A Mountaineer’s Failure Leads to an Institute for Central Asians
The song says there ain’t no mountain high enough, but one mountain, K2 in Pakistan, proved too high for Greg Mortenson in 1993.
Mortenson, then a trauma nurse from San Francisco and a mountain climber, failed to reach the summit of K2, the world’s second-highest mountain and perhaps the most difficult climb.
After reaching 27,000 feet, about 1,000 feet short of the summit, Mortenson came off K2 emaciated, exhausted and emotionally drained. He was restored through the efforts of his Balti porters in the village of Korphe. And there begins the story Mortenson will tell in Omaha tonight.
Mortenson, 42, will show slides of K2 and of the Balti people. He will tell how he has paid them back for their help in the years since 1993 through Central Asia Institute he directs in Bozeman, MT.
The program, titled “Where Spirits Soar,” begins at 7 p.m. in Sokol Auditorium, 2234 S. 13th St.
Mortenson promised the Balti he would build schools for them. A flier provided by the Bozeman institute says he has gone far beyond that.
It lists, among other things, constructing eight schools since 1997, putting in place 19 salaried teachers and two school library projects, seeing 1,920 students educated, setting up biannual teacher training workshops, establishing two women’s vocational centers, working to bring water to 14 villagers and establishing the Baltoro Glacier sanitation and latrine project and, in Mongolia, eight rural health care centers.
The Balti have lived in northern Pakistan for more than six centuries since migrating from Tibet. Originally Buddhist, the Baltis converted to Islam during the Mogul insurgence around 1580.
Mortenson told Climbing magazine: “The Balti people inspire me. They are happy people despite their hardships. There spirits soar.”
Last year Mortenson received the David Brower Conservation Award giving by the American Alpine Club.
Tickets for tonight’s slide show and lecture are $5 for adults and $2 for students. Senior citizens and children younger than 12 get in free.
Copyright (c) 2001 Ohaha World Herald
For more information on Greg Mortenson’s projects for the Balti people, contact:
Central Asia Institute
PO Box 7209
Bozeman, MT 59771
Phone: (866)585-1766
E-mail: cai@ikat.org
Website: www.ikat.org
