Robert Chang

Robert Chang (1968 - ) is a professional mountain guide and motivational speaker. Robert was born in California and started technical climbing in 1988.

Climbing Background

Robert started climbing in the mountains of Santa Cruz, California, most notably at Castle Rock State Park. He had a fear of heights and at the time when he 20 years old, he was learning to rappel to use the skill in his planned career in law enforcement. He spent his first three climbing seasons scaling rock walls in Yosemite Valley with ascents up El Capitan via the famed "Nose" route and Half Dome via the Regular Route.

Later he climbed at a high rock climbing level in the Yosemite Decimal System in the early 1990s and ascending the climbs Hot Lava Lucy (YDS 5.13a) and Ranger Bolts (YDS 5.13b) in Pinnacles National Monument.

After many years working for the gear retailer REI, Robert decided to climb full time. In 1997 he climbed Mount Ama Dablam under the leadership of Daniel Mazur. In 1999 he climbed Ishinca in the Peruvian Andes. He and his partner, a Navy SEAL, planned to ascend Huascaran, but the pair rescued the leader of a guided climb in the region who was suffering from severe pulmonary edema. Evacuating to low altitude, their expedition was ended as considerable time was spent assisting the climber.

In 2000, he was a team member on the 2000 Iventa Everest Environmental Expedition. In 2001 he led the 2001 Imja Tse Memorial expedition. In 2002 he attempted an ascent on Monte Pissis in Argentina. In 2003 he led an expedition that climbed both on Imja Tse and Lobuche East.

In 2004 he climbed on Mount McKinley, Alaska on two expeditions which he led. On the second of these expeditions, Robert and his climbing partner, Johnathan Gray assisted a descending climbing team which had one member who was suffering from advanced cerebral edema and another with an injured arm. This effectively ended their ascent.

Mount Everest 2005

In 2005, he was the Director for the Everest Climbing For A Cure Expedition. He successfully climbed Mount Everest on May 31, 2005 in memoriam for his sister, Marie, who died of a rare form of cancer in 2001. His sirdar for his expedition was famed Appa Sherpa, world record holder for the most summits of Mount Everest. He started a grassroots organization that promotes cancer awareness through climbing activities.

Robert was diagnosed with Graves' disease in 2002. He is a volunteer spokesperson for the National Graves Foundation and was the first American with Graves Disease to summit Mount Everest.

Robert has been debriefed by Elizabeth Hawley for his expeditions of Ama Dablam (twice) and Mount Everest (twice) and according to her official Himalayan Database, he was the 1683rd human being to summit Mount Everest and the 226th Amercian.

External Links

* [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/19/PNGA5E8EAF1.DTL SF Chronicle on Robert]
* [http://www.mounteverest.net/story/Everest2005GuysclimbingforboobsFeb82005.shtml Article About Cancer Climb on Mount Everest.net]
* [http://www.everestnews.com/everest2005/cureeverest2005.htm Everestnews.com coverage on Cancer Climb]
* [http://www.everestspeakersbureau.com/robchang.htm Everest Speaking]
* [http://www.climbingforacure.org Link to Cancer Awarenss Organization]
* [http://archives.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/03/30/clean.everest.02.enn/index.html CNN.com Article On 2000 Everest Expedition]
* [http://www.ngdf.org/ National Graves Disease Foundation Site]
* [http://www.everestsummiteersassociation.org/everestexpeditions_page13.htm Robert on the Everest Summiteers Association LIst]
* [http://www.robchanginspires.com Robert's Website]
* [http://classic.mountainzone.com/news/expedition/03-00.html MountainZone Classic coverage on 2000 Environmental Climb]
* [http://www.expeditionnews.com/Archives/EN0509.html ExpeditionNews.com article on Robert]
* [http://www.himalayandatabase.com/ Himalayan Database]