Syracuse.com - Lowville doctor achieves his dream of climbing to the top of Mt. Everest

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During the past 10 years, Dr. Manoj Vora he has reached the summit of the seven highest peaks on each of the seven continents of the world. Mt. Everest was his final destination.

A Lowville doctor has achieved his dream and his hope is that others will be inspired by his accomplishment.

On May 22, Dr. Manoj Vora, an internal medical doctor, reached the top; of Mt. Everest in Nepal in the Himalayas. The feat finishes off a 10-year effort by the 52-old physician to scale the seven highest points on all seven of the world's continents.

Dr. Vora in 2011.Courtesy of Manoj Vora 

Inspired by the book, "Seven Summits," Vora began his pursuit with Africa's Mt. Kilamanjaro in 2004. In 2005, he climbed Mt. Aconcagua in South America. In 2006 and 2008, he attempted Mt. McKinley/Denali in Alaska, returning to reach the summit in 2009.

He climbed Mt. Elbrus in Europe in 2007 and Mt. Kosciuszko in Australia in 2008.

He made an unsuccessful attempt at Mt. Everest in 2010 and finished off that year with a successful climb of Mt. Vinson in Antarctica.

Vora noted there are less than 300 climbers world-wide that accomplished what he's done, and only about 110 in this country. For more, see the Seven Summits website.

Vora is due home today and a celebration is planned this afternoon involving family and community members.. He responded this morning by iPhone to the following questions about his accomplishment.

You reached the summit on May 22. Briefly describe the feelings and emotions that were running through your mind at that time. Who was with you? Did you say or shout anything out?

I reached the summit on May 22 at around 7:30 in the morning. It felt like a dreamlike state. I had a hard time believing that I have actually accomplished the monumental feat of summiting Mount Everest. There were four other people with me of whom two were my assigned climbing Sherpas. I had written down a brief, two-minute message from the summit. I was unable to accurately record that message on my video camera because of my Sherpa's inability to handle the camera. I did succeed in recording the message partially. (See Dr. Vora's complete statement below)

What did it look like on top of the world? What was the temperature on the top of Everest that day? Any wind?

The view from the summit of Everest is spellbinding and breathtaking. All the mountains that we were looking up to until that date were now below us. The temperature must have been around 0ðF. There was a gentle breeze at the summit which did not interfere with our ability to stay at the summit for nearly 45 minutes.

Mt. Everest is spellbinding and breathtaking. Courtesy of Manoj Vora 

There's been a lot written about the short window, weather-wise, to climb Everest in May ..and that lately there's a lot of climbers lining up to do that. Were you part of a crowd last month waiting to go up?

Traffic jams on certain areas of Mount Everest are not uncommon every year. At these bottlenecks, climbers are on occasion forced to wait 30 minutes to an hour to make further progress. This sometimes dooms the chance of an individual's summit. I was very fortunate in that the date I chose as my summit date there were very few climbers on the mountain. It appeared that we had the mountain all to ourselves. There were no traffic jams that I had to deal with. The reason why we had the mountain all to ourselves was that majority of the climbers had chosen the previous day as their summit day with the prediction being for higher winds on the day I chose as my summit day. Fortunately, that prediction did not turn out to be true and we had an absolutely stunningly beautiful summit day

Just what did you do to get in shape for this climb?

My exercise/training regimen consisted of a judicious balance between strength, stamina and flexibility. To increase my lower extremity strength I did a lot of climbing during the winter months in the Adirondack Mountains with my climbing partner Thomas Lizzio of Syracuse. To improve my stamina, I swam at the local pool in Lowville. I did a lot of bicycling in the summer and fall followed by a regimen on a stationary bicycle at home In the winter. I chose to practice a lot of yoga to improve my flexibility. Along with this, I did a lot of reading of mountaineering books including some classics. This helped with improvement of my mental fortitude and strength. One cannot underestimate the importance of this aspect of the training.

Who was your guide(s)? How did you pick him (them)?

In December of 2010 I had climbed Vinson Massif on Antarctica with a guiding service called Mountain Trip. They are based in Colorado. I had a wonderful experience with that outfit and therefore I chose to go to Everest with the same outfit.

How long did the total trip take, from start to finish? What about the actual climb?

The total trip took nearly 2 months. I landed in Kathmandu on April 2. We started our hike to base camp on April 4 and reached base camp on the 13th. Following this, we did several acclimatization hikes around base camp. The actual climbing began about five days after reaching base camp. The first rotation up the mountain lasted for four days and the second rotation lasted seven days. During these rotations I reached progressively higher levels on the mountain up to a maximum of 24,000 feet. After a period of rest we waited for the summit window which was around the 21st and 22nd of May.

In 2010, you were unsuccessful in your attempt to reach the summit of Everest. What made the difference this time?

There were many differences between my previous attempt of 2010 and my recent attempt. I had chosen a different outfitter that is known for providing quality services throughout the climb. This was a guided climb as against a supported climb three years ago. The food quality was excellent. My experience from the previous attempt may have helped. I had trained differently this time which also may have contributed to my better performance despite my having aged three years since the previous attempt. And finally I cannot underestimate the power of prayer and good wishes of which I had plenty this time from the hundreds of people that were following my climb in the social media.

I understand you made extensive use of social media to chronicle your climb. Briefly, how so?

Several people had expressed a desire to follow my climb. I used social media extensively during my climb. I had access to the Internet at base camp. I had a Facebook page devoted to my climb. I also had subscribed to a service called Hipcast to dictate my voice files which were then posted on Facebook and Tumblr. I also had designated my daughter and my climbing partner as administrators of my Facebook page. They were responsible for updating my page on a regular basis. I also had access to telephone services at base camp so I was able to stay in constant contact with my family and intimate circle. I also had purchased a SPOT device and paid for subscription services so that with a push of a button I was able to send text messages to my wife, my daughters, my climbing partner and my sister that I was okay. I also was in constant telephone contact with the above-mentioned folks.

Apart from doing the seven peaks on seven continents, did you dedicate this climb to anyone or any cause?

The slogan for my climb this time was "Inspiring the next generation to dream big". I also expressed my gratitude to several people including my wife, my parents as well as my patients. I also made special mention of three of my teammates who had left the expedition early on.

Apart from your mountain climbing equipment and supplies, did you bring anything else personal along with your to the summit?

I brought with me several objects to the summit. I had my local paper from Lowville, the local paper from Boonville, family photographs, papers with my summit speech written on them, and two separate posters one with my slogan written on it and one given to me by a corporate entity from my hometown of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.

Were there any setbacks or problems that you encountered?

This climb was made more challenging by several setbacks that I encountered during the time I was on the mountain.Instead of the usual hazards of high altitude mountaineering which include extremely cold weather, crevasse danger, avalanche danger, physical ailments and injuries, on this particular climb I encountered a greater problem with the guide. He and I did not see eye to eye on several issues. It almost appeared that he was playing an adversarial role rather than the role of a facilitator. I had Oxygen equipment malfunction on the day before Summit Day. I also suffered some minor health issues including a bad throat infection. I had developed a bad case of the Khumbhu cough that caused severe rib cage pain. Fortunately, I was able to overcome all of these adversities and remain totally focused with the help of several people and continue my climb to its successful completion.

Dr. Vora, right, met Reinhold Messner, a famous mountaineer and documentary filmmaker at the Mt. Everest base camp. Messner was there filming on a documentary on the 60th anniversary of the first successful climb on the mountain in 1953 by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. Reinhold successfully climbed Everest alone in 1978 without the aid of oxygen. Courtesy of Manoj Vora  

If you had to do it all over again, would you do anything different?

If I had to do this climb all over again I would ascertain who the guide is and would prefer to have someone with whom I have climbed before who understands my climbing style, my strengths and my weaknesses.

Is there anything else you'd like to say about your accomplishment?

The one thing I would like the readers to know about this accomplishment is that it is not that I am the only one to take credit for this. Scores of people had wished me well, had prayed for my well-being while I was on the mountain and a select few had provided me with the much-needed gentle push and moral support during my moments of weakness. I share this accomplishment with each and every one of them

This afternoon, there's a celebration planned in Lowville to recognize your accomplishments. What's happening?

At 3 p,m. there is a small gathering at the Village Park in Lowville to recognize this feat. This is something that my wife has organized and is desperately trying to keep a secret from me. I have been a resident of Lowville for nearly 20 years and have at some point or the other treated or interacted with a majority of the residents of that village.

Where do you go from here with your mountain climbing exploits?

I have now completed my dream of summiting the highest mountains on each and every continent on Earth. I would now like to utilize my stories and my experiences to inspire the next generation. I would like to inspire them to dream big, work hard to accomplish their dreams and once their dreams are realized to help others realize their dreams. This inspirational message needs to be spread wide and far to the impressionable youth of today.

Dr. VORA'S STATEMENT THAT HE READ WHEN HE REACHED THE SUMMIT OF MT. EVEREST

"I am now on the summit of Mount Everest. This marks the completion of a ten-year quest. The seven Summit dream is over and the next dream of inspiring the succeeding generation is on.

" I want to acknowledge the following people for their unflinching support of my crazy dream: my beloved wife Sheree, who I worship. My parents. My three daughters Amber, Nimi and Shamaa. My sister Malini and my brother-in-law Bhavesh for believing that I can pull this off. My niece Pooja and my nephew Akash. My extended family and circle of friends. My training partners Thomas Lizzio of Syracuse and Shamaa. My Sherpas. My three other teammates Brian, John and Trudi, who are not here to share this moment. My patients who have supported me over the years. My climbing partner Eldon Boone of San Diego, California. My colleagues at the Lewis County General Hospital. My dedicated office staff Debbie and Jami. My fans, followers and supporters everywhere. My sister-in-law Linda Lou, Ben and my best friend Milind. And also Kenny, who watches over us from up above.

And Jim, it is all your fault. A message to the Jains all over the world: there is mystical power in the Namokar Mahamantra. I hold flags of the two countries that mean the most to me: India, the country of my birth, and USA, the country that I now call my home. I pray for world peace. I end with the message: dream big, realize your own dreams, and then help others realize theirs."

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