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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday January 10, 2009 - 3 No mountain too high for local climber By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF It began as a childhood fascination, but has now transformed into an Oakville realtor's desire to climb the 14 tallest mountains on Earth. Jesse Shahram Moeinifar, 32, is currently undergoing a vigorous workout routine as he prepares for a June encounter with Pakistan's Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II mountains. The challenge of climbing these first two mountains on Moeinifar's list is immense as each exceeds 26,000 feet in height making them the 11th and 13th tallest peaks in the world. "We're hoping to pull off the two of them in three months," said Moeinifar, who will be accompanied by a climbing partner from Munich. "Gasherbrum I is very dangerous, Gasherbrum II is dangerous, but not as much as the first one. They say severe fatigue and exhaustion, to the point of heart failure, happens on these mountains, which are more than 8,000 metres, but I think we're ready for them." The June expedition to the mountains of Pakistan will mark the culmination of the last four years of Moeinifar's life, which has been spent climbing mountains all around the world. Far from being an amateur, Moeinifar began climbing mountains in 2005 when he scaled the three highest peaks in Ecuador, the four highest peaks in Bolivia and two particularly precarious peaks in Peru. Moeinifar said he's not exactly sure where the desire to do all this came from. He does recall a vague childhood memory of someone telling him about Mount Everest and how it is the highest point on earth. Fascination over the idea that a person could actually get to this point stayed with Moeinifar until he was old enough to carry this interest one step further. "For some reason it clicked and I started rock climbing and ice climbing and stuff like that," said Moeinifar. In time, rock climbing gave way to mountaineering with Moeinifar setting his sights on a mountain in Ecuador for his first climb. The preparation for this climb, as with any climb, was an intense process. "You have to clean out your sys- SUBMITTED PHOTO TAKING A BREAK: Oakville resident Jesse Moeinifar poses with a village child during his journey to Peru to climb that country's highest mountain, Mount Huascaran. tem as much as you can," said Moeinifar. "That means cutting out all the fatty foods, booze and partying. For the beginner climbs, if you never exercise, it takes up to four months of training. I'm talking about five sessions of cardio a week, three to four sessions of weight training a week and then hitting the rock climbing gym, just so you get strong enough and get the lung capacity to do this." On top of getting physically ready to climb a mountain, there is also a bureaucratic aspect to it. A prospective climber must visit the country in question, register with the local authorities and purchase a mountain climbing permit, which can be extremely expensive. Moeinifar expects the permit to climb the Gasherbrum mountains to be around $10,000. For the taller mountains, Moeinifar noted, it also becomes necessary to pay for a guide, who knows the mountain well. This comes in handy if an avalanche renders one route impassible since the guide will most likely be aware of others. A more chilling piece of paperwork is the waiver most countries have a prospective climber sign, which certifies their awareness that if something goes wrong on the mountain there is no guarantee anyone will come to their rescue. "That's when it really hit me what I was doing," said Moeinifar, remembering when he signed his first waiver. "This is no walk in the park on a weekend in the Milton area. This is the real thing now." With all preparations complete, Moeinifar tackled the Ecuadorian mountain of Cayambe in November of 2005. Moeinifar noted that the reality of mountain climbing differs considerably from the way it is depicted in the movies as much of it is done at night, between 11 p.m. and 9 a.m., when the surfaces are more frozen. This means there is less need to worry about avalanches or falling debris. Considered a mountain for beginners, Cayambe is still an imposing work of nature stretching nearly 6,000 meters into the sky. It is also filled with perils, some of which Moeinifar encountered during his climb. "We got caught in a storm, it was a complete whiteout, we couldn't see our tracks. It got to the point where even my guide was getting nervous," said Moeinifar. "It was in that same moment that I realized how in love I am with this because I wasn't scared. I just said, `Okay, this is cool. This is the real deal. This is what I trained for. This is what I saw in those Discovery Channel documentaries.'" In the end, Moeinifar made it to the summit on his first try, something that has become a trend throughout all his climbs to date. The experience of making it to the top for the first time had a huge impact on Moeinifar, who said he laughed out loud, which no one else heard due to the screaming of the wind around him. "I literally crawled to the summit, because that day I'd been climbing for, like, seven hours, and once I stood up, I just felt like I'd found the beginning of the next phase of my life," he said. "I was awestruck. It was just beautiful. You feel like you're in God's country. When you see planes going by at the same altitude as you it's just kind of cool." As great a feeling as making it to the top of a mountain is, Moeinifar said, it only lasts a few minutes before reality sinks in and the long, equally dangerous journey down begins. Other mountains followed, with Moeinifar taking a rock from each one to remind him of the adventure. Wanting to remember these experiences may seem strange to some as months spent in a tent, extremely cold weather and unpredictable dangers are common themes in all of Moeinifar's mountain climbing memories. "You're completely uncomfortable the whole time. Even something as basic as going to the bathroom is awful because you get out of your tent and it's blistering cold to the point it feels like your skin is going to peel off," he said. "Other hardships you go through are lack of sleep, lack of appetite and complete dehydration." Moeinifar said he must also monitor himself for the potentially fatal high altitude related medical conditions of HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Edema) and HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema). Despite all these hardships, Moeinifar said, the risk is worth the reward. "All these things mean nothing when you're focused on a goal," he said. "It's incredible what the human mind can do." This determination will face the supreme test in the coming months as Moeinifar tackles the 14 tallest mountains the world. With mountaineering hardships only increasing the taller the mountain gets climbing the tallest in the world might sound like the goal of a masochist, however, Moeinifar notes he has his motives. "As of 2008 only 14 people have climbed all of the 14 highest peaks on Earth and only six have climbed all 14 without oxygen," said Moeinifar. "I'm going to try and do it without oxygen." Moeinifar is also hoping that completion of such a monumental task will raise awareness of the Make a Wish Foundation to which he currently donates 10 per cent of his earnings. Beyond that, Moeinifar notes it's all about the experience. "I've always been an adventurer and mountain climbing is one of the last great human adventures, going out there and braving the elements, I just love that aspect of it," he said. "Also you're seeing these countries from a point of view that other tourists just don't see them. These are uninhabitable places, so tourists never go there so it's really nice just being in the mountains by yourself."