Greeks climb Mount Everest from both sides

Hellas Everest mission accomplished after succeeding in putting eight of its 12 members on the summit of world’s highest mountain

By Yvette Varvaressou - Kathimerini English Edition

Three members of a Greek mountaineering mission have reached the top of Mount Everest from its northern approach in Tibet, just two days after five of their fellow team members planted the Greek and Olympic flags on the summit after reaching it from the south.

Hellas Everest team members at base camp who spoke to Kathimerini by telephone yesterday said their technical adviser Giorgos Tsianos left from a camp at 7,900 meters on the northern side of the mountain late Monday night.

He overtook fellow team members Costas Apostolopoulos and Giorgos Argyris, who had set off from Camp 3 at 8,300 meters.

Tsianos made the distance to the 8,850-meter summit in roughly seven hours, compared to the usual 10, according to the mounteverest.net website, and was the first climber to reach the summit from the north side this season, where weather conditions have been poor. Apostolopoulos and Argyris arrived at the summit a couple of hours later.

“Thank you for believing in me,” was Tsianos’s first statement to team sponsor Pavlos Aggelatos over the satellite phone the moment he reached the top.

On Sunday, Giorgos Voutyropoulos was the first Greek to reach the summit of Everest, climbing from the south side.

He arrived on the peak at about 6 a.m. after climbing through the night, along with a local Sherpa porter, Pema Tshiring.

They were followed to the top three hours later by south side group leader Panayiotis Kotronaros, Antonis Antonopoulos, and Michalis Styllas, as well as four Sherpas. Pavlos Tsiantos, who is filming the expedition, arrived at 10.50 a.m.

The Hellas Everest mission, financed by Aggelatos, a Greek-Canadian businessman who has been with the team since they arrived in Nepal in late March for acclimatization and training, is the first Greek team to summit Everest.