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...

The San Ramon Valley High School student’s name is displayed on a flag on the world's tallest peak, thanks to a special expedition.   Danville, CA By Bea Karnes (Patch Staff) - How many people reading this have been to Mt. Everest? Sixteen-year-old Alex Maddux, a sophomore at San Ramon Valley High School, hasn’t, but his name is on a flag there. Maddux has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a disorder that causes progressive muscle weakness. A few months ago his mother Kim became aware of an expedition to Everest Base Camp with a flag carrying the names of 1,000 Duchenne patie...

By Peter Holley April 25   A senior mountain guide said that at least 17 people were killed after an avalanche triggered by Nepal’s massive earthquake slammed into a section of the Mount Everest mountaineering base camp, and 61 others were injured. Ang Tshering of the Nepal Mountaineering Association said early Sunday that 22 of the seriously injured were taken by helicopter to Pheriche village, the nearest medical facility. Bad weather and poor communications are hampering more helicopter sorties. The avalanche began on Mount Kumori, a 22,966-foot mountain just a few miles from Everest, roared through the nearby Khumbu Icefall and slammed into base camp, sending hundreds of climbers running for their lives, according to the Associated Press. Nepal Tourism Ministry spokesman Gyanendra Shrestha said the death toll could rise and that the avalanche had buried part of the base camp. He said two tents at the camp had been filled with the injured...

Copyright 2015 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Andrea Oschetti/For CNN   Most climbers who try don't succeed in climbing the 29,035-foot-high Mount Everest, the world's tallest peak. But they do leave their tr...

THERE are plenty of ways to die on the world’s highest peaks.  There’s bad luck, like the avalanche that killed 16 Sherpas and other Nepalis on the Khumbu Icefall below Mt Everest last year. There’s your own body, which can let you down in any number of ways from cerebral and pulmonary odoemas (an abnormal accumulation of fluid) to heart attack and plain old exhaustion. There’s lack of experience, which claims an increasing number of big-spending victims each year on guided expeditions. But according to a new study, the one factor which leads to more deaths on Everest (and the world’s highest peaks) is a rigid social heirarchy. One of the lucky ones... this man survived an avalanche on Mount Manaslu in northern Nepal. At least nine mountaineers were killed. (AP Photo/Garrett Madison, Alpine Ascents International) Sou...

(Photo: DIPTENDU DUTTA AFP/Getty Images)   KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Human waste left by climbers on Mount Everest has become a problem that is causing pollution and threatening to spread disease on the world's highest peak, the chief of Nepal's mountaineering association said Tuesday. The more than 700 climbers and guides who spend nearly two months on Everest's slopes each climbing season leave large amounts of feces and urine, and the issue has not been addressed, Ang Tshering told reporters. He said Nepal's government needs to get the climbers to dispose of the waste properly so the mountain remains pristine. Hundreds of foreign climbers attempt to scale Everest during Nepal's mountaineering season, which began this week and runs through May. Last year's season was canceled after 16 local guides were killed in an avalanche in April. Climbers spend weeks acclimatizing around the four camps set up betw...

Gigi Silk Here’s what you need to know before climbing Africa’s tallest peak. It pays to be prepared when climbing Africa's highest peak. Photo: Shutterstock Two years ago I climbed 5895 metres to the roof of Africa with no boots, no jacket and no idea. Nestled on the border of Tanzania and Kenya, the goal for Mount Kilimanjaro trekkers is to reach ‘Uhuru Peak’ and watch the sun rise over the Serengeti National Park, home of The Lion King. As it’s the world’s highest ‘walkable’ mountain (meaning you won’t need ice picks and ropes to reach the top) you definitely don’t need to practice trekking for months beforehand to conquer Africa’s highest p...

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 

According to her obituary, published in Saturday’s Connecticut Post, Norma Brewer’s dog contributed to her death — chewing off her boots and socks, leading her to succumb from hypothermia. According to the obituary, this occurred while Brewer, who was 83 and in a wheelchair, was attempting to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak. “There is suspicion that Mrs. Brewer died from hypothermia, after Mia ate Mrs. Brewer’s warm winter boots and socks,” read the death notice, which had been submitted to the newspaper by a funeral home. Brewer, the death notice read, never realized her life goal of reaching the summit of the 19,341-foot mountain. But, it said, she had made it to the base camp, where she died in the company of her daughter, her cats and dog “Mia.” If all this is sounding a little too unbelievable to be true, that may be because it isn’t — not entirely. While Norma did die, the obituary was a joke — one final prank (or was it?...

By  Paul Dworin   Mt. Everest  will soon become more accessible to adventurers with the construction of a 65-mile highway linking the village of Jiri to Lukla—considered the gateway to Mt. Everest. Despite the good news, however, the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu, continues to suffer the side effects of climate change. And, as Kathmandu is the nation’s production and consumption center, any climate-related hazards impacting daily life there will have a spillover effect on the rest of this poor Himalayan nation. Nepal’s glaciers have lost about a third of their ice reserves since 1977, according to Bloomberg News . The ice melt is having a serious impact on the weather, as glaciers impact climate dynamics such as the high-altitude jet streams that can bring monsoons or prolong droughts. “It’s affecting daily life,” said Ram Sharan Mahat, Nepal’s finance minister, who projects just a one-half percent economic growth this year due to the...

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...

  Dana al- Anzy, a Georgetown University in Qatar ( GU-Q ) student has become the first Qatari woman to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the world’s tallest free standing mountain. The Culture and Politics sophomore was part of a 12-person team of young Qataris and expats, including 3 guides, working to raise money for the “Elevate to Educate” expedition to build and renovate schools in Gaza through Reach out to Asia (Rota). The team was organised by Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdullah al- Thani, who last year became the first Qatari to climb Mount Everest. “Dana's climb demonstrates one of Georgetown's core values: "women and men for others". Her selfless climb to raise funds for Rota's Elevate to Educate exemplifies commitment to improving our shared world. The entire GU-Q community is proud of Dana’s achieveme...

A Hot-Air Balloon Ride Over Mt. Everest Will Cost You $2.6 Million Greg Keraghosian Associate Travel Editor The Everest balloon ride would cost two people $5.215 million. (Courtesy: IfOnly) Is the garden-variety hot-air balloon ride not an exciting enough date for you? Got a few million dollars stashed under your mattress? If so, one man is offering the adventure of a lifetime – possibly a short lifetime. Chris Dewhirst, the man who in 1991 completed the first hot-air balloon ride over Mount Everest is looking for two passengers for his second attempt: it costs over $2.6 million per person . And lest you get cold feet, the trip is non-refundable, with no guarantee of a successful crossing. Pilot Chris Dewhirst, who was aboard the first successful balloon ride over Everest. (Courtesy: IfOnly) Looking down on the frosty peaks of the world’s highest mountain from over 30,000 feet is bound to be worth the price for someone – people ar...

Webster resident Robert J. Wheeler becomes oldest person to reach mountain's summit by Linda Jarrett Robert J. Wheeler and his son Jack at the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. photo courtesy of Robert Wheeler ( click for larger version ) What do octogenarians do to keep in shape? Swim? Run marathons? Not Webster Groves resident Robert J. Wheeler. He climbs mountains. Wheeler, 85, recently returned from climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak at 19,340, and will soon be listed in the Guinness World Records as the oldest person to reach the summit. Enjoying a well-earned rest in his Webster Groves century home, Wheeler, who returned Oct. 7, said he wanted to "demonstrate to people that they don't have to become couch potatoes just because they're old." Wheeler gave two reasons for doing this particular climb. In 2010, he published a book, "Mountains and Minds," that alternates chapters wi...