Betsy Huelskamp, a columnist with WomenRidersNow.com, is on her way to attempting to summit Mt. Everest as part of an expedition team to be filmed by Discovery Channel. Last we reported, Betsy was seeking donations in an effort to raise the funds to pay for her part in an expedition that is being shot for Discovery Channels second installment of “Everest: Beyond the Limit.”
A few days before the deadline, Betsy raised the necessary funds to secure her spot on Team Himex, the expedition team led by renowned climbing leader Russell Brice. “The people who love me stepped forward in my life to turn this dream into a reality,” wrote Betsy from the plane ride to Kathmandu, Nepal. “Even people who just heard my story stepped out on a leap of faith to help. From $20 donations, to sponsors for my insanely expensive gear, it came together one step at a time which is exactly my plan for each of the next 75 days: one step at a time, one foot in front of the other.”
On Friday, April 13, WRN Editor Genevieve Schmitt received an email from Betsy writing from base camp situated at 17,500 feet. Betsy wrote that she had planned to dispatch blogs from base camp, but found it to be prohibitively expensive logging onto the Internet via satellite there. At this point, Betsy and Team Himexs adventures on Everest can be followed through a blog posted at http://discovery.blogs.com/everest/. Discovery.com hired journalist and photographer Greg Child to accompany the team to dispatch blogs and photos of Team Himexs expedition. His April 13 posting contains two photos of Betsy taken during the bus ride across the Tibetan plateau to base camp.
The plan is for the team to spend up to two weeks at base camp acclimating their bodies to the extreme 17,500-foot elevation. However, a dispatch from one team members blog, DavidTait.com, indicates the team may spend as little as five or six days at base camp before heading to advanced base camp. WRN will post updates regarding Betsy as they become available. In the meantime, her latest Backroads With Betsy column has been posted, an article she wrote on the plane to Kathmandu.