Ota dies descending Everest

“Bummer. She was 63 and became unable to move and lost consciousness about 1100 feet below the summit. At least she had the joy of summitting.”

“I've never heard of her....but at age 63 and summiting...that's one hell of a feat.

At least she died while doing what she liked....my hat is off to her. We lost a real outdoors person.”

“Who is Ota?”

“Shoko Ota, a Japanese mountaineer. She started climbing in her 40's.”

“oh DUH!See "Fatalities on Everest" thread. It's all there. (hey , it's late, I missed it...;)”

“That's a shame”

“Also, heard on the radio this morning that a Sherpa set a new record by climbing to the top from base camp in 8 hours, besting the old record by 2 hours....”

“Any news of the other folks dying daily in American military uniforms?

They, too, are doing what they have always dreamed of: defending Truth, Justice, and the American way.”

“yes, Gojo. point well taken.”

“Not on FOX, gojo.

Sad news about Ota, nonetheless.”

“Microlight Conquers Everest
A Wing, Plenty Of Prayers?...

So, what would you do if the turbo-intercooled Rotax 914 engine powering your Pegasus Quantum trike, flying under a Pegasus XL wing, was so hard to start that it flattened two batteries before finally catching? Perhaps they were mildly hypoxic, but Angelo D'Arrigo and Richard Meredith-Hardy chose to fly that engine (typically capable of 115 hp) over the world's highest mountain -- towing a hang glider (a rigid-wing ATOS 2 from ICARO 2000) for good measure. In Tibet on Sunday, microlight pilot Meredith-Hardy hauled hang glider pilot D'Arrigo to the rarified air of Mount Everest and put on what must have appeared to be the world's highest air show for a group of climbers tackling the peak through the more conventional method -- on foot. But it's a show that almost didn't get off the ground, according to Meredith-Hardy's account of the adventure. Weather is almost always the limiting factor on Everest but on Sunday the conditions were as good as they ever get: clear skies and almost no wind. Meredith-Hardy said the engine on the aircraft always starts on the first try but it wouldn't catch on Sunday. It wasn't until repeated attempts almost killed the on-board battery that they remembered that a plastic bag had been put over the air cleaner to keep dust out. All those air-less aspirations had flooded the engine and it took a second battery to get the engine going.


...Extreme Low Temperatures And High Drama
Once the Rotax was running, it pulled the two aircraft up at a rate of about 450 fpm from the 12,000-foot-high base camp. There was a lot of circling involved in getting up to the height of Everest and enjoy the minus 40-degrees Centigrade temperatures. At times, Meredith-Hardy noticed that D'Arrigo was being "bounced around" by turbulence. As they approached the peak, the tow line broke and D'Arrigo was on his own. Without the hang glider in tow, Meredith Hardy said the aircraft "shot up" and he did three fly-bys of the peak, before an audience of about six climbers standing on the peak and four or five others inching up the final few feet. Meanwhile, D'Arrigo was on an adventure of his own. He was supposed to make it back to the base camp but instead ended up at a remote high-altitude scientific research station. He was bruised from a rough landing (those higher high-altitude groundspeeds can be rough on the legs) but was otherwise safe and awaiting a helicopter ride to the base camp as of the last Web site posting.”

“The little plane that could....”

“So you spend your whole life trying to climb the mountain, and then at the top you get buzzed by someone higher. Cruel world, eh?”