Michael Kodas' HIGH CRIMES in The Courant

Height Of Adventure, Depths Of Despair
Courant's Kodas Tells Of Shattered Dreams On Mount Everest
By STEVE WEINBERG
Special to The Courant, January 27, 2008

Everest. The name of the mountain in the Himalaya range, partly in China, partly in Tibet, suggests exotic travel — human adventure dependent upon nearly unimaginable physical conditioning.

But those who read "High Crimes," Michael Kodas' exposé of contemporary climbing, will probably never again associate the mountain with the word "exotic." More likely, they will forever associate it with nearly unimaginable — and sometimes fatal — greed. (The book will be in stores Feb. 5.)

Climbing to the summit of Everest, the highest in the world, has become a status symbol. As a result, wealthy, middle-class and sometimes far less-well-off people travel to Everest, determined to buy or steal their way if they cannot reach the summit honestly. Some status seekers are experienced climbers, but, according to Kodas, many are not. They understand at some level that reaching the summit is physically and psychologically taxing. But they are ignorant of how much can go wrong, and so quickly that people die.

Kodas is a photographer for The Courant. When he and his wife, Carolyn Moreau, then a Courant reporter, traveled to Everest four years ago, he was not planning to write a relentless exposé. Kodas, who had climbed mountains elsewhere, expected a positive experience culminating in a photograph of himself at the summit, looking down from nearly 30,000 feet above sea level.

Their unexpectedly grim adventure started innocently in their Hartford neighborhood during 2003. Kodas happened to spot some neighbors, George Dijmarescu, a Romanian American adventurer who had climbed Everest nine times, and his wife, Lhakpa Sherpa, who had climbed the mountain five times, pushing their 1-year-old daughter in a stroller. During a conversation, Kodas learned his neighbors wanted to lead an Everest expedition for Connecticut residents willing to pay guides who would lead them to the summit.

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