25th May 2007 

An Awesome Achievement For Our Sponsored Mountaineers!

Tori James – Now the Youngest British Female to Summit Everest!

We are absolutely thrilled to be able to inform you that the LBS Everest 2007 team have all successfully made it to the top of Everest and, more importantly, have all made it back down in good health.

What an incredible achievement from this young international team. The team did not however all make it as one as both Tori and Ben were not well enough when Greg and Omar decided to take advantage of the ‘window of weather’ and push for the top on 18th May. Setting off at 10pm (just as you are making that warming cup of cocoa!) they began the long and arduous push for the summit thus becoming two of very few ever to make it to the top and back down. Omar simultaneously became the first ever Egyptian to conquer this vast mountain. Many congratulations to you both.

But what of Tori and Ben? Well, at 9pm on 23rd May they too set off for the summit from the South Col at Camp 4 and we are really delighted to report that they also successfully made it to ‘the roof of the world’ and with it, as you will all now know (even if only from reading the national papers and watching the news!) Tori became the youngest British female ever to summit Everest! History in the making and we are all very proud to have, in some small way, been able to assist the LBS Everest 2007 team realise their dreams.

What an incredible achievement once again; a tougher, more courageous and focussed team of people you would be hard pushed to find. All along the way their frequent reports back to London have been filled with good humour despite very obvious hardships. Never once did we ever read or hear of any kind of negative sentiment - so often a killer of real teamwork.

ish --> At the same time, thousands of pounds has been raised by these brave mountaineers for The Prince’s Trust and we would like to take this opportunity to thank so many of you for your generous contributions. We would also like to thank the many of you who have been keeping a close eye on the reports that have been feeding back to us over the last 60 days; we hope that you have been as excited and motivated as we have! Meanwhile, here, at a heady 18metres above sea level, it’s back to work and nothing more strenuous than an arduous climb up the escalators at Green Park underground station! You’ve got to start somewhere!

“Many Congratulations to the LBS Everest 2007 team and
Best Wishes from all of us at Summit Search and Selection Ltd”

Andrew Livesey, MD...with Tori James and Ben Stephens.

The London Business School Everest 2007 team have departed!

Will it be the big one for the young one?!

Summit Search and Selection Ltd are delighted to be an official sponsor of the LBS 2007 Everest Expedition. Having attended the leaving party at The National Gallery on Friday 23rd March (where we even got a mention!) the intrepid team have now departed for Nepal and will be starting the long walk out.

So what’s so special about this trip we hear you say?! Well, not only will the team (if successful!) put the first Egyptian on top of the world (Omar Samra) but it will also put Tori James up there too! Tori, to put it mildly, is a rather unique young lady. Still only 24 years old she is the youngest British female to complete the Scott Dunn Polar Challenge. This is a gruelling 360 mile race to the magnetic North Pole. Not one to sit back on such an achievement, Tori is also the ‘highest Welsh woman ever’ having summited the world’s sixth highest mountain, Cho Oyu (8,201m).

I suspect that most of us would probably knock it on the head at this point and pop down to the pub and enjoy telling all our mates about it - but not Tori! In the mould of Ellen Macarthur, Tori is set to become the youngest British female ever to summit the treacherous mountain that is Everest. At the same time she will also become the first Welsh woman to summit this great mountain. With no change from 5’2” Tori is deceptively tough! If you’re looking for strength of character, leadership and a sheer will to win then you need look no further than Tori and indeed the entire team. Ben, Greg, Tori, Omar and John will be tested to the absolute limit and no place less so than the dreaded ‘Death Zone’.

Having moved from Base Camp to Camp 1 named the Valley of Silence at 6100m the team will progressively move up to Camp 2 at 6400m and onwards to Camp 3 the Lhotse Wall at 6800m. This is tough, but the toughest part of the climb is yet to come. At 8000m the team will be in the Death Zone (so named for obvious reasons) from where they will make the final push, in the early hours, to the summit at a staggering 8850m and so become Everest Summiteers! Just to put it in perspective; the next time you are flying aboard your Jumbo 747 jet airliner they may well be looking DOWN at you! Youch!

We at Summit are very proud to be one of their Top 100 sponsors and would like to take this opportunity, once again, to wish them all a very successful, safe ascent and return.

If you would like to keep in touch with how the climb is going then just go to www.everest2007.net to view their updated audio and video footage. Much of their sponsorship proceeds will go The Prince’s Trust so do feel free to follow the PayPal instructions if you would like to make a donation!