MOUNTAIN CLIMBING
AND
MOUNTAINS IN SPACE

Greetings and welcome to The Deep column and the deepest radio show on Earth. The Deep is the science talk radio program that takes you from the depths of the ocean to the farthest reaches of the universe. This week on The Deep, aired at 6:00 this evening on K-57, we’ll talk about the extreme sport, mountain climbing. Then we’ll have some expedition calls. We’ll also have some science news updates on the Japanese robot mission to an asteroid and we’ll be taking your phone calls. Tune in tonight and join host Jim Sullivan, Pam Eastlick and our expedition coordinator Peter Melyan for the latest in scientific news! Then log on to www.thedeepradioshow.com for more information on all the latest and deepest news!

TOUCHING THE VOID
	Here on The Deep we do a lot of extreme stuff. We talk about deep sea dives, the perils of space for both humans and robots and the risks of illness. But possibly the most dangerous ‘sport’ on Earth is mountain climbing; particularly those mountains higher than 8,000 meters. The death rate for Mt. Everest was, until 1990, an astounding 37%. That year saw the start of ‘mountain tourism’ and an incredible influx of climbers to the world’s highest peak. Because of the large numbers of people who now make the climb, the fatality rate for Everest has dropped to 4%, but people still die on its slopes every year.
Climbers on Mt. Everest

K2 (also known as Mount Chogori or Godwin-Austin) is Earth’s second highest mountain, but it has another name. Because it is technically more difficult to climb than Everest, it doesn’t have the tourist infrastructure. Its current fatality rate of 20% (down from 41% with the advent of modern climbing equipment) has earned it the nickname “The Savage Mountain”.

The most frequent kind of death is sudden and shocking, a slip or drop off a sheer face, a fall into a crevasse, or—the biggest killer in terms of numbers—burial in an avalanche. But there is also slow death from "altitude sickness," an innocuous sounding phrase that refers to the consequences of an inadequate supply of oxygen reaching the bloodstream, producing strokes, cerebral and pulmonary edema, and other bodily breakdowns.

We’ve had many mountain climbers on The Deep; in fact, one of our co-hosts Peter Melyan is a mountain climber. Christine Boskoff, the world’s premier woman mountain climber is a frequent caller and we’ve taken many other expedition calls from atop the world’s highest peaks.

This week, we take a close-up look at one of the most terrifying mountain adventures. In 1985, two British climbers, Simon Yates and Joe Simpson were coming down from the peak of Siula Grande, a 6,344-meter peak in the Peruvian Andes.While several attempts had been made, none at that time were successful. For Simpson and Yates (then just 25 and 21 years old), Siula Grande's reputation should have served as a warning — at that point, the two climbing companions had scaled several peaks in the Alps, but this was their first trip to the Andes. They climbed the West face, and became the first people to reach the summit by that route, but they chose the North ridge for their descent, which although first descended in 1936 by a German team, was made almost impossible by horrible weather in 1985. One of the more interesting mountain climbing statistics is that 80% of all climbing accidents happen on the descent. Fatigue of both climbers and equipment plays a big part, but anyone who has ever climbed down from even a rugged hill knows that it’s harder to climb down than up.

Siula Grande

On that fateful day in 1985, Joe Simpson fell in a freak accident, driving his tibia (the ‘shin’ bone) through his kneecap and shattering the end of his femur. Simpson realized that his life was all but over and he was doomed to die in the Andes. But Simon Yates tried to save him. He began to slide his injured partner down the mountain's face with the aid of two 150-foot ropes. It was only after Simpson fell over the side of an ice-ledge and Yates was being pulled over the edge after him, that Yates was forced to cut the rope and save his own life.

Then, something miraculous happened. Join us this evening at 6:00 p.m. on The Deep to hear the outcome of this remarkable story.

MOUNTAINS IN SPACE
	Although it hasn’t been in the local news much, there’s astounding exploration going on in space right now. The Japanese robot spaceship, the Hayabusa is right now doing slow circles around the small asteroid Itokawa (about 1500 feet long and 900 feet in diameter) and preparing to land on its surface. It will then gather samples from the asteroid, blast off and bring them back to Earth. The Hayabusa mission has been a roller coaster of successes and failures. A small robot that was to have made a soft landing ahead of the mother ship was apparently lost and the first landing by Hayabusa was also a failure. But as you can see from the accompanying pictures, the mission has also had amazing successes. This picture features a very interesting shadow on the asteroid’s surface. No, it’s not the letter “I”. It’s the shadow of the Hayabusa spaceship!
And this one shows the total lack of craters on this extremely interesting small world. Why no craters? Scientists hope to figure this one out soon. Itokawa’s story is only beginning and even if the robot is unable to return samples, it has already greatly enhanced our knowledge of asteroids. We’ll be talking about Hayabusa tonight and hope to feature this amazing story in a future segment of The Deep.

Whether we’re learning about mountain climbing or mountains in space , The Deep, hosted by Jim Sullivan with Pam Eastlick and Peter Melyan is the place to be on K-57 tonight at 6:00 p.m. Don’t miss it!