Ian Woodall

Ian Woodall (born August 17, 1956) was the leader of the first South African Mount Everest expedition in 1996. The expedition was sponsored by Johannesburg newspaper The Sunday Times, but its support of the expedition was later withdrawn.

In 2007 Woodall initiated and is leading an expedition to Mount Everest, The Tao of Everest, with the purpose of burying the bodies of two climbers, Francys Arsentiev and an Indian man usually referred to by climbers as "Green Boots". Bad weather delayed the attempt, and on May 23, 2007, Woodall and Phuri Sherpa were only able to recover Arsentiev's body, and after a brief ceremony, drop her body off the North Face to join others in their mountain grave. [ [http://taoofeverest.com The Tao of Everest expedition 2007] ]

In 1998 Woodall together with his climbing partner Cathy O'Dowd encountered Francys Arsentiev during her last hours in life. They called off their own attempt to reach the summit and tried to help her for more than one hour but because of her condition, the location and the cold weather they at last decided to abandon her and to start descending. [ [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=451798&in_page_id=1770 Daily Mail. April 30, 2007] ]

He is married to Cathy O'Dowd since 2001, a fellow member of the 1996 expedition, and is currently living in Andorra in the Pyrenees. [ [http://www.dispatch.co.za/2001/11/27/easterncape/ANINE.HTM anine ] ]

Controversy regarding the 1996 expedition

American journalist Jon Krakauer, who was a member in New Zealander Rob Hall's commercial Everest expedition in 1996, was critical of Woodall's personality and behavior on the mountain. He later wrote a best-selling book "Into Thin Air" recounting the May 10 Everest disaster. His criticisms of Woodall include:

* Woodall's dictatorial and manipulative character had caused three experienced South African climbers Edmund February, Andy de Klerk, and Andy Hackland, and the expedition doctor, Charlotte Noble, to resign from the expedition. [Krakauer, "Into Thin Air", p.96; http://www.dispatch.co.za/2001/11/27/easterncape/ANINE.HTM]

* Woodall lied about his climbing credentials prior to the expedition. ["Into Thin Air", p.96]

* Woodall falsified his military service by claiming that he had commanded the elite "Long Range Mountain Reconnaissance Unit" (which did not exist at all) of the British army, and served as an instructor at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, none of which was true. ["Into Thin Air", p.96]

* Woodall insisted that expedition member de Klerk, who held dual citizenship, enter Nepal on his South African passport or he would not be allowed on the expedition. It turned out that Woodall himself did not even hold a South African passport and entered Nepal on his British passport. ["Into Thin Air", p.97]

* Facing international scandal, Woodall banished Ken Vernon and Richard Shorey, two reporters from the expedition's sponsor, The Sunday Times, whose presence and accompaniment were required as part of the sponsorship contract. ["Into Thin Air", p.97] Woodall later had a "blood-chilling exchange" with Ken Owen, an editor from The Sunday Times, and had largely precipitated the Sunday Times' withdrawal of support. ["Into Thin Air", p.99]

* Woodall refused to coordinate the mountain traffic and cooperate with other expeditions to avoid gridlock on the summit ridge, and declared that " [they] would go to the top whenever they damn well please." ["Into Thin Air", p.142]

* After the May 10 disaster, Woodall refused to lend the distressed Hall team the South African expedition's powerful radio to coordinate rescue effort, although he was aware that people were dying on the summit. ["Into Thin Air", p.218]

External links

[http://www.ianwoodall.com/ The Tao of Everest, Ian Woodall Official Website]

References

Further reading

*Krakauer, Jon. "Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster" (Villard 1997). ISBN 0-679-45752-6
*O'Dowd, Cathy & Ian Woodall "Everest: Free To Decide" (Struik Publishers 1998) ISBN 1-86872-101-9
*Vernon, Ken. "Ascent & Dissent" (Jonathan Ball Publishers 1997) ISBN 1-86842-056-6