Expedition Hanesbrands to Mount Everest Base Camp

10 Dec '09

4 min read

Hanesbrands Inc., which is leading an expedition to climb Mount Everest in Spring 2010, announced that it will take a local high school student to the world's highest mountain to help inspire other students to plan and set ambitious goals in life – their own symbolic Everests.

Expedition Hanesbrands will select one student from Carver High School in Winston-Salem, along with a school chaperone and a parent or guardian, to make the three-week trip in May 2010 to Mount Everest base camp in Nepal.

The student will experience the nonclimbing aspects of a Mount Everest expedition and Himalayan life. The cultural immersion and learning opportunity will include several days in Katmandu, the capital of Nepal, and a 15-day roundtrip walking trek to Everest base camp for a one-night visit with the climbing team at 17,700 feet.

“Mount Everest is so much more than a peak to summit,” said international mountaineer, motivational speaker and Expedition Hanesbrands leader Jaime Clarke. “It's a symbol for how you set your goals, how you live your life, how you can be a better person. Any successful Mount Everest expedition is about planning, preparation, self-awareness and respect for the mountain and the culture of the area. This will be a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience for our Carver High School teammate.”

Hanesbrands and its employees have partnered with Carver High School in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools district for more than 20 years supporting students' academic achievement and citizenship.

The Carver High School student, parent and chaperone are expected to be chosen by mid-February. Clarke and Carver High School Principal Nate Barber announced the student trek and the selection process today in a school assembly.

Interested students will write an essay discussing the topic “What's Your Everest” and what such a trip would mean to them. They will also interview with a selection panel.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for our students,” Barber said. “It's our job as educators to challenge our students every day, and the trip to Nepal will show them how setting goals and working toward them can pay off in extraordinary ways.”

Participation in Expedition Hanesbrands will be unlike any other Hanesbrands-Carver High partnership program. After a short flight from Katmandu, the guided trek begins in the village of Lukla at 9,250 feet in elevation and proceeds through the Khumbu Valley, where there are no mechanized vehicles. Commerce and everyday life depend on goods transported by humans and animals, including the ever-present yak. The trekkers will cross suspension bridges, hike along rivers, traverse valleys with vistas of towering Himalayan peaks, and visit villages, shopping bazaars and lodges to experience Sherpa culture firsthand.

“The trek is absolutely awe-inspiring,” said Clarke, 41, who has climbed the highest peak on every continent. “It won't involve mountain climbing, but it will be challenging and will require determination. The Khumbu Valley is beautiful and is the perfect setting for inspiration, self-reflection and immersing yourself into a culture that is very different than North America.”

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