Willie Benegas Injured in Avalanche
Many long-time Everest climbers and fans know twin brothers Damian and Willie Benegas, 54, founders of the renowned Benegas Brothers guide company. On March 12, around 12:30 p.m., Willie became seriously injured in a large avalanche. In my interview with Willie, he says, “As I was trapped, I thought, so this is how I will die.”
Everest 2018: Interview with Matt Moniz – Extraordinary Youth
This interview with Matt Moniz is one of an ongoing series I do each season with Everest climbers. Not the famous, sponsored ones who get plenty of publicity but the regular people, who often have full-time jobs, full time families and climb for the love of the climb. Most climbers are already at base camp so this may be the last interview for 2018 but I welcome suggestions for anyone I should interview. I met Matt and his family years ago here in Colorado. I knew the moment that I shook his hand that he was “different” 🙂 Polite, mature, sharp, intelligent all at age 12 ! I first came upon Matt when he and his father, Mike, were just about to set a record for summiting the 50 Highpoints in the US, the highest point in each of the 50 states, in the shortest time. They got all 50 in just 43 days. His dad drove. I asked Matt why a 7th grader wanted to do this in our interview. He said it was to help his friend Ian Hess, 9, who suffers from pulmonary arterial hypertension. “I’m looking to raise awareness of the rare disease that afflicts my friend, pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and to encourage other kids like me to get off the couch and into the outdoors.” Matt’s love of mountaineering started like mine with a trip to Everest Base Camp. Of course I was 41 and Matt was 9, but the attraction was the same. He went on to summit Elbrus, Kilimanjaro (youngest at the time at age 10 along with his twin sister Kaylee), Aconcagua, Whitney, Rainer, climbs in Bolivia and, wait for it, his first 8000ers: Cho Oyu and Makalu just days apart in 2014. If you are wondering if he still takes school seriously, oh yeah. With a 4+ GPA in high school he is now at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, US. Matt’s success has not gone unnoticed. He was a Mountain Hardwear’s first Youth Athlete and named a 2010 Adventurer of the Year by National Geographic Magazine and now is a member of the Adidas Outdoor’s team. Today he is frequently recognized by both adventure and civic organizations for his accomplishments and his fund raising. But back to those 8000ers, In 2014 Matt’s father cooked up a plan to climb Cho Oyu, Everest, and Lhotse, in less than 15 days including a first-ever ski descent of the Lhotse Couloir (see this interview with Mike). The earthquake that year brought all that to a fast halt but they did get Cho. Matt, along with professional mountain guide and legend Willie Benegas went on to summit Makalu with a small team of Sherpas. Matt became the 14th American and youngest climber to summit Makalu at age 16. So, what’s he up to this year on Everest and Lhotse? Well, skiing is certainly in the cards and summiting along with Willie, who has 12 summits of Everest plus a long list of impressive climbs around the world. Willie and his twin brother, Damien, won an award in 2003 for pioneering “The Crystal Snake” route on Nuptse, a new route up the North Face rated at 5.9 M4 WI5. Remember Matt’s Kili’s summit with his twin sister Kaylee and Willie’s twin Damien? Part of the reason Matt and Willie are on Everest is to be part of the continuation of the NASA research project studying twins conducted by the Mason Lab at Cornell Weill Medical. The study’s objective is to study how twins genomically adapt to one of the most extreme terrestrial places on the planet. Their twins – Damian Benegas and Kaylee Moniz — will also be part of the Everest Twins Multi-omics Study tool, being control subjects of the study. Mike is certainly proud of his son saying “Hard to have imagined back then this little guy next to me would someday be 20 and on his 5th Himalayan expedition to climb his 3rd and 4th 8000-meter peaks. Good luck Matt!” Enough of the intro, let’s hear from Matt: AA: First off, how is school going? MM: I love my classes, professors and classmates, and time has been flying by, maybe a bit too fast! It’s hard to believe that I’m already well into my sophomore year at Dartmouth College, studying international security and global health. Aside from being an excellent undergraduate school, the wonderful thing about Dartmouth is that it is truly a great school for adventurers. You can find world class climbers, skiers, kayakers and pretty much any outdoor sport you’re interested in as a student. Besides mountaineering, I’m active in the Ledyard Canoe Club which brings together a great community of young people pursuing white water kayaking. Also, I’m a member of the Dartmouth Ski Patrol which does an amazing job at training students as fully certified ski patrollers to work at the Dartmouth Ski Way. AA: How are you training for these climbs? MM: Great question, Alan. As you know firsthand, the training starts years in advance. Closing in on this expedition, I spent time during the holiday break running many backcountry ski laps in the Colorado mountains. I also slipped out for some training in Utah with Willie. It becomes more complicated, at school, especially at Dartmouth where we have quarters, so it’s an intense ten-week term. My schedule was packed the past few terms with classes and ski patrol, but I did find time to escape for some ski mountaineering in Tuckerman’s Ravine. For sure, the snow is not what I am used to in Colorado, but New Hampshire’s Mount Washington can produce some of the fiercest alpine tempests and for the unprepared, Washington can be an entirely unforgiving peak. This makes the Presidential Range an ideal training ground for the demands of Himalayan climbing, a perfect backyard for me. I’d also skin up Dartmouth Ski Way while I was on shift for ski patrol. Balancing school work and training has been one of the most difficult parts of preparing for this upcoming expedition. In March I finished up winter term,
The Climbing Youth Movement Continues: Matt Moniz
What did you do on your summer vacation? Well 12 year old Matt Moniz is trying the extraordinary. He and his father, Mike are tagging the highest points in all U.S. 50 States in 50 days. They just completed number 49, Granite Peak in Montana. Next up they leaving for Hawaii to tackle Mauna Kea. If you are curious about your state’s highpoint, take a look at this link. As might be expected, the lowest is Florida’s Britton Hill at 345′ and the highest is Denali in Alaska at 20,320′. The organization, highpointers.org tracks those going for the high points and helps with information.