Park City resident and extreme athlete Rob Lea and his fiancée, professional ski mountaineer Caroline Gleich will present photos from their joint climb to the world’s 6th tallest mountain as part of a fundraiser for the Utah Avalanche Forecast Center tonight. KPCW’s Leslie Thatcher has more.
Rob Lea and Caroline Gleich climbed the 26,000- plus foot mountain Cho Oyu last year. They’ll present some of the highlights of that climb and ski at tonight’s fundraiser.
Gleich had been eyeing the mountain for some time. Lea, who has climbed some of the world’s other tallest mountains – Denali and Aconcagua – saw it as a good training expedition.
Caroline: "I’ve had a long time dream of climbing and skiing in the Himalayas and Cho Oyu is something we had talked about going to do for a couple of years. And this year we finally did it, pulled the trigger. Rob: This was kind of on the list. Caroline, it was a mountain that she wanted to do but it was also it was a great training mountain for Mount Everest.
Gleich skied down about 6,000 vertical feet – sometimes approaching angles of 45-degrees - and had to repel over rock and ice cliffs.
"So, it was quite long and at that altitude you know, you take a turn you catch your breath, take a turn, catch your breath. So, it’s pretty slow-going.”
Their adventure is one of four presentations that will be made at the Jim Santy Auditorium tonight starting at 6:30 pm. Tickets are $15 at the door.
