A huge thank you to Greg Moore, fellow kiwi and ex-mountaineer now based in Duri, Sumatra, Indonesia. Greg has made a huge effort to arrange a series of Axe on Everest 2012 presentations next weekend in Indonesia. I am very excited to be heading there together with Stephanie to meet the friendly folk which are nearly always found in the more remote locations in our world. The weekend has a jam-packed schedule with 4 presentations (at last count!), school visits, BBQ’s, and all proceeds going towards some great local groups including an orphanage. A big thank you to the sponsors involved below as can be seen on the flyer.
Meanwhile in other corners of the world I am eagerly following the progress of the ‘Qinghai Virgin Peaks Expedition 2012’. The team consists of two good friends David “Daisy” Lim and “Dr’ Rozani. They will be attempting to climb at least one, never before climbed 6000m peak. Together with Rozani and David, I had the pleasure of climbing three virgin peaks in the Tien Shan mountain range on the border of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in 2009 (see write-up in the American Alpine Club Journal). It was a truly memorable experience being the first human being to stand on a mountain top and knowing you had climbed it under your own steam, sharing the rope with two close friends without the use of any guides or outside assistance. The nature of this independent climbing, with the necessity for complete self-reliance is a style that is immensely appealing to me and I salute both Dave and Roz for thinking outside the box and doing some real exploratory climbing. Good luck to the team and you can follow their progress here.
Grant 'Axe' Rawlinson 
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