Tom Hornbein

Thomas ?Tom? Hornbein is a living legend of mountaineering and is a hero especially for americans.

Related Topics:
Mountaineer - Hero

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He was born in 1930 in St. Louis, Missouri. A beginning interest of the teenager in geology led to an interest in mountains, and this them led him to medicine: he studied and worked as an anesthesiologist. He studied the interdependencies of huge heights and human physiological limits. He was the president of the anesthesiology department at the Seattle University from 1978 to 1993. His life was a link of medicine and mountaineering.

Related Topics:
St. Louis - Missouri - Geology - Mountain - Medicine - Anesthesiologist - Height - Physiological - Seattle University

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When Hornbein and his partner Willi Unsoeld in 1963 attempted to climb on Mount Everest, in advance eight men were successful to reach on top of the earth. Hornbein and Unsoeld were the ever first men who took a way along of the West Ridge, a very dangerous and attempting way. Every succesful men else were gone along of the south col and the south ridge which is falsely named the ?Yak route?, denying the extreme danger of climbing on top of Mount Everest in any respect.

Related Topics:
Willi Unsoeld - 1963 - Mount Everest

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At May 22, 1963 they were on top of the world, some days later than their comrade Whittaker who was the first American on Mount Everest´s top. On same day there were two other Americans of the same expedition who were come along the normal route : Barry Bishop and Lute Jerstad, who were some hours earlier on top than Unsoeld and Hornbein. In descending along the south ridge they unified ? Unsoeld and Hornbein so took another way down than upstairs, and they were the first men ever to ?overstep? the height of Mt. Everest.

Related Topics:
Barry Bishop - Lute Jerstad

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Additionally they saved the life of the two comrades, when these came into big problems. Bad weather forced them to stay a night in a heigt above of 25.550 ft. Hornbein wrote about this night event in his book ?Everest. The West Ridge?:

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(bad re- translation from german?)

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The night was overwhelming empty. The black silhouette of the Lhotse Mountain was lurking there, half to see, half to assume, and below of us. In general there was nothing ? simply nothing. We hung in a timeless gap, pained by an intensive cold air ? and had the idea not to be able to do anything but to shiver and to wait for the sun arising.?

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In this very night Unsoeld took off the boots of Hornbein and warmed his feet by his own body. They went down by the rising sun. Then they met Dave Dingman and a Sherpa, who assisted by an oxygen bottle and so dropped their own change to go on top by helping the endangered four.

Related Topics:
Sherpa - Oxygen

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The Hornbein Couloir, a gap/track in the utmost upper part of the north wall which was passed by Unsoeld and Hornbein first was named according to Hornbein. The transverse of Mount Everest done by Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld went into the annals of Mount Everest climbing. It was a heroic adventure and became an early legend of Mount Everest. It seemed to be decades in front of the climbing history.

Related Topics:
Couloir - Adventure

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In the year 2002 Hornbein, 72 yrs old, was still active as a medicine professor and as a mountaineer.

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