ARMENIAN-BORN BURBANK MOUNTAINEER FULFILLS HIS DREAM OF CONQUERING THE WORLD'S SEVEN SUMMITS ADVENTURER REACHES THE TOP FOR TWO NATIONS.Byline: MARIO AGUIRRE -- Staff Writer BURBANK - He's skied the North and South poles North and South Poles figurative ends of the earth. [Geography: Misc.] See : Remoteness , conquered the Seven Summits and planted the flags of the United States This is a list of flags used in or otherwise associated with the United States. National flag
Now, 47-year-old adventurer Karo KARO Kane Amateur Radio Operators (Kane, PA) Ovasapyan has set his sights on Greenland, where he hopes to make a 285-mile cross-country skiing cross-country skiing Skiing in open country over rolling, hilly terrain. It originated in Scandinavia as a means of travel as well as recreation. The skies used are longer, narrower, and lighter than those used in Alpine skiing, and bindings allow more heel movement. trek across the icy landscape of the world's biggest island. "It's another challenge. You're challenging yourself," said Ovasapyan, who lives in Burbank. "It gives your life more meaning." While Ovasapyan's upcoming journey will be grueling -- he'll take only the supplies he can carry in his backpack -- it will be far less strenuous than the 61-day expedition to the top of the world. "I can't describe how it felt like, standing on top of Mount Everest," said Ovasapyan, the first Armenian to conquer the so-called Seven Summits -- the 29,035-foot behemoth behemoth (bē`hĭmŏth, bĭhē`–) [Heb.,=plural of beast], large, fanciful primeval monster, like Leviathan, evoking the hippopotamus mentioned in the Book of Job. in the Himalayas, as well as the tallest mountains on the six other continents. "People ask me what I was thinking when I got up there, and I tell them that I lost my dream because I was dreaming of it for 25 years and I was finally here." Uncle inspiration Ovasapyan grew up in Charentsavan, Armenia, one of six children in a family passionate about the outdoors. While his father organized regular weekend camping trips to the nearby mountains, Ovasapyan wanted to emulate his Uncle Samuel Uncle Samuel is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by Arthur Law and music by George Grossmith. It was first produced at the Opera Comique on 3 May 1881 to 8 October 1881, as companion piece to Patience. , a mountaineer whose photographs were prominent in the family scrapbooks. "I always dreamed of being the person in those pictures wearing the backpack and having the mountain in the background. "I think every kid tries to copy someone. For some people, they want to be actors. For others, they want to be singers. For me, it was my uncle. I wanted to be like him." Ovasapyan buried himself in books dedicated to Arctic explorers. He wrestled competitively, building a muscular physique physique /phy·sique/ (fi-zek´) the body organization, development, and structure. phy·sique n. The body considered with reference to its proportions, muscular development, and appearance. well-suited to mountaineering mountaineering or mountain climbing Sport of attaining, or attempting to attain, high points in mountainous regions, mainly for the joy of the climb. . He spent many a winter night sleeping on the balcony of his family's home, getting used to sleeping in below-freezing temperatures. And, he said, "there was always a Karo inside of me who wanted to see the sun rise from Mount Everest's summit." But Ovasapyan had to make a living. He served in the Siberian National Army, then returned to Armenia as a wrestling coach. Joining his uncle After a year, he moved to Russia, joining his Uncle Movel in a cabinet-making business. In 1989, they moved to Glendale -- a city with the nation's largest Armenian population -- and with two of Karo's brothers started a cabinet-making business in neighboring neigh·bor n. 1. One who lives near or next to another. 2. A person, place, or thing adjacent to or located near another. 3. A fellow human. 4. Used as a form of familiar address. v. Burbank. And he began climbing mountains, tackling smaller peaks at first, then embarking on bigger challenges. In January 2001, he found himself skiing in Antarctica with mountaineer Jon Krakauer Jon Krakauer (born April 12, 1954), is an American writer and mountaineer, well-known for outdoor and mountain-climbing writing. Early life Krakauer was born in Brookline, Massachusetts as the third of five children and was raised in Corvallis, Oregon from the age of two. , who wrote the best-selling "Into Thin Air" after four members of the author's climbing team died on Everest in 1996. At the South Pole South Pole, southern end of the earth's axis, lat. 90° S. It is distinguished from the south magnetic pole. The South Pole was reached by Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian explorer, in 1911. See Antarctica. , Krakauer was filming "Mountain of Ice," a documentary about Mount Vinson for PBS' "Nova" series. He included a scene of Ovasapyan, clad in his underwear, bathing in the snow. "When you love this sport the way I do, you don't care
"Don't Care" is a 1994 (see 1994 in music) single by American death metal band Obituary. about comfort," Ovasapyan said. "Of course it's cold, but you don't care. "You know what's waiting for you up in the summit." Training regime Ovasapyan signed on with teams of elite mountaineers and began lining up corporate sponsors to defray de·fray tr.v. de·frayed, de·fray·ing, de·frays To undertake the payment of (costs or expenses); pay. [French défrayer, from Old French desfrayer : des-, the steep cost of scaling the world's highest peaks. He embarked on a training regimen, heading to Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the continental U.S. at 14,494 feet. Realizing that the summit of Mount Everest was more than twice that elevation, Ovasapyan enhanced his workouts by dragging a heavy tire from a rope tied to his belt. He also steeled himself for the mental and emotional challenges of the expeditions. The death of a training partner, killed in a plunge after being struck by a falling rock, was a reminder of the danger that accompanies every step. "That was just really warning me to be extremely careful," Ovasapyan said. "That can happen to anyone at any moment. But you know that going in because that's the life you've chosen. "You know how dangerous it is and you're always risking your life out there when you do that." Beginning quest Ovasapyan began his Seven Summits quest in the fall of 2002, scaling Aconcagua in the Andes Mountains Andes Mountains Mountain system, western South America. One of the great natural features of the globe, the Andes extend north-south about 5,500 mi (8,900 km). They run parallel to the Caribbean Sea coast in Venezuela before turning southwest and entering Colombia. of South America South America, fourth largest continent (1991 est. pop. 299,150,000), c.6,880,000 sq mi (17,819,000 sq km), the southern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. . He made two major climbs in 2004 -- Denali (also known as Mount McKinley) in Alaska and Mount Elbrus
Mount Elbrus (Russian: Эльбрус) is a peak located in the western Caucasus mountains, in in Russia. While many Seven Summits climbers delay Everest until the end, Ovasapyan didn't want to take the chance that anything would interfere with his lifelong dream. "Many things can happen from one mountain to the next. You could have injuries and not continue," he said. "Who knows what could have happened, if I would have lived, before ever reaching Mount Everest?" A member of a Russian climbing team organized by the 7 Summits Club, Ovasapyan flew to Tibet in the spring of 2005. The 15 climbers and 10 Sherpas began a two-month excursion up the north ridge of Everest, camping at ever-higher altitudes as they adjusted to the thinning oxygen. About a week before his own summit attempt, Ovasapyan was monitoring the radio at base camp -- about 17,700 feet -- listening as two Slovenian climbers reached the top despite high winds and whiteout conditions. The weather deteriorated as the pair descended, and one of them apparently had problems with his oxygen tank. Marko Lihteneker became a fatality fa·tal·i·ty n. 1. A death resulting from an accident or disaster. 2. One that is killed as a result of such an occurrence. of Everest, one of the roughly 5 percent of climbers who perish TO PERISH. To come to an end; to cease to be; to die. 2. What has never existed cannot be said to have perished. 3. When two or more persons die by the same accident, as a shipwreck, no presumption arises that one perished before the on the mountain. Bid for the summit About 6:15 a.m. May 30, 2005 -- one day after the 52nd anniversary of Edmund Hillary's conquest of Everest -- Ovasapyan and his team made their own summit bid. There were six Sherpa porters in the group, along with Ovasapyan and a half-dozen other climbers. They included Nikolay Cherny, who at age 65 was making his fourth attempt to reach the top. Breathing supplemental oxygen, they left Camp 4 -- at an altitude of roughly 27,400 feet -- and began their ascent of the three "steps," or rock climbs, that would take them to the top. Ovasapyan pushed himself hard and reached the pyramid summit ahead of the others in his group. There, 5 1/2 vertical miles above sea level, Ovasapyan planted the flags of his native and adopted countries, as well as a pennant Pennant A continuation pattern in technical analysis formed when there is a large movement in a stock, the flagpole, followed by a consolidation period with converging trendlines, the pennant, followed by a breakout movement in the same direction as the initial large movement, the honoring American POWs. "I'm an American citizen and I respect that. The POW flag is respect to the soldiers fighting for this country and for those lost giving their lives to this country. "And I'm an Armenian, so I represent Armenia, too," he said. After returning the flags to his backpack -- he carries them on all of his expeditions -- Ovasapyan began the descent, a trek made even more treacherous by exhaustion, dehydration and shrinking oxygen supplies. Even two years later, other members of Ovasapyan's team remember his camaraderie and selflessness during the ordeal. "In all my years working as a guide, I've never met a person so helpful to others," said Mingma Gelu, a Sherpa of Tibet who worked as a guide on the expedition. "Karo has shown how strong he is by completing the Seven Summits and helping others along the way reach similar goals." Further conquests Just six months after his victory over Everest, Ovasapyan ascended Kilimanjaro in Africa. In 2006, he climbed Kosciuszko in Australia and Vinson in Antarctica -- the last after an aborted a·bort v. a·bort·ed, a·bort·ing, a·borts v.intr. 1. To give birth prematurely or before term; miscarry. 2. To cease growth before full development or maturation. 3. attempt to run a marathon at the South Pole -- making Ovasapyan only the 197th climber to achieve the Seven Summits. One more climber has achieved that goal since then. Last year also saw him conquering Mount Rainier A format for providing platform interoperability and native OS support for CD-RW and DVD+RW disks. The "MRW" or "CD-MRW" format enables files to be saved to RW disks as if they were hard disks (from any Save dialog or dragged and dropped). in Washington state, and Mount Ararat in Turkey -- a site revered by Armenians as their spiritual home. "For climbers, it's a symbolic mountain," Ovasapyan said. "But for Armenians, it's holy." After returning home to Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , Ovasapyan was recognized for his accomplishments by the Burbank City Council, as well as by leaders of the local Armenian community. "First and foremost, Karo's achievement is symbolic of our community as we strive to reach new heights. He embodies the philosophy we embrace that a single person can achieve great things and make a difference," said Zanku Armenian, a board member of the Armenian National Committee of America The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is an Armenian-American grassroots organization that actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues. . Ovasapyan talks openly when asked about his adventures, but they're not something he brings up with the customers of his family's woodworking business. "It's not that I didn't want a lot of people to know about this, but I just don't tell too many people about it," he said. "I didn't do it to prove to other people that I could do this. I did it for myself because I knew I could do it." Staff Writer Naush Boghossian contributed to this report. mario.aguirre(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 3 photos, box, map Photo: (1 -- color) Karo Ovasapyan, at his Burbank home, is among 198 people who have climbed the seven highest peaks in the world. (2 -- color) Karo Ovasapyan stands on the summit of Mount Everest in 2005. He planted the flags of his native and adopted countries, as well as a pennant honoring American POWs. (3 -- color) Karo Ovasapyan, 47, is now setting his sights on Greenland, where he hopes to make a 285-mile cross-country skiing trek across the icy landscape of the world's biggest island. Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer Box: Mountaineering challenge Map: Scaling the Seven Summits Warren Huskey/Staff Artist |
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