2005 Everest South Side Expedition 
Directed by Eric Simonson • Led by Mark Tucker 

Expedition Team

Leadership Team:

    Eric Simonson
    IMG Director
    Eric Simonson International Mountain Guides Director Eric has been a professional mountain guide since 1973 and has personally conducted over 85 major expeditions around the globe, including over 25 to the Himalayas. He has become recognized internationally as one of the world's premiere mountaineering expedition leaders, specializing in climbs of Mt. Everest and the other classic 8,000m peaks of the Himalayas. During his thirty-year professional career he has spent over 5,000 days of active guiding, and is a Senior Certified Alpine Guide and Ski Mountaineering Guide. His international guiding and climbing resume includes expeditions on every continent of the globe, including ascents of the "Seven Summits" and eleven expeditions to Mt. Everest, reaching the summit in 1991 via the North Ridge.

    Eric co-authored Ghosts of Everest, published by The Mountaineers Books in October 1999, sharing the story of his 1999 Mallory & Irvine Research Expedition and recently named as one of the 20th Century's 50 best mountaineering books by the American Alpine Club. He also co-authored Detectives on Everest, published by The Mountaineers Books in July 2002, recapping the 2001 Mallory & Irvine Research Expedition which conducted the world's highest archeology project and culminated with the accomplishment of the highest mountaineering rescue in history.
    Mark Tucker
    Expedition Leader
    Climbing guide Mark Tucker International Mountain Guides Mark Tucker has been guiding since 1985, with Mt. Rainier as the starting point. Since then, he has climbed and guided classic peaks on seven continents, with the summit of Mt. Everest as his high point. Mark's extensive experience in South America, Africa and the Himalayas, combined with his lengthy career guiding on Rainier and Denali in the US, makes him a super member of our guide team. When not in the hills, he leads a fun-filled Other Life. Passions by land include mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, motorcycle riding, and gardening (he's still working on the golf game.) By water, he enjoys surfing, kayaking, wind surfing , scuba diving , water skiing, and fishing, and by air, hang gliding.
    Ang Jangbu Sherpa
    Assistant Expedition Leader
    Climbing guide Ang Jangbu Sherpa International Mountain Guides Jangbu is a partner and director of Great Escapes, a premier trekking and climbing agency in Nepal. Jangbu grew up in the village of Phortse where he attended the Hillary school until the age of 18. In 1981 he moved to Pokhara and lived there for seven years and trained under the legendary Colonel Jimmy Roberts, the founder of Nepal's first trekking company and the trekking industry in the Nepal Himalaya. He then moved to Kathmandu and started Great Escapes with his two other partners in the spring of 1993. Jangbu is married and has two children. He has been on dozens of expeditions, including summitting Everest on the 1990 American Everest Expedition. Jangbu has climbed Europe's Mt. Blanc and most of the 14,000-foot peaks in Colorado, and has served as assistant instructor for Colorado Outward Bound.
    Ang Passang Sherpa
    Climbing Sirdar
    Climbing guide Ang Passang Sherpa International Mountain Guides Ang Passang has been working for IMG as a climbing sirdar since 1997. Ang Passang has been on a dozen expeditions to Everest alone and has summited four times. He has also summited Cho Oyu three times and has climbed on Dhaulagiri, Makalu, Nuptse, and Ama Dablam. Ang Passang is from the village of Pangboche and is married with four children.

Everest Climbers:
    Dave Hahn (Guide)
    Walter Laserer (Guide)
    Mike Hamill (Guide)
    Ed Diffendal
    Larry Legault
    Doug Brockmeyer
    Renate Schachinger
    Wayne Morris
    Jeff Strite
    Jose Rionda
    Peter Ford
    Nacho Piedra
    Jim Waldron
    Rex Pemberton

Base Camp Trekkers:
    Deirdre Galbraith
    Debra Brockmeyer
    Michelle Mongey
    Jonathan Calvert

Island Peak Climbers:
    Kristy Kleedehn
    Carole Shiffman

Khumbu Icefall Climbers:
    Michael Dunne
    Mark Wippich

IMG Climbing Sherpas:
    Ang Passang, Pangboche
    Danuru, Phortse
    Tashi Tshering, Pangboche
    Phinjo , Phortse
    Lhakpa Nuru, Phortse
    Tenzing Phinjo, Phortse
    Mingma Tenzing, Phortse
    Passang Rinjing, Phortse
    Ramji , Pangboche
    Ang Namgya, Pangboche
    Kami Passang, Khumjung
    Chebi Bhote, Makalu
    Nima Karma, Phortse
    Da Zhangbu, Pangboche
    Samduk Dorje , Pangboche
    Dawa Nuru, Phortse
    Panuru, Phortse
    Phunuru, Phortse
    Mingma Ongel, Phortse
    Da Sona, Pangboche

ABC Cooks:
    Mingmar, Solu
    Lhakpa Bhote, Makalu

Base Camp Cook Staff:
    Pemba Tshering, Baganje
    Dan Sher Tamang, Solu
    Shyam Prasad Pun, Myagdi
    Thakur, Ramechap
    Dhan Kumar, Solu
    Phinjo Dorje, Pangboche
    Tan Kumar , Solu
    Tenzing Sherpa, Dolakha


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