Island Rock Gym will host a special evening presentation featuring North Face athlete and acclaimed mountaineer Pete Athans and filmmaker Liesl Clark at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, March 4.
The guests will share their experiences during the devastating earthquake which struck Mount Everest in April 2015. Athans and Clark, both Bainbridge residents, have lived in Nepal and worked extensively on Everest and in the surrounding communities for more than 20 years, assisting with both the welfare of the locals as well as the thousands of climbers and sherpas who attempt to summit the perilous peak.
Their perspective provides intimate access to the chaos and calamity of the quake, what is being done to predict the next one and how the climbing community can prepare for it.
The evening begins with a screening of “Himalayan Megaquake”, a documentary filmed by Clark for NOVA television which shares first person accounts from individuals on Everest at the time of the quake, models showing what it was like to experience the quake and voices from the scientific community working to predict the next big one. A Q&A session with Athans and Clark will follow, which includes updates from Athans on his recent trip back to the mountain. This is a rare opportunity to experience Everest in a unique way and learn more about how future seismic events may impact the climbing community.
General Admission tickets cost $12 and are available for purchase at www.islandrockgym.comAthans’ name has been synonymous with the exploration of Mount Everest for nearly two decades. He has led or participated in 16 expeditions to the mountain and has personally summited seven times, more than any other climber of non-Sherpa ethnicity. He has also distinguished himself in the Himalaya with speed ascents of Annapurna South, Pumori, Ama Dablam and Cho Oyu. When he isn’t exploring his own objectives, he guides climbers to the highest points of all seven continents and is also a strong proponent of Sherpa culture, documenting their prodigious talents at high altitude and their contribution to mountaineering history.
