Summit Murder Mystery Series

Recently, over 90 teams took part in Guernsey's annual fundraiser, Everest Challenge. The challenge is for climbers to climb about 30,000 feet, the height of Mount Everest, on the climbing wall at Le Murier School. According the organizer of the Everest Challenge, Gary Dovey, the event raised a large amount of money. Currently the total stands at 15,150 euro, but more funding is coming in. The money raised will help to fund scholarships for off-island trips for the Le Murier climbing school pupils. In previous years, the students have used the money raised has served to send the students on trips to Herm, Jersey, Wales and France. The Everest Challenge also teaches the students perseverance and teamwork gained through the responsibility of the challenge.

In effort to raise money for the Himalayan Woman and Children Foundation, Ang Chhriring Sherpa has beat the World Record for time climbing the Seven Summits. In just 42 days of actual climbing, Ang completed all seven summits. The individual times for each of the peaks are: Mount McKinley - 12 days Mount Kilimanjaro - 16 hours, 37 minutes Mount Elbrus - 8 hours, 14 minutes Mount Kosciusko - 2 hours, 32 minutes Mount Aconcagua - 7 days Mount Everest - 19 days The Himalayan Women and Children Foundation is an organization dedicated to helping educate women and provide basic health care and other services for those living in the Himalayan mountains. Ang and his wife, Dr. Allison Han, a dentist, also have a free mobile dental and medical clinic in Sallari, Nepal.

The Yeti has long been an object of folklore. Known to some as the Abominable Snowman the Yeti is thought to inhabit the Himalayan mountains in Nepal, India. In the video below, the indigenous people in the surrounding area also call the mysterious, ape-like creature Meh-The, which translates to "man bear". Sightings of the Yeti have been recorded since climbers have begun tackling the formidable Mount Everest. Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to summit Mount Everest, found a large footprint in the snow and believed it belonged to a yeti. Still, there remains much doubt in the scientific community, due to the lack of conclusive evidence. Until Mount Everest and the Himalayas are completely understood, mankind will never know the truth about the Yeti.

Irion Books and the Summit Murder Mystery Series will be represented at this year's Tucson Festival of Books. Readers can get great deals on the published novels in the Series: Murder on Everest , Murder on Elbrus , and Murder on Mt. McKinley . Visit us at the Arizona Book Publishers Association Booth #259 in the main area. When: March 12 and 13, 9:30 am - 5:30 pm Where: On the University of Arizona Mall Admission: Free Details: tucsonfestivalofbooks.org See video highlights from the Festival.

In today's world people are incredibly interconnected wirelessly. Through the capabilities of WiFi anyone around has the opportunity to check email, upload video clips and pictures or chat on web based arenas such as Skype. Over the past year, eight 3G base stations were installed by Ncell and began operating on Mount Everest. As with anything, there are pros and cons to Mount Everest being internet accessible. Having internet on Mount Everest will save lives. Climbers will have better access to weather higher or lower on the mountain. Lost climbers will be able to more easily signal for help. The search crews will be able to find the lost climbers more accurately and faster. People interested in Mount Everest will be able to see it in real time, without actually climbing it. Knowledge and safety procedures will greatly increase with the ability to access the internet on Mount Everest. Unfortunately, this will also take some of the mystique away from this mountain. Mount Ev...

Walt Disney World celebrates Mount Everest with its passholders on March 5th, 2011. Thrill seekers will be able to recognize the fifth birthday of the Expedition Everest ride at Walt Disney World. Expedition Everest riders will be sent forwards and backwards before they encounter a Yeti! Pre-registered passholders will have the chance to experience Expedition Everest from 6 to 9 pm on Saturday, March 5 at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The theme park is actually scheduled to close at 6 pm that day, meaning this is a special after hours event. Interested patrons have been able to sign up beginning February 8th at disneyworld.com/passholder. To be able to sign up you must be registered on the site and have your passholder ID.

After seven days and six nights at 17,200 feet, spent mostly inside a 3x3x6 foot snow trench, Lonnie Dupre was depleted of his strength and was forced to turn back from being the first person to summit Mt. McKinley in January alone. Extreme weather was the reason Dupre found himself trapped in a snow trench and forced to turn back. With winds up to 100 mph, temperatures reaching -50 degrees and a 5.4 magnitude earthquake, the weather was too uncontrollable and dangerous for Dupre to continue to the summit. Dupre has been on numerous polar adventures, including several to Alaska. If he had been successful, Dupre would have been the first person to summit Mt. McKinley alone in January. In Alaska during the month of January, there is very limited sunlight. The first successful winter climb of Mt. McKinley came in 1967. Ray Genet, Dave Johnston and Art Davidson reached the summit in February of 1967.