Göran Kropp
Encyclopedia
Göran Kropp was a Swedish
adventurer and mountaineer, born in Eskilstuna
in south Sweden. He is most famous for his May 23, 1996 solo ascent of Mount Everest
without bottled oxygen or Sherpa support, travelling only by bicycle from Sweden.
, the highest peak in Norway
and Scandinavia
.
(5266 m), Cotopaxi
(5897 m), Illimani
(6300 m), Huayna Potosi
(6095 m) and Illampu
(6520 m). In a 1990 Swedish expedition, he and :sv:Rafael Jensen climbed Muztagh Tower
(7273 m) in Pakistan. The mountain is one of the more difficult 7000-meter mountains in the Himalayas and their ascent was the fourth of the mountain.
In 1991 Kropp was back in the Himalayas, this time to climb Pik Pobeda
(7439 m) in eastern Kazakhstan. Together with Mats Dahlin, Kropp made a summit attempt, but Dahlin was forced to cancel his bid because he felt bad. Kropp continued and reached the top with a severe headache. 1992, Kropp finally obtained permits to climb Cho Oyu
. In preparation Kropp climbed with Dahlin in Chamonix. During a climb the Aiguille Verte
a stone fell from the top of the ridge and hit Dahlin just below the helmet, at the edge of his temple. Mats Dahlin died from his injuries. Kropp decided to at least climb Cho Oyu, on the grounds that his companion would have preferred that he continued to climb.
Kropp went on to climb Cho Oyu after he drove his Range Rover car all the way to Nepal. At the top, Kropp placed Dahlin's ice ax with an image of Dahlin directed towards Mount Everest.
. Initially it was thought Kropp would participate in a Swedish expedition, but Kropp realized that if he could reach the top before the participants of the Swedish expedition, he would become the first Swedish and Scandinavian to reach the top. Kropp therefore joined a Slovenian expedition that would climb the mountain before the Swedes. Another reason was that his Range Rover remained in Pakistan since his Cho Oyu climb last year due to customs in Iran refused to allow it through.
It turned out that Kropp had been fooled by his Slovenian colleagues who had decided to leave him off their climbing plans. Kropp settled instead to join with David Sharman, who hoped to become the first Englishman to come down alive from the top. During the Slovenians' summit bid, a violent storm arose and stranded them at high altitude. Kropp gave himself up to save those he could. A week after this incident he stuck with his British colleague, but Sharman fell, had a fractured leg and went back down. Kropp climbed on and reached the peak solo, without bottled oxygen. On the way down against another storm on the mountain marooned Kropp at 8000 meters above sea level. Kropp escaped later to BC.
Media interest after the climb proved to be large and Kropp then started his company Kropp & Adventure AB.
on October 16, 1995, on a specially-designed bicycle with 108 kg (240 lb) of gear and food. He traveled 8,000 miles on the bicycle and arrived at Everest Base Camp in April 1996. Following a meeting of all of the Everest expeditions currently on the mountain, it was agreed that Kropp would attempt to summit first. On May 3, Kropp blazed a trail through thigh-deep snow and reached a point 300 feet from the summit. However, Kropp decided to turn around because it was too late in the day and if he continued, he would be descending at dark. While Kropp recovered from the ordeal at base camp, the 1996 Everest Disaster
unfolded. Kropp helped bring medicine up the mountain. Three weeks later, on May 23, Kropp again tackled the mountain, this time successfully summitting (without extra oxygen support). He then cycled part of the way back home.
He returned to Everest in 1999 with girlfriend Renata Chlumska
to undertake a cleanup, during which they removed 25 discarded canisters from the mountain. They also made a successful summit attempt together.
which had been stalking the two men. This led to accusations in the Swedish tabloid press by writer Jan Guillou
that Kropp was a poacher
, since shooting polar bears was an inevitable consequence of skiing across the North Pole. Kropp sued for libel, and when he lost decided to move to Seattle. Kropp had to abandon the expedition due to frost bite in a thumb.
Later in the same year, in London, the publisher of Kropp’s autobiography was successfully sued for libel by 1996 Everest expedition leader, Michael Trueman. Kropp mixed Trueman's name up with that of expedition member Mike Burns and thereby made false allegations about Trueman's character. As a result of this, the book is banned in the UK.
. While being belayed by Seattle climber Erden Eruç, his protection
pulled out from a crack and the carabiner of the next piece of protection broke. According to Eruç, Kropp died on impact.
In 2003 Kropp intended to traverse Antarctica which would have given him the "3 poles of the world", the North Pole, South Pole, and Everest.
Before his death, Göran had sponsored the Göran Kropp Bishwa Darshan Primary School in Taptin, Chyangba, Solukhumbu
, Nepal
, which serves 165 pupils and eight teachers. A tax-exempt non-profit organization named Around-n-Over established by Erden Eruç now aims to create educational and inspirational content for young students based on human powered journeys worthy of Kropp's legacy.
series, scoring some reasonably good results. His last race came in 2000.
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
adventurer and mountaineer, born in Eskilstuna
Eskilstuna
Eskilstuna is a city and the seat of Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 60,185 inhabitants in 2005. Eskilstuna has a large Sweden Finn population....
in south Sweden. He is most famous for his May 23, 1996 solo ascent of Mount Everest
Mount Everest
Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international boundary runs across the precise summit point...
without bottled oxygen or Sherpa support, travelling only by bicycle from Sweden.
Early life
In 1972, at the age of 6, Kropp's father took him up GaldhøpiggenGaldhøpiggen
Galdhøpiggen is the highest mountain in Norway, Scandinavia and Northern Europe, at 2,469 m above sea level...
, the highest peak in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
.
Mountaineering
In 1988 Kropp traveled to climb his first major peak, Pik Lenina, 7134 meters high, located in Tajikistan / Kyrgyzstan. Kropp and his companions ascended the top in a record time of 10 days. In 1989 Kropp had hopes that he would climb Cho Oyu, but he had no permit. Instead, he went to South America and climbed Iliniza SurIliniza Sur
Iliniza Sur is a mountain in the Andes of Ecuador. It has a height of ....
(5266 m), Cotopaxi
Cotopaxi
Cotopaxi is a stratovolcano in the Andes Mountains, located about south of Quito, Ecuador, South America. It is the second highest summit in the country, reaching a height of...
(5897 m), Illimani
Illimani
Illimani is the highest mountain in the Cordillera Real of western Bolivia. It lies just south of La Paz at the eastern edge of the Altiplano. It is the second highest peak in Bolivia, after Nevado Sajama, and the eighteenth highest peak in South America...
(6300 m), Huayna Potosi
Huayna Potosí
Huayna Potosí is a mountain in Bolivia, located about 25 km north of La Paz in the Cordillera Real.Huayna Potosí is the closest high mountain to La Paz, a city which is surrounded by high mountains, and itself is the highest capital city in the world. Huayna Potosí is roughly fifteen miles due...
(6095 m) and Illampu
Illampu
Illampú is the fourth highest mountain in Bolivia. It is located in the northern section of the Cordillera Real, part of the Andes, east of Lake Titicaca. It lies just north of the slightly higher Ancohuma, near the town of Sorata...
(6520 m). In a 1990 Swedish expedition, he and :sv:Rafael Jensen climbed Muztagh Tower
Muztagh Tower
Muztagh Tower , is a mountain in the Baltoro Muztagh, part of the Karakoram range on the border of the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan and the Xinjiang Uygur region of China...
(7273 m) in Pakistan. The mountain is one of the more difficult 7000-meter mountains in the Himalayas and their ascent was the fourth of the mountain.
In 1991 Kropp was back in the Himalayas, this time to climb Pik Pobeda
Peak Pobeda
Jengish Chokusu is the highest mountain in the Tian Shan mountain system at . It lies on the Kyrgyzstan-China border, in the Kakshaal Too, the highest part of the Tien Shan, southeast of lake Issyk Kul.- Names :...
(7439 m) in eastern Kazakhstan. Together with Mats Dahlin, Kropp made a summit attempt, but Dahlin was forced to cancel his bid because he felt bad. Kropp continued and reached the top with a severe headache. 1992, Kropp finally obtained permits to climb Cho Oyu
Cho Oyu
Cho Oyu is the sixth highest mountain in the world at above sea level. Cho Oyu lies in the Himalayas and is 20 km west of Mount Everest, at the border between China and Nepal...
. In preparation Kropp climbed with Dahlin in Chamonix. During a climb the Aiguille Verte
Aiguille Verte
The Aiguille Verte is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps.It was first climbed on 29 June 1865 by Edward Whymper, Christian Almer and Franz Biner, a fortnight before the fateful first ascent of the Matterhorn. Whymper was unable to climb with his usual guide, Michel Croz, who...
a stone fell from the top of the ridge and hit Dahlin just below the helmet, at the edge of his temple. Mats Dahlin died from his injuries. Kropp decided to at least climb Cho Oyu, on the grounds that his companion would have preferred that he continued to climb.
Kropp went on to climb Cho Oyu after he drove his Range Rover car all the way to Nepal. At the top, Kropp placed Dahlin's ice ax with an image of Dahlin directed towards Mount Everest.
K2
1993 Kropp returned to Karakorum, this time to climb K2K2
K2 is the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest...
. Initially it was thought Kropp would participate in a Swedish expedition, but Kropp realized that if he could reach the top before the participants of the Swedish expedition, he would become the first Swedish and Scandinavian to reach the top. Kropp therefore joined a Slovenian expedition that would climb the mountain before the Swedes. Another reason was that his Range Rover remained in Pakistan since his Cho Oyu climb last year due to customs in Iran refused to allow it through.
It turned out that Kropp had been fooled by his Slovenian colleagues who had decided to leave him off their climbing plans. Kropp settled instead to join with David Sharman, who hoped to become the first Englishman to come down alive from the top. During the Slovenians' summit bid, a violent storm arose and stranded them at high altitude. Kropp gave himself up to save those he could. A week after this incident he stuck with his British colleague, but Sharman fell, had a fractured leg and went back down. Kropp climbed on and reached the peak solo, without bottled oxygen. On the way down against another storm on the mountain marooned Kropp at 8000 meters above sea level. Kropp escaped later to BC.
Media interest after the climb proved to be large and Kropp then started his company Kropp & Adventure AB.
Mount Everest
For his famous 1996 ascent, Kropp left JönköpingJönköping
-Notable people:*Lillian Asplund, RMS Titanic survivor*John Bauer, illustrator, painter*Amy Diamond, singer*Agnetha Fältskog, ABBA*Carl Henrik Fredriksson, editor-in-chief and co-founder of Eurozine*Anders Gustafsson, kayaker, Olympian...
on October 16, 1995, on a specially-designed bicycle with 108 kg (240 lb) of gear and food. He traveled 8,000 miles on the bicycle and arrived at Everest Base Camp in April 1996. Following a meeting of all of the Everest expeditions currently on the mountain, it was agreed that Kropp would attempt to summit first. On May 3, Kropp blazed a trail through thigh-deep snow and reached a point 300 feet from the summit. However, Kropp decided to turn around because it was too late in the day and if he continued, he would be descending at dark. While Kropp recovered from the ordeal at base camp, the 1996 Everest Disaster
1996 Everest Disaster
The 1996 Mount Everest disaster refers to the events of 10-11 May 1996, when eight people died on Mount Everest during summit attempts. In the entire season, fifteen people died trying to reach the summit, making it the deadliest single year in Mount Everest's history...
unfolded. Kropp helped bring medicine up the mountain. Three weeks later, on May 23, Kropp again tackled the mountain, this time successfully summitting (without extra oxygen support). He then cycled part of the way back home.
He returned to Everest in 1999 with girlfriend Renata Chlumska
Renata Chlumska
Renata Chlumska, born December 9, 1973 in Malmö, Sweden, is an adventurer and mountain climber. She is mainly Swedish, but also has Czech citizenship from her parents....
to undertake a cleanup, during which they removed 25 discarded canisters from the mountain. They also made a successful summit attempt together.
Controversy
In early 2000 Kropp and fellow Swede :sv:Ola Skinnarmo attempted to ski unsupported to the North Pole. During the expedition, Kropp shot a polar bearPolar Bear
The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...
which had been stalking the two men. This led to accusations in the Swedish tabloid press by writer Jan Guillou
Jan Guillou
Jan Oskar Sverre Lucien Henri Guillou is a Swedish author and journalist. Among his books are a series of spy fiction novels about a spy named Carl Hamilton, and a trilogy of historical fiction novels about a Knight Templar, Arn Magnusson...
that Kropp was a poacher
Poaching
Poaching is the illegal taking of wild plants or animals contrary to local and international conservation and wildlife management laws. Violations of hunting laws and regulations are normally punishable by law and, collectively, such violations are known as poaching.It may be illegal and in...
, since shooting polar bears was an inevitable consequence of skiing across the North Pole. Kropp sued for libel, and when he lost decided to move to Seattle. Kropp had to abandon the expedition due to frost bite in a thumb.
Later in the same year, in London, the publisher of Kropp’s autobiography was successfully sued for libel by 1996 Everest expedition leader, Michael Trueman. Kropp mixed Trueman's name up with that of expedition member Mike Burns and thereby made false allegations about Trueman's character. As a result of this, the book is banned in the UK.
Death
On September 30, 2002, Kropp died from head injuries when he fell 60 feet while ascending the Air Guitar route near Frenchman Coulee in Vantage, WashingtonVantage, Washington
Vantage is a census-designated place in Kittitas County, Washington, United States. The population was 70 at the 2000 census.-History:The area around Vantage has been occupied by the Wanapum Native Americans since prehistory. A number of well-preserved rock-paintings have been found on the cliff...
. While being belayed by Seattle climber Erden Eruç, his protection
Protection (climbing)
To make climbing as safe as possible, most climbers use protection, a term used to describe the equipment used to prevent injury to themselves and others.-Types of climbing:...
pulled out from a crack and the carabiner of the next piece of protection broke. According to Eruç, Kropp died on impact.
In 2003 Kropp intended to traverse Antarctica which would have given him the "3 poles of the world", the North Pole, South Pole, and Everest.
Before his death, Göran had sponsored the Göran Kropp Bishwa Darshan Primary School in Taptin, Chyangba, Solukhumbu
Solukhumbu District
Solukhumbu District of 107,686.Mount Everest is located in the northern part of this district, within Sagarmatha National Park.Indigenous ethnic Rai and hill Caste Chhetri are the main groups living in the mid-hills, while Sherpas occupy high mountains....
, Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, which serves 165 pupils and eight teachers. A tax-exempt non-profit organization named Around-n-Over established by Erden Eruç now aims to create educational and inspirational content for young students based on human powered journeys worthy of Kropp's legacy.
Racing career
Kropp drove a couple of seasons in the Swedish and Nordic Formula ThreeFormula Three
Formula Three, also called Formula 3 or F3, is a class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers...
series, scoring some reasonably good results. His last race came in 2000.