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Show Stair climb for Everest Bill Rosquist, a Bountiful computer com-puter software salesman who climbs mountains for fun and at age 50 is the oldest member of the all-Utah all-Utah team planning to scale Mount Everest in 1992, says the Church Office Building in downtown Salt Lake City helps keep him in shape. vw i CARRICK LEAVITT Managing Editor The stairwell, actually, is where you can find Rosquist and other exercise ex-ercise fiends during the lunch hour. The Church Office Building is 26 floors and by the time you add the tower where the elevator is, says Rosquist, it's 28 floors. "It takes me about five to six minutes to climb from the lobby to the top," he says. "I think stair climbing is about the best thing a guy can do for staying in shape for mountain climbing." . Rosquist, who has been climbing mountains for more than 30 years, says reaching the summit of the world's largest peak would be exhilarating. ex-hilarating. "I'm apprehensive that I would make the summit" because of age, he says in all honesty. But he plans to try, and at the half century mark, that's a remarkable thing. "I think that would be one of the most exhilarating experiences in my mountaineer career that I can think of to be able to stand on top of that mountain," he said. What will he do if he does reach the summit? "I'll pray that I can get down," Rosquist said with a chuckle. The 15 -member Everest team, led by Doug Hansen of Pleasant Grove, received a state flag from Gov. Norm Bangerter this week. H an sen says he hopes to fly the Utah flag from the handle of an ice ax at the summit of Everest. The purpose of the climb, featuring featur-ing only Utahns, is to promote the state and bring some recognition. The group has a permit issued by China and will use the north face route, first climbed by an Australian team in 1984. They hope to take advantage of the post-monsoon climbing season and make the ascent as-cent in August and September 1992. Right now they are looking for sponsorships and attempting to raise funds for the endeavor. Interested Inter-ested patrons should contact Utahns on Everest, 757 N. State Street, Orem, Utah, 84057, or telephone Hansen at his mountaineering store in Orem, 226-7495. As for Rosquist, the only Davis County climber in the group, he just keeps staying in shape and looking forward to the day he starts up the Great Coulior (a big gully shaped formation that goes up the North Face of of 29,028-foot Mount Everest). For tuneups, Rosquist two years ago scaled the 21,000 foot Chim-borazo Chim-borazo peak and its neighbor, 19,000-foot Cotopaxia in Equador. He's also left his footprints atop the 1 9,000-foot Orizaba volcano in Mexico. "I've climbed all the volcanos in Mexico," Rosquist added. Now he bicycles 25 miles a day to work, runs up and down the Church Office Building stairwell during lunch hour and runs about 25 miles a week through the streets of Bountiful. And some of the rest of us haven't the energy to mow the lawn. If we can find a way to support Rosquist and his fellow mountaineering moun-taineering team members, it would be worthwhile. It would bring prestige to Utah for an all Beehive State team to reach the summit on Mount Everest. But don't forget the dangers. In 1 982, Snowbird safety director Marty Hoey fell 6,000 feet to her death during an expedition attempting attemp-ting that same northern route. Ice, wind and snow are constant threats. In fact, since Seattle's Jim Whittaker became the first American to climb Mount Everest in 1963, an estimated 100 climbers have died trying to reach the top of the windswept, icy peak. Hansen says about 240 hardy souls have stood atop the gigantic mountain since Whittaker's feat. China limits the number of permits per-mits it issues. The Utah group has a relationship with the Chinese Mountaineering Association and has held its climbing permit for about seven years, Rosquist said. |
