Meeting Notes 6th August 2018 - Steve Plain (Aug 06, 2018)

Full House

Meeting Notes

6th August 2018

Guest Speaker

Steve Plain

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President David Ellis welcomed Rotarians and guests to the Rotary Club of Dalkeith.

President David asked members to sing the anthem. John Thornton led the way.

President David welcomed Guest Speaker, Mountaineer Steve Plain and gave a warm welcome to his first meeting with RCD 2018 Inbound RYE Student, Brazilian Carlos (who likes to be referred to as Cadu) who coincidentally was celebrating his birthday.

APOLOGIES AND LEAVE OF ABSENCE:

President David advised based on his best possible estimate 64 Members and Guests were expected to attend the meeting.

VISITING ROTARIANS and GUESTS:

Brian and Plain (father and mother of Steve) from RC Turramurra, Geoff and Nancy Hick (RC West Perth), 6 visitors connected with the Plain/Cole families, Barb Cole, Marion Cahiff, Robyn Chien, Marg Dienhoff, Katrina Hopkins, Helen Ilett, Colette James, Ros Smith, Brenda Bannon, June Wilkie.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK:

The question for this week was read by PP Craig James

Question:

Name 3 Titles written by Danny Parker of Perth

http://dannyparker.com.au/books/

Answer:

Perfect,
Lola’s Toy Box,
Parachute,
Tree,
No Kind of Superman.

Answered by The Plain Family table with a little help from his Rotarian friend John Lindquist.

FAMILY AND FRIENDS ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Tim Humphry announced the arrival of his 7^th grandchild, Harry born to daughter Sarah on 3 August.
Kevin Jackson reported that Richard Ranshaw’s operation had been successful and that he was recuperating at home,
John Murdoch informed the meeting that Agata Biscupska, former RCD RYE Student, will be visiting Perth in January 2019 for 4 weeks.

BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES: (Bob Davis)
Cherry Martin’s Birthday.

Dick and Jo Sudlow’s 52^nd Wedding Anniversary.

MEETING ATTENDANCE: (Ian Ritchie)

The meeting learnt the attendance at the meeting of 30 July was 63.8%, tonight we had 67 in attendance and will learn the percentage next week.

COMMITTEE REPORTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Charitable Trust: (Russell Hawkins):

RH announced he expects to receive his supply of Snake and Herring Cabernet Merlot 2014 and Snake and Herring Sauvignon Blanc 2017 this week. The wine can be purchased from Russell for $125 a dozen. Rotarians should contact RH.

Club Secretary’s Report (Craig James):

Nothing to Report.

Club Treasurer’s Report (Anthony McGrath):

Anthony announced that he is receiving a steady stream of payments of Invoices.

Payment to the General Account is requested.

Club Service: (John Murdoch):

John advised he had Fruit Cakes to distribute to those Rotarians that had ordered them.

Community Service: (Peter Robertson):

No report.

Vocational Service: (Peter Marfleet).

No report.

Foundation and International Service: (Peter Webb):

Ken Ilett reported that RI has approved the Club’s application for a Global Grant, a new bus for the Bali Eye Clinic should be delivered within 3 weeks to the Bali Eye Clinic. .President David commended KI for the efforts of himself and his Committee.

Public Relations: (Kevin Jackson):

No report.

Membership: (Peter Panek):

A Committee meeting will be held in the on Monday 13 August at Peter’s Home.

Youth: (Kim Smith):

Kim welcomed Cadu to the Club.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS:

No report.

President’s Report;

President David reported that;

Courtesy of Qantas, 20 containers of blankets, doonas, pillows cases have been delivered to Red Cross.

President David reminded Members;

that they should be ever conscious of the open invitation/duty to invite to meetings guests who may be potential new members/friends of RCD.
The series of Rotary Institute Seminars coming up in September and October

SERGEANT: (Trevor Gorey):

Arrivals Tax - Hopkins, Smith,K, Panek, Ilett,

Birthday tax – Martin obo Cherrie,

Anniversary Tax – Dienhoff,

Football Tipping Winner – Goh,

Poor sportsmanship fine – all West Coast Supporters,

New Car Tax – Martin,

New arrival tax – Tim Humphry,

Father of a superhero tax – Brian Plain.

Steve Pain was introduced by Stuart McCoubrie.

GUEST SPEAKER:

Steve was born in New South Wales and grew up in Albury. He attended Sydney University and was a competitive sportsman over a range of disciplines including triathlon. Steve graduated from Sydney University with an Engineering/Commerce degree and is currently employed in Perth with Icon Engineering

Steve addressed the meeting.

He was first introduced to mountains in 1998 during the Scouting Tour which took him to the Mount Everest Base Camp. This visit did not include mountain climbing but sowed the seeds of interest in altitude activities.

The Scouting Tour experience was pushed into the background as Steve achieved his degree and forged his new career in Engineering

Steve's hectic, career-driven life was halted on 13 December 2014 when a body surfing accident at Cottesloe Beach resulted in Steve breaking his neck, being hospitalised and placed in a neck brace for over four months during which time he was unable to shower. If it had not been for the efforts of two Cottesloe Lifesaving Club members who came to Steve's aid he would not have survived the accident.

The initial prognosis was the expectation of life in a wheelchair, but Steve defied those odds. Steve explained that the hours spent on his back looking at a blank hospital ceiling gave him time to reflect on his life, ask himself if he was happy with its achievements to date and led him to the realisation that he had suffered a loss of personal ambition and ultimately set himself the challenge of climbing the highest peaks on the world's seven continents within seven months.

Steve acknowledges that the support received from his family and friends during his recuperation, planning, training and execution of Project 7 in 7 (as it was initially known, later Project 74) has humbled him.

Steve set himself the intermediate goal of learning to climb mountains - his first practice climb was on Mt Aspiring (3033m) in New Zealand's Southern Alps followed by Chopicalqui (6354m) in the Peruvian Andies, Ama Dablam (6812m) in Nepal and finally Lhotse (8516m) Nepal in the shadow of Mt Everest but 300m lower.

Returning to Australia Steve began to plan Project 7 in 7 but soon realised as an alternative, climbing seven mountains in four months was more challenging and also offered a Guinness Book of Records opportunity. The then existing record was seven mountains on seven Continents in 126 days.

The newly adopted Project 74 meant some climbing would have to be done "out of season" without the support of rescue services and in less than optimal weather conditions.

A typical Engineer, Steve used detailed spreadsheets to plan every aspect of Project 74 while he embarked on even more intense physical training.

On 7 January 2018 Steve with English climbing colleague Jon Gupta left Sydney for Antarctica to tackle the first of 7 mountains. They reach the summit of Mount Vinson (4892m) on 16 January 2018. An "easy" climb in -32°C temperature.

Travelling east to Alaska, the climb of Mount Denali (6190m) also out of season was conditional upon Steve and Jon signing an indemnity with the local Ranger Rescue Services acknowledging the Service could not guarantee to rescue them because of the unpredictable and wild conditions. To improve their odds, realising this would be their most difficult climb, Steve invited two friends to join he and Jon on the climb. The four-member team set off knowing they were the only climbers on the mountain and with a tenuous rescue lifeline.

The second climb was Mount Aconcagua (6962m) in South America. He and Jon reached the summit on 28 January 2018.

Mt Kilimanjaro (5895m) in Tanzania was the next to be conquered on the 14th of February 2018 followed by a "casual" walk and an overnighter in the crater which caps the mountain.

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Image result for steve plain mountaineer Elbrus

Carstensz Pyramid (4884m) in West Papua was the fourth climb to be ticked off the list. Steve and Jon submitted on 21 February 2018.

Steve broke away from Project 74 to participate on 3 March 2018 in the Mt Kosciuszko Wheelchair Summit Challenge an event conducted by the Rotary Clubs of Turramurra and Cooma which saw children in wheelchairs reach a height beyond their dreams. Steve reported that it was an incredible day reaching the highest point in Australia with six wheelchair participants and raising money for charity.

Returning to Project 74, Steve and Jon moved to the northern hemisphere and Mt Elbrus (5642m) in Russia. The climb was undertaken "out of season" and was tough going at the higher altitudes. And completed on 13 March.

Porting the equipment up the mountain over 14 km to the Base Camp at -25°C was more difficult than anticipated and took longer than planned. Once they had made their Base Camp extreme weather held them marooned for eight days at it, only leaving their tents to rebuild the walls of snow constructed around their tents to protect them from ferocious winds and snow storms which threatened the future of the ascent. Food and other supplies were running low.

On day 9, a break in the weather forecast to last 24 hours permitted Steve and Jon to leave the Base Camp and commence the climb to the summit in extreme weather conditions. The temperature was dropping as they climbed higher passing -40°C, causing, amongst other things, their water to freeze which in turn caused the climbers to suffer from dehydration as well as the cold. They arrived at the summit at 10 pm on 4 April where the temperature was a bracing, -51°C. Steve and Jon enjoyed the satisfaction of the summit for a short time before returning to the Base Camp which they reached at 5 am climbing down with the aid of head torches which beneficially illuminated only the path and not the treacherous chasm and cliffs beside the paths. The team emerged from the assault on Denali after 17 days of total isolation and remarkably with all digits intact.

Steve described the conquering of Denali as an imposing challenge because of the temperature and isolation but in hindsight, it was easier than Everest.

The Everest (8848m) climb was made in the climbing season. Arriving at the summit later in the morning than planned Steve and Jon with Pemba Sherpa had to share it with some 25 other climbers. They completed their assent at 7:10 am on 14 May 2018, 116 days from the start of the climb of Mount Vinson. Steve Jon and Pemba had set off from Camp 4 with oxygen bottles at 10 pm the previous night planning to arrive at the summit at sunrise. Other climbers in front of them caused their progress to slow and to miss the sunrise. They spent 30 minutes of the crowded summit before for ascending arriving back at Camp 4 at 11:30 am.

Before continuing to the Base Camp, as a warm down (as it were) Steve and Jon decided to tackle the adjoining Mount Lhotse (8516m), (which Steve had previously climbed as part of his learning exercises). They completed the additional challenge which brought to two the number of mountains higher than 8000m they had climbed in two consecutive days.

Steve says reaching the summit of Mount Everest was a bittersweet moment.

"People think that when you reach Everest you are over the moon but for me, it was nice to reach the summit, but it also marked the end of what was an incredible journey and I'd soon have to go home and get back to reality’”. “For me, it hasn't just been about breaking the record and Everest, it was the journey the whole way through. I love having a challenge and having something to work towards".

Steve's achievement raised $45,000 which was donated to Spinal Care Australia and Surf Life Saving W.A. The achievement also crystallised the realisation that "what might at first appear impossible will eventually become inevitable" Steve had conquered a broken neck and within four years climbed the highest mountains on the seven continents in 116 days.

The record is yet to be confirmed by the Guinness Book of Records which will be provided with GPS data, photographs and witness statements to support the record claimed by Steve Plain and Jon Gupta.