Summit Murder Mystery Series

Maria Popo President of a Tech Company. Founder of a Non-Profit. Leader of the Unnervingly Brilliant. I recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, one of the seven summits and the highest peak in Africa at 19,341 feet. Here are my post-climb observations. 8. Climbing one of the seven summits makes you “skinny.” I wanted to be sure I could physically make it to the top of the mountain and survive the experience, so I became a running, spinning, kickboxing, weightlifting fool for at least eight weeks before the climb. I lost over ten pounds finally becoming my version of skinny. 7. Climbing one of the seven summits makes you cool. You’re cool if you do something that seems slightly stupid and physically difficult, so upon my return I posted photos of the trek. The unanimous feedback was that I am incredibly impressive and inspirational! 6. Skinny and cool lasts less than six weeks. The weight is now back. My social media friends have since moved o...

by Nancy Atkinson       Award-winning photographer Babak Tafreshi from The World At Night (TWAN) has been traveling the world to captures nightscapes in various locations. He has shared five beautiful timelapse videos of night sky landscapes “from locations that never been filmed like this before,” he said. A view of Mt. Kilimanjaro at night. Credit and copyright: Babak Tafreshi. Kilimanjaro at Night Here, travel to Mount Kilimanjaro and view it under the starry skies of Amboseli. You’ll see the Magellanic Clouds and fast-passing satellites, along with African wildlife. For more information about the Summit Murder Mystery series, CLICK HERE  To order your copy of Murder on Everest, CLICK HERE  To order your copy of Murder on Kilimanjaro , CLICK HERE Follow Charles Irion on Twitter HERE Friend Charles Irion on Facebook HERE Visit Charles Irion's YouTube channel HERE 

Posted by PeterGreenberg.com   It’s a new year, and that means it’s time to find new travel inspiration. With topics varying from climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to volunteering around the world to back-alley Vietnamese adventures, we found eight travel memoirs coming out this year you won’t want to miss. Displacement: A Travelogue  by Lucy Knisley – February 8, 2015 Lucy Knisley is a graphic memoirist and travelogue cartoonist with all the witty charm of a modern, twentysomething woman. In this story, Knisley paints the adventures of her volunteer travels aboard a cruise ship to watch over her ailing grandparents. Wide Open World: How Volunteering Around the Globe Changed One Family’s Lives Forever  by John Marshall – February 10, 2015 John Marshall, a middle-aged man in a deteriorating twenty-year marriage and father to two teenagers lost in their own worlds, decided to take his family on a trip around the world to reconnec...

'I'm incredibly proud' says father of Wembley quadruplets set to climb Kilimanjaro for disabled children charity Bindya, Vanisha, Urvashi and Vinay, all 17, are setting off for Africa this month and have already raised thousands of pounds. The four 17-year-old Wembley-based Varsanis who are quadruplets about to climb Kilimanjaro. Quadruplets are to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for a disabled children’s charity. The four 17-year-old Wembley -based Varsani’s, named Bindya, Vanisha, Urvashi and Vinay set off for Africa on August 22. To date, they have raised £2,108 for Friends of Kera, a charity which works to help disadvantaged and disabled children in providing them with wheel chairs, hearing aids, braille and organises events to raise awareness of their needs. Their father and IT technician Jay said: “I am incredibly proud of them. “At their age, to go to Africa and climb Kilimanjaro, it is a big challenge...

Tanzania: Kilimanjaro - Untold Story of Africa's Highest Peak TOGETHER with Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater, Mount Kilimanjaro was named among Africa's new 'Seven Natural Wonders' in February, this year. Apart from being known worldwide as Africa's highest peak and the World's tallest free-standing mountain, Kilimanjaro which pumps into the national coffers revenues amounting to nearly 80 bil/- is not usually given its deserved credit of supporting people from poor communities directly and transforming lives of nearly 30,000 Tanzanians annually. Mount Kilimanjaro apparently boasts more than its legendary astounding height, three gigantic cones and battalion of trekkers who set out every year to conquer its highest elevation at Kibo; Kili is reported to be pumping more than 20bil/- cash into local residents' pockets annually. Local communities around Mount Kilimanjaro, according to recent studies earn in excess of 1.7 bil...

Everest, Kilimanjaro, Mount Rainier ... why people are risking their lives to climb mountains Just looking at Everest begs the question ... why? Source: AFP IT’S been the deadliest mountain climbing season in history, and it’s not over. With the tragedies on Mount Rainier in Washington and Nepal, one question remains: Why do they do it? Why do people regularly risk their lives to summit a mountain peak or scale sheer cliffs? “Because it’s there,” George Mallory famously replied in 1923 when asked why he was trying to climb Mount Everest. The quote caught the public’s imagination, as it expressed both the childlike whimsy of doing something just for the fun of it, and the adult heroic ideal of dedicating oneself to meeting any challenge, no matter how tall. Although Mallory perished the next year on Everest (and his body was not found for 75 years), his legacy of big mountain climbing remains. Last year, ...

Couple becomes oldest to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro Swiss natives Esther, 84, and Martin Kafer, 85, have just successfully reached the top of Africa’s tallest summit, Mt. Kilimanjaro, which makes them the oldest couple to ever accomplish the feat. Even though the Kafers have a huge passion for mountain climbing, this adventure was bigger. According to AlzheimerBC.org, the couple was participating in a fundraising initiative. The British Columbia couple raised $24,000 for the cause. “Esther and Martin’s achievement epitomizes the spirit of the Ascent for Alzheimer’s event, which is that no matter how challenging the journey there is support.” Says CEO of Alzheimer Society of B.C., Jean Blake. The couple met on a mountain top and event spent their honeymoon on top of the Matterhorn. The couple moved to Canada because of their surroundings. In a The Globe and Mail article, Martin ...

I know a lot of you are getting very excited for the release of Murder on Kilimanjaro!  It will be here in the next couple weeks!!  I can't wait for you all to read it.  While you are waiting, I thought I would give you this sneak peek!  Enjoy! The president was ahead in a slight cluster, the Secret Service agents forming a wall around him.   A few of those most trusted were admitted to congratulate them and have their photographs taken. In fact, cameras broke out everywhere.   Guides joined me to have their pictures taken, as did others.   Tired as we were, exhausted as were many of us, we’d made it and for a few minutes we savored the joy of accomplishment.   Camera flashes formed round, silent bursts of light. The snowfall was very heavy, whipping down on us in a violent wind.   I turned to find Diana, to savor this moment with her when I heard the sounds of rapid gunfire coming from the president’s group.   It was an...

Singer Nelly Furtado decided to feature her friend Spencer West and his trek up Mt. Kilimanjaro in her new music video for her song Spirit Indestructable.  Spencer was born with a genetic disease which prevented his leg muscles from working.  Doctors decided to remove his legs to increase his mobility - when he was five years old. Spencer decided to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in order to raise funds for the clean water project in Africa. Watch the video below, and be inspired by Spencer's indestructible spirit!

While most kids his age are spending their summer vacation kicking it at day camp, riding bicycles around their neighborhood or exploring adventures in their own backyard, an eight-year-old Californian has his sights set on a much larger picture. Little Tyler Armstrong , a resident of Yorba Linda, is currently undergoing extensive training in preparation for an unforgettable trip abroad, where he will attempt on July 1 to become the second youngster to ever climb Mount Kilimanjaro , the highest peak on the continent of Africa. In 2006, Jordan Romero, successfully tackled Mount Kilimanjaro at the age of 10. Three years later, the Big Bear Lake, CA, native pulled himself up into the record books by becoming the youngest human to ever climb the seven continents' highest mountains. Ascending Mount Kilimanjaro, a dormant volcano that towers the sky at 19,341 feet above sea level, will be a risky trek for the snaggletoothed Tyle...

Calling all librarians!!! Give your readers a great murder mystery series to read that's full of action, betrayal, adventure and for a unique twist, climbing drama!   The Summit Murder Mystery series was inspired by the 1987 Everest attempt by author Charles G. Irion. Each is an exciting murder mystery set against the climb of one of the Seven Summits. The authors invite you to begin your adventure today with Murder on Everest . Unlike any mystery ever previously written, you will actually feel yourself atop Everest in the midst of a violent blizzard. You’ll read what it's like to climb with one-third the usual oxygen, to fight illness and fatigue. You will experience the thrill of the climb, the terror of every step in the Death Zone. Who will be murdered? How? And why? The answers will astound you. What are you waiting for?!  Order the series today!

No legs? No problem for Spencer West Spencer West in Kenya. West, who has no legs, plans to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest peak, this month. How does a man with no legs climb a mountain? If you’re waiting for the punchline, it’s no joke. On June 10, Spencer West, who stands two-foot-seven and has no lower body below his pelvis, will begin a journey to the peak of Africa’s highest mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro. West was born with a severe deformity of the spine that resulted in his legs being completely amputated. Spencer learned to walk on his hands and has since overcome every challenge life has thrown at him. He’s been a cheerleader and high school actor, has helped build schools in Kenya, and travels the globe as a motivational speaker. Now he’s going to take on a mountain. In 2011, West made his sixth visit to Kenya to volunteer on development projects. While there, he witnessed the toll the recent drought has taken...

Last year, an estimated 25,000 people set out to climb Mt Kilimanjaro , Africa's highest mountain. In so doing, they ate approximately 110,000 snickers bars, drank 70,000 litres of tea, expelled 75 cubic metres of intestinal gas and used 962 kilometres of toilet paper. More significant for the rest of us, they also produced some 25,000 personal accounts of the climb, tales of altitude, aptitude and attitude that have been written up, blogged about or televised more times than Britney Spears' waist line. With all this exposure, you'd be forgiven for thinking that a trek up Kili (as it's affectionately known by morons) would yield little in the way of surprises, every trivial twist and turn having been cogitated ad (altitudinal) nauseam in the pages of some glossy travel mag. Certainly this was my feeling as I embarked on the climb last month: there was nothing that could catch me unawares, right? Well, it turns out I was wrong. And here in testament t...

Hi Everyone.  Here are two videos that I just released that capture my 1987 climb of Mt. Everest and my 2011 climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro.  During the Mt. Everest climb, the idea for my Summit Murder Mystery Series was born, and my Kilimanjaro climb was done in part for research for my newest murder mystery Murder on Kilimanjaro , which will be released in September 2012.  Take a look, and let me know what you think! http://youtu.be/htQlyNyRgOw http://youtu.be/ZQ61McJcAQ0

Most couples plan their honeymoon to go on cruises, Hawaii, traveling through Europe. Not many use their honeymoon to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and raise money for Climb for Cancer Foundation. Jamie Berk and Lori Parent plan to get married in three months and will spend their honeymoon in Tanzania. The trip wasn't intended to be their honeymoon, at least not at first. The trip is a climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa to raise money for cancer patients. Berk lost his mother's sister to cancer, and one of his colleagues at The Orthopaedic Institute's Alachua office is battling the disease. This trip is a way for him honor their memory. The trip is being organized through Climb for Cancer Foundation, a group that organizes climbs, funded by participants and focuses on meeting the needs of patients and their families. The couple has committed to raising $20,000 together. Parent estimated they have about $5,000 to go, although they would love to reach $50,000. According to Pare...

The Seven Summits challenge has been tackled by countless climbers but only 275 have actually completed the task. This challenge includes summiting the highest mountain on each of the seven continents. Currently, there are two different Seven Summit lists. Both include Mount Everest, Mount Elbrus, Mount Kilimanjaro, Vinson Massif, Mount McKinley and Aconcagua. One list includes Mount Kosciuszko, while the other instead includes Mount Puncak Jaya, also known as Carstensz Pyramid. Thirty percent of the climbers who have completed the Seven Summits, have reached the eighth peak as well. Over the years, several records have been placed by those who have completed this monumentous task, below are a few of the current records. First: Richard Bass in 1985 Last: Sonia Carlos in 2010 Oldest: Ramon Blanco at 70 years old Youngest: Johnny Collinson at 17 years old Fastest: AC Sherpa in only 42 days First Female: Tabei Junko of Japan First Married Couple: Phil and Susan Ershler First Perso...