British mountaineer Ken Coulson announced on the 26th that he plans to take an Olympic medal to Mount Everest to fulfill an unfulfilled wish made by climbing pioneers 88 years ago.
Coulson, who has climbed Everest nine times, told the BBC that this move is to commemorate a 1922 mountaineering expedition. That year, a climbing team including several British adventurers attempted to conquer Everest. They reached a point 500 meters from the summit but failed to reach the top after several attempts. During their final push for the summit, an avalanche swept away the lives of seven team members.
To commemorate this event, two years later at the 1924 Winter Olympics, the entire climbing team was collectively awarded Olympic medals. One of the members, E. Streatfeild, vowed at the time that next time they would definitely take an Olympic medal to the top of Everest.
But nearly 90 years later, that vow still remains unfulfilled. As a later-generation climber, Coulson wants to complete this mission.
"That expedition was groundbreaking in many ways. They reached an incredible altitude," said Coulson. He has borrowed the Olympic medal from the family of A. Wakefield, the team's doctor at the time, who was also awarded a medal.
According to the plan, Coulson will soon head to Nepal. After acclimatizing there, he will attempt to climb Everest in May with the medal, striving to take it to the summit.
"The London Olympics are approaching, and I know when I need to set off," Coulson said.