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05.30.03
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Roskelleys return to Spokane
Family, friends greet climbers at airport
Sara Leaming
Staff writer
Spokesman-Review
After reaching the 29,035-foot peak of Mount Everest on May 21, the next thing Spokane County Commissioner John Roskelley plans to do is mow his lawn.
Three months after setting out for the world's tallest mountain, John and his son, Jess Roskelley, landed at the Spokane International Airport at about 10 p.m. Thursday, and were greeted by a small group of family, friends and fans.
Shortly after Jess Roskelley, 20, arrived, he was swarmed by a pack of screaming girls.
"They aren't here for me," John Roskelley, 54, wearily joked.
Jess Roskelley, a University of Montana student and mountain guide, became the youngest American to summit Everest.
The girls, high school friends of Jess, came to greet the new climbing legend in person.
"Isn't it intense?" one girl said, as Jess chatted on a cell phone to another eager friend.
For John Roskelley, summitting Everest was the completion of a effort he began long ago. He attempted Everest three times before, in 1983, 1984 and 1993.
Coming home this time means so much more because he made it, and because he had his son by his side, he said.
He took a leave of absence from his duties as a county commissioner, and Jess took a semester off from school to trek to the top of the world.
Now that the deed is done, both are looking forward to getting back to their normal lives.
The Roskelleys represented two generations of the "Generations on Everest" group of four climbers who set out to summit Everest in March. They were the only two to reach the summit.
The other half of the team, Dallas businessmen and Utah ski resort owner Dick Bass, 73, and Seattle attorney Jim Wickwire, 62, abandoned the climb after experiencing physical difficulties.
The Roskelleys ventured on, despite problems with weather, and a tooth infection Jess suffered early on.
Original plans called for a May 8 summit, but for nearly two weeks the winds blew at 80 mph or stronger, and the younger Roskelley was forced back down the mountain from a camp at 19,000 feet sometime in April. He had to hitchhike to Katmandu to get medical treatment for an abscessed tooth caused by a recent wisdom-tooth extraction.
On May 20, the father and son team arrived at lower base camp at 27,200 feet. They were going up, they said.
On May 21, they called home to Spokane via satellite phone to inform John's parents, Fenton and Violet Roskelley, that they had done it, they were standing on top of the world.
"I don't think the other climbs affected me as much, it was harder with this climb," said Fenton Roskelley, John's father and Jess' grandfather. "Before we didn't see, didn't know what was going on."
With advances in technology, he said they were able to talk to the climbers on occasion via satellite phone, and to write via e-mail nearly every day.
A Web site, www.generationson everest.com, also chronicled the journey, with audio bites and photographs as they made their way up, and eventually, down to where weary family members waited.
"It's so good to have them home," Violet Roskelley said. "Now we can relax until the next one."
•Sara Leaming can be reached at (509) 459-5442 or by e-mail at sarale@spokesman.com.
© 2003 Spokesman-Review
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05.29.03
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ROSKELLEY ARRIVAL AT SEATAC ON ALASKA #199 AT 6:13 PM; RETURN TO SPOKANE AT 10PM
John and Jess Roskelley, the father and son duo who reached the 29,035 foot summit of Mt. Everest on May 21, have cleared US Customs in Los Angeles and will be arriving at Seatac on Alaska Flight #199 scheduled at 6:13 pm.
John just called from LA via Iridium Satellite Phone to confirm their return to the US. Upon arriving in Seattle, they will exit the Alaska concourse and move immediately to the Airport Theater at the south end of the main terminal for statements, interviews and questions.
They are confirmed on Alaska #2314 to Spokane at 9 pm, scheduled to arrive at 10 pm.
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05.23.03
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JOHN AND JESS ARE BEGINNING THEIR TREK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE NEWS MEDIA
Since news of the Roskelley's successful summit of Everest swept the country on Wednesday, the news media, both regional and national, have been heaping praise on the two Spokane climbers. The four prime national television networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX), the CBS Radio Network and NPR (National Public Radio) all reported on the father and son duo, including Jess's record-setting summit as the youngest American ever. Cable news network, CNBC, waited patiently to talk to them but when a connection could not be made, they still ran a lengthy story of their mountaineering achievement. The Associated Press reached newspapers, radio and television stations all over the country with coverage from their Spokane and Seattle bureaus.
Tonight (Friday, May 23), ESPN will interview John and Jess between 4pm and 8pm PDT. In the morning tomorrow (Saturday, May 24), the CBS Early Show will talk to them via Iridium Satellite phone. And Sunday, May 24, CNN will interview them from base camp at 8:45 am EDT.
More media will carry their story as they work their way back to Kathmandu and then home to Spokane through Seattle. This is definitely a father-and-son story that has captured the public's interest. And no one is more deserving of the public's respect and admiration than John and Jess.
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05.21.03
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JESS ROSKELLEY BECOMES YOUNGEST AMERICAN TO SUMMIT WORLD'S TALLEST MOUNTAIN
SEATTLE: Word has just been received via Iridium satellite phone that at 7:30 am on May 21 (NEPAL TIME), American climbing legend John Roskelley, 54, and his son Jess, a college student and mountain guide, reached the 29,035 foot summit of Mount Everest. Jess at 20 years old is now the youngest American to ever climb the mountain. Their final ascent day was very difficult with snow and heavy winds all the way up. They spent a short time on the summit and were returning to high camp at 27,500 feet when they called at 9:30 PDT this evening. The return to base camp will take a few days, depending on conditions, and they expect to leave the mountain and return to the US by the end of the month.
There were three generations of climbers on this expedition...John and Jess are the second and third. The first generation included Dick Bass, 73, trying to be the oldest person to climb the mountain, and Jim Wickwire, 62, the first American to climb K2 the world's second tallest mountain. Bass, who was the first person to climb the world's Seven Summits (the highest peak on each of the seven continents) and Wickwire gave up their chances at the summit last week after nagging physical problems forced the team to determine that the Roskelley's had the best chance at summiting. The two experienced climbers pooled their resources for the Roskelley's summit attempt and left the mountain to return home to the US.
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Roskelleys Reach Top of the World
Father, son make it to Everest summit
Sara Leaming
Staff writer, Spokesman Review
Standing on top of the world's tallest mountain early today, 20-year-old Jess Roskelley became the youngest American to make it to the summit of Mount Everest.
The University of Montana student and his father, Spokane County Commissioner John Roskelley, planted their feet atop the 29,035-foot mountain at about 7:30a.m. today, or about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday night in Spokane, a family member said.
For John Roskelley, 54, the summit was a sweet victory after failed attempts at Everest in 1983, 1984 and 1993.
The commissioner called home to his parents in Spokane on Tuesday night via satellite phone.
"He said they were up there but he could hardly talk, he was all out of breath," said Fenton Roskelley, John's father and Jess' grandfather.
"He just said it was good to be with Jess," Fenton Roskelley said. "It was a very short call. He just wanted us to know they made it."
The father and son climbing team represents two generations of the "Generations on Everest" group that set out for the summit from Katmandu, Nepal, on March 26.
Dallas businessman and Utah ski resort owner Dick Bass was attempting to be the oldest person to climb the mountain at 73. He and Seattle attorney Jim Wickwire, 62, abandoned their attempts after experiencing physical difficulties.
Bass suffered a back injury that prevented him from carrying a pack and moving freely.
Wickwire, the first American to climb K2, the world's second-highest peak, was unable to acclimatize to the higher altitude after being pinned down by high winds.
The Roskelleys continued their push for the summit after Bass and Wickwire left the mountain and returned to the United States last week.
The original plan called for a May 8 summit attempt, but that plan was delayed by winds of 80 mph or stronger for nearly two weeks.
In a satellite phone call Monday night, the pair called home to say they had made it to high camp at 27,200 feet, and said they were in good physical health and would make the attempt for the summit in the next few days.
The final leg of the journey was a day's climb of 1,835 vertical feet via the Northeast Ridge route from high camp.
"They said the weather's pretty bad," Fenton Roskelley said. "But they made it."
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04.17.03
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Roskelley and Son Prepare for Everest Ascent
Associated Press
SEATTLE – Four American climbers, three of them from Washington state, are positioned on the north side of Mount Everest, waiting for the early May window of good weather to begin their ascent, a spokesman says.
All are seasoned climbers but only one – Dick Bass, 73, of Dallas – has reached the summit of the 29,035-foot peak before. That was in 1985, the year he achieved his goal of climbing the world's seven highest peaks.
Bass was 65, at the time the oldest person to have reached Everest's peak. That record has since been beaten and Bass, owner of Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort in Utah, hopes to get it back, the team's Seattle spokesman, Dan McConnell, said Wednesday.
KING Only one of the four climbers has reached the summit of the 29,035-foot peak before. Joining Bass are veteran Northwest climbers Jim Wickwire of Seattle, a 62-year-old attorney, and John Roskelley of Spokane, a 54-year-old Spokane County commissioner. Both have attempted Everest but never summited.
Rounding out the group is Roskelley's 20-year-old son Jess, a mountain guide taking time off from his studies at the University of Montana. He could become the youngest American to reach the summit.
The party arrived at Katmandu, Nepal – the traditional jumping-off point for Everest – on March 26, McConnell said. They rented a truck and drove to the north side of the mountain, in Tibet, arriving March 30, and then began the climb.
Their current camp is at Rongbuk Glacier, at about the 17,000-foot level.
"Jim Wickwire is actually up at 21,000 feet with John Roskelley right now – just to stay overnight and acclimatize," said McConnell, who stays in touch via cellular phone and satellite pager. The climbers also have computer access.
Generations on Everest website 20-year-old Jess Roskelley of Spokane stands in the shadow of the north face of Mt. Everest. The next goal is to establish a high base camp at North Col, at about 23,000 feet, after all the climbers have adjusted to the extreme altitude, McConnell said.
The plan is to establish two or three more camps – about a day apart – between North Col and the summit. They'll begin using oxygen at about 26,000 feet.
"They plan to go for the summit about the second week of May," he said. If all goes well, they could be back at the foot of the peak by May 20 or so, and back home by June 1.
One unforeseen complication is the large number of climbers – at least 300 – waiting for a break in the weather, McConnell said.
"I think they could just lay down head to foot and these guys could walk up on the bodies. ... Interest and activity over there has grown." He attributed the congestion to recent books about the Himalayan challenge.
"I think they've decided to stay on their own schedule. They'll just have to stay out of other people's way," McConnell said.
"It will ultimately be an issue because when that window of good weather comes – which is why they climb this time of year, when there's good weather, good visibility – it could get crowded."
One Chinese party of nine climbers has an entourage totaling about 120 people, McConnell noted.
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03.13.03
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Mount Everest, Not Politics, is this Official's Career Peak Roskelley, Veteran Climber and Spokane Co. Commissioner, Ready for Ultimate Challenge
By Neil Modie, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter
Lots of politicians have high ambitions, but those of John Roskelley, a Spokane County commissioner, are 5 1/2 miles high.
They're at the roof of the world, 29,035-foot Mount Everest, which Roskelley, 54, a world-class mountaineer, intends to climb this spring with three others, including his son, Jess, 20, an unusually experienced mountain climber for his age.
The elder Roskelley's mountaineering ambitions are far higher than his political ambitions, which stand at a mere 1,880 feet, the elevation of Spokane. The commissioner, first elected in 1995, has no interest in leaving his birthplace for a higher elected office -- especially not Congress, despite the urgings of some of his fellow Democrats.
He has no lack of stubbornness, both as a climber and as a politician. That is a trait his political admirers say have made him a respected if sometimes controversial elected official in a conservative, resource-dependent community where outspoken environmentalists such as Roskelley don't often get elected to anything.
Although in the late 1970s and 1980s he was considered one of the world's premier high-altitude climbers and more than 1,400 people have reached the summit of the world's highest mountain, Roskelley never has. He has four previous attempts, all without supplemental oxygen and all with other climbers.
"It's unfinished business for me," he said in an interview. "I've tried Everest four times, and something came up each time, and I just didn't make it. I hate to leave something undone."
Avalanches thwarted Roskelley in 1981, a potentially fatal pulmonary edema struck him in 1983, frostbite threatened him with loss of his hands and feet in 1984, and monsoon snows pummeled him in 1993.
He isn't the only one with unfinished business on Everest.
Jim Wickwire of Seattle, another world-renowned mountaineer, has made three previous attempts on Everest, including one with Roskelley in 1993, but has never reached the top. So now he and Roskelley -- who reached the summit of K2, the world's second-highest mountain, together in 1978 -- are again attacking Everest together.
Roskelley has also climbed Makalu, the world's fourth-highest peak, and Dhaulagiri, the sixth-highest.
Ironically, the only one of the four climbers to have reached the summit of Everest is the only one who readily admits he's a non-climber.
At a news conference by the four at the Space Needle yesterday, 73-year-old Dick Bass of Dallas acknowledged: "I'm not a real climber. I'm a peak bagger, and that's a very opprobrious term" among mountaineers. But the Utah ski-resort owner was the first person to climb the world's "Seven Summits," the highest peak-- including Everest in 1985 -- on each of the seven continents.
The four depart for Nepal on Wednesday, intend to reach the summit of Everest the first week of May and plan to return home by the end of May.
If they reach the summit, it will be unique in several ways, including their 53-year age span.
Bass would be the oldest person ever to climb Everest, a distinction he previously held at 55. The youngest Everest summiteer would be Jess Roskelley, a University of Montana sophomore and Mount Rainier climbing guide, who has 35 ascents of Rainier and climbs elsewhere in North America and India.
Wickwire is 62.
While most climbers, including Bass, have reached Everest's summit from the South Col route, the "Generations on Everest" team is climbing the Northeast Ridge, on the Tibetan side, which Roskelley said is more remote and requires more technical climbing than the standard route but is less physically difficult to approach
The climbers will send reports back to their Web site, generationsoneverest.com, using a laptop computer.
The group will have several advantages over their previous attempts in the 1980s and 1990s, including lighter oxygen tanks and technologically superior clothing and equipment. And there will be at least two other mountaineering parties on the route at the same time as the Generations team, so they won't have to put in as many routes and ropes as they might have otherwise.
Some of the four, though, will also have a disadvantage: age.
"You climb slower as you get older," Wickwire noted, and the risk of stroke, heart attack and altitude sickness is greater.
Bass said a stress test he underwent Tuesday showed he's "in great shape," but he admitted being 20 pounds overweight.
Not John Roskelley, who said that at 154 pounds is as lean as he's ever been. He lifts weights, runs five to eight miles a day and climbs every year, in Bhutan, the Canadian Rockies and the Cascades, frequently with his son, who said his father never pushed him to become a climber.
The senior Roskelley, who has written three books about his mountaineering experiences, annually leads a Himalayan trek for an adventure-travel company. But his last high-altitude climb was 10 years ago, on Everest. This time, unlike the last four, he will use oxygen. "I'm older and it's a safety issue," he said.
To make the two-month trip, Roskelley is combining vacation time with an unpaid leave of absence from his elective job. One of his last public chores, as chairman of Spokane County's three-member board of commissioners -- the other two are Republicans -- will be to deliver the annual state-of-the-county address to his constituents tomorrow
Chris Marr, a friend and a Spokane business leader, said the determination that has made Roskelley a successful mountaineer has also made him a successful public official.
"He is very goal-focused. When you're on a mountain, you don't change your mind halfway up," said Marr, who is president of the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce, and who headed Roskelley's 2000 re-election campaign.
The businessman and the environmentalist/politician are close, although Roskelley isn't the favorite county commissioner of some segments of the business community.
When he ran in 2000, he had a Democratic primary opponent and a Republican general election opponent, both backed by development, real-estate and billboard interests, groups with which he has warred. Roskelley was re-elected handily.
"I'm an environmentalist," he said. "Every day you can see places where if someone else was here in this office, this whole county would be paved over."
Democrats have made periodic attempts to persuade Roskelley to run for Eastern Washington's 5th District congressional seat, held by Republican George Nethercutt. But Roskelley emphatically declines: "I would never run for a two-year term. I'm not a campaigner. I suffer through campaigns."
He said he is "not politically oriented," something Marr seconded, saying Roskelley is typically too outspoken for his own political good. And he enjoys public service at the county level and life on his family's 40-acre farm in Spokane County. He is a volunteer firefighter and a death investigator for the county medical examiner, both unpaid jobs.
Tom Keefe, the Spokane County Democratic Party chairman, said that when he ran unsuccessfully against Nethercutt in 2000, "I met (Democratic officials and supporters) back in D.C. who said, 'Well, it's nice that you're running, but we'd love to see Roskelley run for Congress.' "
Keefe added, "I think (Roskelley) can realistically assess the risks and dangers of climbing Mount Everest, and the fact that he can assess the risks and downsides of running for Congress tells me that he's a pretty squared-away guy."
P-I reporter Neil Modie can be reached at 206-448-8321 or neilmodie@seattlepi.com
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