that saw him pass through Fallujah in 2007 — Linville swapped his military occupational specialty of assaultman for explosive ordinance technician.
Two months following the birth of his second daughter in 2010, Linville headed back overseas, this time for Afghanistan as a member of the 3rd Explosive Ordinance Disposal Company. Eventually, he was reunited with 3/5 attaching to the unit in Sangin.
It's there in 2011 that Linville suffered the injuries, including mild traumatic brain injury and lower spine trauma, which would later lead to the amputation of the lower portion of his right leg.
It was during his recovery that Linville found out about The Heroes Project, a foundation dedicated to training and then sending wounded warriors up the world's highest peaks. They initially slated Linville for Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia.
Linville wanted more of a challenge, though, and Everest remained unconquered by the group.
read more here
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Heroes Project ends climb out of respect for dead
Marine Returns to US, Abandons Mount Everest Summit Attempt
The Heroes Project said it will return in 2015 to complete the group's first Everest summit
NBC 7 San Diego
By Vanessa Herrera and R. Stickney
Friday, Apr 25, 2014
A U.S. Marine is returning home after abandoning his attempt to scale Mount Everest.
Up until Thursday, SSgt Charles Linnville was waiting at base camp to scale the world's highest peak despite losing a leg in Afghanistan three years ago.
However, before his group could attempt a summit, there was a widespread walkout of Sherpas in response to the deadliest disaster on the mountain.
An avalanche killed 13 people April 18. Three Sherpas were still missing in the ice and snow, and are presumed dead.
Linville's group “The Heroes Project” announced Friday that they, like other groups prepping for the climb, have decided to abandon their attempt to summit Everest.
In a written release, the project said the group's founder Tim Medvetz, will leave Nepal with the rest of the team including Linville, and members of a film crew.
"They are members of our team and out of respect to our Sherpas, we are not continuing," he wrote.
"We fully support their decision to leave the mountain and we will leave the mountain together the same way we came up, as a team.”
read more here
Afghanistan Veteran Marine Amputee Taking on Mt. Everest
The Heroes Project said it will return in 2015 to complete the group's first Everest summit
NBC 7 San Diego
By Vanessa Herrera and R. Stickney
Friday, Apr 25, 2014
A U.S. Marine is returning home after abandoning his attempt to scale Mount Everest.
Up until Thursday, SSgt Charles Linnville was waiting at base camp to scale the world's highest peak despite losing a leg in Afghanistan three years ago.
However, before his group could attempt a summit, there was a widespread walkout of Sherpas in response to the deadliest disaster on the mountain.
An avalanche killed 13 people April 18. Three Sherpas were still missing in the ice and snow, and are presumed dead.
Linville's group “The Heroes Project” announced Friday that they, like other groups prepping for the climb, have decided to abandon their attempt to summit Everest.
In a written release, the project said the group's founder Tim Medvetz, will leave Nepal with the rest of the team including Linville, and members of a film crew.
"They are members of our team and out of respect to our Sherpas, we are not continuing," he wrote.
"We fully support their decision to leave the mountain and we will leave the mountain together the same way we came up, as a team.”
read more here
Afghanistan Veteran Marine Amputee Taking on Mt. Everest
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Afghanistan Veteran Marine Amputee Taking on Mt. Everest
Boise veteran, wounded in Afghanistan, climbing Mt. Everest
KTVB.COM
by Brady Moore
Posted on April 15, 2014
BOISE -- More than 7,000 miles away from the City of Trees, U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sergeant and Boise native Charlie Linville is making the climb of his life.
In January 2011 Staff Sgt. Linville was conducting an IED sweep in Afghanistan when he was hit by an explosive device. That blast caused head trauma and devastating injuries to his right foot and hand.
Two years later, despite multiple attempts at rehabilitation, his right leg was amputated below the knee. But now, he's climbing 29,029 feet to the summit of Mt. Everest.
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UPDATE
Marine vet not caught in Everest avalanche
KTVB.COM
by Brady Moore
Posted on April 15, 2014
Credit: The Heroes Project
BOISE -- More than 7,000 miles away from the City of Trees, U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sergeant and Boise native Charlie Linville is making the climb of his life.
In January 2011 Staff Sgt. Linville was conducting an IED sweep in Afghanistan when he was hit by an explosive device. That blast caused head trauma and devastating injuries to his right foot and hand.
Two years later, despite multiple attempts at rehabilitation, his right leg was amputated below the knee. But now, he's climbing 29,029 feet to the summit of Mt. Everest.
read more here
UPDATE
If you think this is not dangerous,,,,,,
At Least 13 Sherpas Dead as Avalanche Sweeps Mount Everest
An avalanche swept down a slope of Mount Everest on Friday along a route used to ascend the world's highest peak, killing at least 13 people in the mountain's deadliest disaster.
NBC News confirmed that all of the dead were Sherpa guides.
The guides had gone early in the morning to fix the ropes for hundreds of climbers when the avalanche hit them just below Camp 2 around 6:30 a.m. local time, Nepal Tourism Ministry official Krishna Lamsal told The Associated Press.
click link for more on avalanche
Marine vet not caught in Everest avalanche
Friday, May 24, 2013
Air Force Team Reaches Everest Summit
Air Force Team Reaches Everest Summit
May 23, 2013
Seattle Times
by Hal Bernton
SEATTLE _ Even after repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Maj. Robert Marshall, an Air Force Special Operations pilot from Mercer Island, Wash., has rarely been content to stay at home.
Instead, he has hungered to climb mountains.
On Monday, Marshall was one of four active-duty airmen to climb to the summit of Mount Everest.
The ascent was the final climb in the USAF 7 Summits Challenge, co-founded by Marshall in 2005, which has sent Air Force climbing teams to the top of the highest peaks on every continent to honor fallen comrades and raise money for military charities. Marshall climbed six of the peaks, forced to retreat from Mount McKinley when he was called back from leave because of an upcoming deployment.
Once on top of Everest, he took off his oxygen mask to repeat a ritual begun on earlier peaks he had summited.
"I dropped down and did 30 push-ups," Marshall said in a satellite-phone interview Wednesday evening. "Everyone else on the summit was giving me a strange look, like 'What's this guy on?'"
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May 23, 2013
Seattle Times
by Hal Bernton
SEATTLE _ Even after repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Maj. Robert Marshall, an Air Force Special Operations pilot from Mercer Island, Wash., has rarely been content to stay at home.
Instead, he has hungered to climb mountains.
On Monday, Marshall was one of four active-duty airmen to climb to the summit of Mount Everest.
The ascent was the final climb in the USAF 7 Summits Challenge, co-founded by Marshall in 2005, which has sent Air Force climbing teams to the top of the highest peaks on every continent to honor fallen comrades and raise money for military charities. Marshall climbed six of the peaks, forced to retreat from Mount McKinley when he was called back from leave because of an upcoming deployment.
Once on top of Everest, he took off his oxygen mask to repeat a ritual begun on earlier peaks he had summited.
"I dropped down and did 30 push-ups," Marshall said in a satellite-phone interview Wednesday evening. "Everyone else on the summit was giving me a strange look, like 'What's this guy on?'"
read more here
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