Los Altos Town Crier » LAHS grad says trek to top of the world dedicated as small step toward peace

By Bruce Barton

Image from article LAHS grad says trek to top of the world dedicated as small step toward peace

Lance Trumbull, shown here at Mount Kilimanjaro, plans to scale Mount Everest in April.

Not long ago, it seemed like a pipe dream. But now, Lance Trumbull nearly has Mount Everest in his grasp.

The 37-year-old Los Altos High graduate who grew up in Los Altos now has the all-important major sponsor needed for his Everest Peace Project to become a reality.

“We’re actually going,” said the one-time bookstore owner whose goal to climb Everest became his life’s mission after an epiphany experienced on a trip to Nepal and the Himalayas.

Assembling a team of 20, with members from seven different nations and five different faiths, Trumbull, now a Sunnyvale resident, hopes to show that people from different countries and of different faiths can work together to accomplish a goal. An Israeli and a Palestinian climber are among the members.

The Everest trek is scheduled to begin April 4 and last 65 days.

Trumbull, a religious studies major at UC Berkeley, has worked relentlessly the past 3 1/2 years to make his dream of an Everest climb for world peace a reality. His big breakthrough came in January, when electronics retailer Panasonic signed on to be the major project sponsor.

“Passion, patience, persistence and now, Panasonic,” Trumbull said of his keys to project success.

Trumbull said he could not disclose the “large sum” to which Panasonic committed, but noted the retailer wants the crew to bring along their new Toughbook laptops for communications. Also in the works is a film documenting the trek.

Trumbull plans to use proceeds from his project to build a library for schoolchildren in Nepal. He is working with the non-profit group Room To Read, headed by John Wood, a former Microsoft executive. He hopes to build a school in Nepal as well.

But for now, the focus is on climbing Everest. Although idealistic, Trumbull doesn’t expect world peace overnight in the wake of his climb. But he is hoping for a “ripple effect” from the publicity his climb should generate.

“People are inspired by the images and stories they hear and read,” Trumbull said. He’s hoping his efforts and the resultant climb will generate that inspiration.

For more information, visit www.everestpeaceproject.org or e-mail lance@everestpeaceproject.org.