MOUNTAINEER EMBARKS ON NEW SOLO EXPEDITION
By Mario Aguirre, Medianews Staff
Contra Costa Times, CA
Oct 21 2007
After joining an exclusive group that has climbed the Seven Summits,
47-year-old plans Greenland trek
BURBANK — He’s skied the North and South poles, conquered the Seven
Summits and planted the flags of the United States and Armenia atop
Mount Everest.
Now, 47-year-old adventurer Karo Ovasapyan has set his sights on
Greenland, where he hopes to make a 285-mile skiing trek across the
icy landscape of the world’s biggest island.
"It’s another challenge. You’re challenging yourself," said Ovasapyan,
who lives in Burbank. "It gives your life more meaning."
While Ovasapyan’s upcoming journey will be grueling — he’ll take
only the supplies he can carry in his backpack — it be will far less
strenuous than the 61-day expedition that culminated in May 2005,
when he reached the top of the world.
"I can’t describe how it felt like standing on top of Mount Everest,"
said Ovasapyan, the first Armenian to conquer the so-called Seven
Summits — the 29,035-foot behemoth in the Himalayas, as well as the
tallest mountains on the six other continents.
"People ask me what I was thinking when I got up there, and I tell
them that I lost my dream because I was dreaming of it for 25 years
and I was finally here."
Ovasapyan grew up in Charentsavan, Armenia, one of six children in
a family passionate about the outdoors. While his father organized
regular weekend camping trips to the nearby mountains, Ovasapyan
wanted to emulate his Uncle Samuel, a mountaineer whose photographs
were prominent in the family scrapbooks.
"I always dreamed of being the person in those pictures wearing the
backpack and having the mountain in the background," he said.
"I think every kid tries to copy someone. For some people, they want
to be actors. For others, they want to be singers. For me, it was my
uncle. I wanted to be like him."
Ovasapyan buried himself in books dedicated to Arctic explorers. He
wrestled competitively, building a muscular physique well-suited
to mountaineering.
He spent many a winter night sleeping on the balcony of his family’s
home, trying to get his body used to sleeping in below-freezing
temperatures.
And always, he said, "there was always a Karo inside of me who wanted
to see the sun rise from Mount Everest’s summit."
Temporary detour
Ovasapyan had to make a living. He served in the Siberian National
Army, then he returned to Armenia as a wrestling coach.
After a year, he moved to Russia, joining another uncle, Movel
Ovasapyan, in a cabinetmaking business.
In 1989, they moved to Glendale — a city with the nation’s largest
Armenian population in the United States — and with two of Karo’s
brothers, they started a cabinetmaking and wood-carving business in
neighboring Burbank.
And he began climbing mountains, tackling smaller peaks at first,
then embarking on bigger challenges as they presented themselves.
In January 2001, he found himself skiing in Antarctica with mountaineer
Jon Krakauer, who wrote the best-selling "Into Thin Air" after four
members of the author’s climbing team died on Everest in 1996.
In the South Pole, Krakauer was filming "Mountain of Ice," a
documentary about Mount Vinson for PBS’ "Nova" series. He included
a scene of Ovasapyan, clad in only his underwear, bathing in the snow.
"When you love this sport the way I do, you don’t care about comfort,"
Ovasapyan said. "Of course it’s cold, but you don’t care.
"You know what’s waiting for you up in the summit."
Ovasapyan signed on with teams of elite mountaineers and began lining
up corporate sponsors to defray the astronomical costs of scaling
the world’s highest peaks.
He embarked on a training regime, heading to Mount Whitney in Northern
California, the tallest mountain in the continental United States
at 14,494 feet. Realizing the summit of Mount Everest was more than
twice that elevation, Ovasapyan enhanced his workouts by dragging a
heavy tire from a rope tied to his belt.
He also steeled himself for the mental and emotional challenges of
the expeditions. The death of a training partner, killed in a fatal
plunge after being struck by a falling rock, was a reminder of the
danger that accompanies every step.
"That was just really warning me to be extremely careful," Ovasapyan
said.
"That can happen to anyone at any moment. But you know that going in
because that’s the life you’ve chosen. You know how dangerous it is
and you’re always risking your life out there when you do that."
Ovasapyan began his quest for the Seven Summits in the fall of 2002,
scaling Aconcagua in the Andes Mountains of South America. He made
two major climbs in 2004 — Denali (aka Mount McKinley) in Alaska
and Mount Elbrus in Russia.
While many Seven Summits climbers delay Everest until the end,
Ovasapyan didn’t want to take the chance that anything would interfere
with his lifelong dream.
"Many things can happen from one mountain to the next. You could
have injuries and not continue," he said. "Who knows what could have
happened, if I would have lived, before ever reaching Mount Everest?"
A member of a Russian climbing team organized by the Seven Summits
Club, Ovasapyan flew to Tibet in spring 2005. The 15 climbers and 10
Sherpas began a two-month excursion up the north ridge of Everest,
camping at ever-higher altitudes to help their bodies adjust to the
thinning oxygen.
About a week before his own summit attempt, Ovasapyan was monitoring
the radio at base camp, about 17,700 feet, listening as two Slovenian
climbers reached the top despite high winds and whiteout conditions.
The weather deteriorated as the pair descended, and one of them
apparently experienced problems with his oxygen tank. Marko Lihteneker
became a fatality of Everest, one of the roughly 5 percent of climbers
who die on the mountain.
Personal conquest
About 6:15 a.m. May 30, 2005 — one day after the 52nd anniversary
of Edmund Hillary’s conquest of Everest — Ovasapyan and his team
made their own bid for the summit.
There were six Sherpa porters in the group, along with Ovasapyan and
a half-dozen other climbers. They included Nikolay Cherny, who at
age 65 was making his fourth attempt to reach the top of Everest.
Breathing supplemental oxygen, they left Camp 4 — at an altitude
of about 27,400 feet — and began their ascent of the three "steps"
or rock climbs that would take them to the top.
Ovasapyan pushed himself hard, reaching the pyramid summit ahead of
the others in his group.
There, 51/2 vertical miles above sea level, Ovasapyan planted the
flags of his native and adopted countries, as well as a pennant
honoring American POWs.
"I’m an American citizen and I respect that," he said. "The POW flag
is respect to the soldiers fighting for this country and for those
lost giving their lives to this country.
"And I’m an Armenian, so I represent Armenia, too."
After returning the flags to his backpack — he carries them on all of
his expeditions — Oasapyan began the descent, a trek made even more
treacherous by exhaustion, dehydration and shrinking oxygen supplies.
While the rest of his team collapsed in tents pitched on the rocky
ledges of Camp 3 — at 25,600 feet, still within the "Death Zone"
of Everest — Ovasapyan and his porter pushed on to a safer camp at
21,300 feet.
Even two years later, other members of Ovasapyan’s team remember his
camaraderie and selflessness during the ordeal.
"In all my years working as a guide, I’ve never met a person so
helpful to others," said Mingma Gelu Sherpa of Tibet, who worked as
a guide on the May 2005 expedition.
"Karo has shown how strong he is by completing the Seven Summits and
helping others along the way reach similar goals."
Just six months after his victory over Everest, Ovasapyan ascended
Kilimanjaro in Africa.
In 2006, he climbed Kosciuszko in Australia and Vinson in Antarctica
— the last after an aborted attempt to run a marathon at the South
Pole — making Ovasapyan only the 197th climber to achieve the Seven
Summits. One more climber has achieved that goal since then.
Last year also saw him conquering Mount Rainier in Washington State
and Mount Ararat in Turkey.
Although it towers 16,854 feet, Ararat is not considered a technically
challenging climb, Ovasapyan said. However, it is revered by Armenians
as their spiritual home, and some religions believe it is the site
where Noah’s Ark came to rest.
"For climbers, it’s a symbolic mountain," Ovasapyan said. "But for
Armenians, it’s holy."
Returning home
After returning home to Southern California, Ovasapyan was recognized
for his accomplishments by the Burbank City Council, which awarded
him a plaque, and by leaders of the local Armenian community.
"First and foremost, Karo’s achievement is symbolic of our community as
we strive to reach new heights. He embodies the philosophy we embrace
that a single person can achieve great things and make a difference,"
said Zanku Armenian, board member of the Armenian National Committee
of America.
"We’re proud of his accomplishments because he serves as a role model
for where our community is headed and the contributions we want to
make to society."
Ovasapyan is fairly modest about his victories over nature. He’ll talk
openly when asked about his adventures, but they’re not something he
brings up with the customers of his family’s woodworking business.
"It’s not that I didn’t want a lot of people to know about this,
but I just don’t tell too many people about it," he said. "I didn’t
do it to prove to other people that I could do this. I did it for
myself because I knew I could do it."
Staff Writer Naush Boghossian contributed to this report. Reach Mario
Aguirre of the Los Angeles Daily News at mario.aguirre@ dailynews.com.