One of the world’s best Mountaineers is making his first trip to Australia and a Blue Mountains youth support group has been anointed as the beneficiary.
American climbing legend Conrad Anker will make three appearances in Australia over the next week thanks to The North Face Speaker Series – in Sydney, Melbourne and by invitation only in the Megalong Valley – with $10 from every ticket going to Mountains Youth Services Team. MYST is a specialist Blue Mountains based bush adventure program which has been running for at risk teens for 25 years.
MYST general manager Damian Cooper hopes the thousands of dollars raised can help cover costs of a pilot Outdoor Explore program his team is set to run in Lane Cove National Park in Sydney in spring. The 60-hour course is particularly targeted at teens with autism and will involve raft building, canyoning, canoeing, abseiling and a digital detox.
It’s the first time MYST has branched out of the Greater Blue Mountains region which Mr Cooper said was “quite exciting and a bit scary ... there are some logistical challenges”.
It is thanks to Blackheath adventurer James Castrission and North Face ambassador – “a champion of MYST” – that MYST was selected as the preferred charity by a man at the “forefront of the evolution of mountaineering”, Mr Cooper said.
“James of the Cas and Jonesy duo identifies MYST as his preferred charity and connects with the work [we do] on a moral and ethical level – getting young kids into the outdoors and having adventure experiences.”
Mr Castrission helped co-ordinate the mountaineer’s Australian visit and “was part of the conversation where they could support a charity and he spoke out for MYST”.
“Conrad is also interested in engaging with young people. It’s really exciting stuff – in addition to the donation to the ticket sales, he’s going to spend some time with some young people up here.”
Mr Cooper said they would “reproduce that experience” given to the Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge who visited Katoomba’s Narrow Neck Lookout with MYST participants.
“We think Conrad is an extraordinary human being and I am excited to meet him and, I have to say, I feel really affirmed once again that outside of the Mountains and outside of the community we are working in, we are recognised for what we are doing.”
Mr Anker, 56, has been climbing mountains for three decades, summiting Everest three times.
He’s narrowly escaped death a few times. He had a heart attack at 20,000 feet in Nepal in 2016 and now has a stent from the emergency surgery a few hours later.
But it was the avalanche in the Himalayas in 1999 that rocked his world, killing the climber’s best friend Alex Lowe. Alex ran one way, Conrad Anker ran the other and survived.
Anker has made “peace” with the mountains, married Alex’s widow and now knows “if you wake up every morning knowing this could be your last day, you’re going to make the most of it”.
In the same year he was buried in the avalanche, he was part of a research expedition and found the body of the pre-eminent explorer of the 1920’s, George Mallory, which had been missing for 75 years. He still undertakes missions to find climbers buried on the world’s highest peaks.
To book for the Sydney event go to: https://www.seymourcentre.com/events/event/the-north-face-conrad-anker/
