Extreme skier Maegan Carney has turned back from Everest Base Camp, abandoning her bid to become the first woman—and second person—to ski down the world's tallest mountain.
The high winds that frequent Everest each autumn thwarted Carney's first summit attempt earlier this month. After several weeks on the mountain, she and teammate Brad Johnson decided that they would not make another push for the summit this year. The other members of the Berg Adventures International team with whom they were climbing have remained, however, and still hope for a rare autumn summit in early November.
In an October 27 dispatch on the expedition Web site, team leader Wally Berg wrote: "Maegan Carney has decided very decisively and with the great confidence that she is capable of, that the dream is over for this year on her skiing Everest. It won't happen... These things always have to come from deep inside and always have to be based on the absolute responsibility of knowing the mountain's letting you do what you can do in a given year."
Carney, a Seattle native who now makes her home in Chamonix, France, was attempting to join Slovenian Davo Karnicar as the only other person to ski down Everest and the first woman to complete such a feat. Winner of the 2002 Women's World Extreme Skiing Championships, Carney was hoping that the season's monsoon snows would fill in the Hillary Step, enabling her to jump turn through the treacherous, 60-degree slope near the summit. Karnicar has been accused of rappelling down the Hillary Step before completing his 2000 descent.
This marks the second aborted attempt of a high-profile Everest descent this year. Snowboarder Stephen Koch, who has only Everest remaining in his quest to snowboard down all of the Seven Summits, turned around last month during a tough summit push on the mountain's North Face.
For more on Meagan Carney, read our September 2003 article "Ultimate Downer".
