Team Kirtland officer reaches Mount Everest peak

  • Published
  • By Adam Bailey
  • Nucleus staff writer
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  A Team Kirtland officer was part of the United States Air Force 7 Summits team that set out to climb the highest points on all seven continents. The team completed its last summit and accomplished its goal after climbing Mount Everest on May 7.

Capt. Andrew Ackles, a TH-1 instructor pilot assigned to the 58th Special Operations Wing, was part of the team that climbed Mount Everest. He also climbed Mount McKinley with the team, and Mount Aconcagua on his own.

"The trip really started for me in 2008 ,when I was invited to climb Mount McKinley in Alaska with the USAF 7 Summits team," Ackles said. "After that climb, the Everest seed was planted."

The USAF 7 Summits team was started by Maj. Rob Marshall and Maj. Mark Uberuaga in 2005. Their goal for the group was to promote fitness within the Air Force, raise money for military charities, and prove that with the proper preparation, planning and attitude, otherwise dangerous activities could be accomplished safely. They then chose to climb the highest land-based summits on each continent to help promote these goals.

The seven summits that were climbed were Mount Elbrus (Europe), Mount Kilimanjaro (Africa), Mount Aconcagua (South America), Mount McKinley (North America), Mount Vinson (Antarctica), Mount Kosciuszko (Australia) and Mount Everest (Asia).

Ackles said he made many personal sacrifices in order to make the Mount Everest trip, in particular financially.

"The entire cost of the trip was out of pocket, so that meant basically putting down my life savings," he said.

After the payments were made and preparations were completed, the USAF 7 Summits team set off to Kathmandu, Nepal. They then took a flight out to Lukla, a small airport in the mountains near Mount Everest. Their base camp was a 45-mile trek from there, where they climbed the Lobuche Mountain to help with the acclimatization process.

"Over the course of two months, we did multiple acclimatization climbs progressively further up the mountain with our Nepalese Sherpa at our side," Ackles said. "Although the mountain is just over 29,000 feet, you actually ascend a total of over 60,000 feet when all the acclimatization climbs are added up."

It took the group just under two months to make it to the top. Reaching the summit was one of the longest parts of the expedition.

"We left camp at 5 a.m. on May 19 and from there we climbed to the next camp at 26,000 feet, where we ate some food and prepared for the summit push. We didn't have time to nap and pushed out at about 9 p.m. on the same day. We climbed through the night and reached the summit at about 5 a.m. on May 20," Ackles said.

That same day, the group climbed down the mountain to a camp at about 21,000 feet. It was about 10 hours of descending the mountain before they had a chance eat or sleep.

Ackles, who has always been into climbing, is looking at other challenges to do besides climbing the highest mountains.

"I think I'll be staying away from 8,000 meter peaks for a while," he said. "A two-month adventure is a little more than either my leave balance or check book will be able to handle for a while. Right now I'm going to devote my attention to smaller endeavors like an Iron Man or a 50-ounce steak eating contest."

For more information about the USAF 7 Summits team, visit www.USAF7summits.com.