May You Continue to Soar...

Above the Clouds...

The latest news of Wade and Johnny's bodies and Micah's equipment being recovered in avalanche debris on Mt. Edgar in China has all but left me speechless.

I don't even know what to write. My fingers are trembling and I feel sick to my stomach. I am having trouble trying to be a man; holding back tears and fits of rage.

To my climbing brothers - You are already missed. You have lived a life only a climber can know. You have experienced what few men have come to know, and you call this home. Your days of looking down at the world below from the highest summit will continue always. May your families find peace in the understanding that you have left this physical place with no regrets, living life to it's fullest everyday, never looking back. Peace to you fellas, and peace to those of us left behind with only the fondest of memories.

Great past climbing footage of Johny & Micah HERE

From Pete:

Dear friends, As you all know by now, Jonny Copp, Micah Dash and Wade Johnson are missing on Mt Edgar in China and we are working on a multi-pronged search and rescue operation. The support for this operation has been unbelievable, and I can’t thank those of you enough who have contributed by offering connections, resources, emotional support and, most importantly, financial support.

These three guys have given so much to the climbing community in so many ways: their dedication to pushing the barriers of the sport on rock and in alpine terrain; their extensive community outreach through slide presentations and film festivals; their work with clothing and gear companies in designing and promoting cutting-edge equipment; and their dedication to capturing the most inspiring photos and footage from the most extreme places on earth. Their lives have been dedicated to one thing: a celebration of climbing. And when you give as much to the climbing community as they have, I now see that the community gives back. In spades.

I wanted to share with you a few small examples of gestures performed in the last day alone: At midnight last night, a notoriously impoverished local climber – and good friend of the team – showed up at search headquarters, threw his passport on the table and said that for the first time in his life he has two thousand dollars to his name, and he wants to spend it on a flight to Chengdu to be one of the first Americans on the ground to help out with the search.

This morning at 9 AM, a guiding client of Micah’s wired $25,000 to search headquarters to make sure the search did not slow down due to a financial bog-down.

Companies who compete with the sponsors of these athletes are paying for their own athletes with Chinese visas to get to get to China as quickly as possible.

People have offered up the 65,000 frequent flyer miles needed on United to get to China.

Senators have pressured the Chinese embassy to expedite visas for American search volunteers.

The list goes on. This is an expensive operation that will cost well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. But there is every reason to believe that these guys are alive and trapped only a few hours from base camp. While there is hope, there is life. We need to do all we can to get people on the ground quickly, to get a helicopter in the air, and to keep communication flowing. If these guys ever gave anything to your life, or ever inspired you in any way, now would be the time to give them something back. As climbers, we are one big family and it is amazing to see how we look out for each other.

TO DONATE PLEASE GO TO: http://www.adventurefilm.org/donate.aspx

Kindest regards,

Pete Mortimer

Boulder, CO

June 5, 2009