“Three Cups of Tea” K2 Expedition Leader Dan Mazur Talk in Support of MountainFund.org w/ SquareUp at TheNorthFace SF
Many San Franciscans made it out to The North Face after hours last night. Upstairs we all gathered around to meet Daniel Mazur, an incredible mountaineer and guide! Dan's best known for leading Greg Mortenson's K2 expedition in the novel, Three Cups of Tea, as well as rescuing Australian climber Lincoln Hall during a summit attempt up Mt. Everest. When you meet him in person, you'll soon realize he's a humble yet lively man who simply explains that you may have to make hard (life & death) decisions up at 20,000+ ft elevation. He's fortunate enough to have survived countless summits while enjoying nature and trying to leave no trace.
Dan shared many fun, funny and enlightening stories about his first and impromptu rescue expedition up Mt. Everest. I won't spoil them here! You'll just have to meet him at another talk.
Before the night ended, we all got to play with some mountaineering tools that have been to Everest and back! Here's a fun pic of Dan, myself and the ice axe:
And at 29029 ft in elevation, you may just need some air:
No time to get lightheaded though. The interactive talk supported the low-income mountain families of Nepal. The Mountain Fund is currently building a 300-person school in the Nepalese mountain range where there is no government support. They are also working to provide basic health care for the area. Realizing that basic needs are not met in these remote areas, Dan and SummitClimb guides are helping to raise awareness and collect funds for the cause.
With that in mind, the SF people opened up their checkbooks and some even did a little swiping.
Randy Reddig from Square was on site to swipe credit cards through their new payment device to instantly donate to The Mountain Fund. Here are a few pics of some successful transactions:
