5/22/2010
“After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb”
– Nelson Mandela
It all starts with a dream.
Pierre Carter first thought about the idea of paragliding from the summit of the highest mountain on each continent, known as the 7 summits, ten years ago. Slowly he started traveling to some of these mountains and was successful on Elbrus and Aconcagua. To continue the remaining five mountains would be an expensive exercise, so he pulled together a team that could join him in filming and documenting these experiences that he could share with the rest of the world. With the support and film crew, they decided to return to the mountains he already conquered, in order to capture and complete the footage of certain summits. Now, Pierre Carter seeks to accomplish the remaining summits with the company of willing friends.
The notion of climbing the seven summits was first conceptualized by Dick Bass, an American businessman and amateur climber, who completed all seven summits in 1985. Since then, more than 300 climbers have completed this challenge and has become an obsession for some. What makes this initiative remarkable, apart from the sheer challenge that the seven summits pose, is that the climbers will paraglide their descent, a feat that has never been achieved from the summit, although attempted. To share the experience of certain summits as closely as possible, photographer and climber, Marianne Schwankhart, has flown tandem with acclaimed paragliding adventurer, Pierre Carter, to photograph and document their journey and the mountains, thus providing a unique view of the adventure from a new perspective where no one else has gone before. Two experienced film crew, Guy Hubbard and Kyle O’Donoghue, have compiled the video footage into a documentary on completion for summits Aconcagua, Kilimanjaro, and Elbrus. The remaining summits, Denali, Castens Pyramid, Vinson, Mount Cook, and Everest, will be completed by Pierre Carter, who will be accompanied by fellow mountaineers.
In addition, the team hope to use their knowledge and experience, to share with people who will never be able to reach these far away places. We are more than willing to do presentations/workshops to schools, corporates, organizations in need of motivation.theprocess we hope to be able to either raise funds or materials to share with disadvantaged people, with a sense of adventure and exploration. The project launched in July 2010, with our first trip to MT Elbrus, Russia
