24 avenueJANUARY.18
DETOURS
The Khumbu Icefall is considered the most
dangerous part of the Everest climb due to con-
stantly shifting routes, falling ice and unexpected
crevasses. As it turned out, when Oldring, a
managing director at BMO Nesbitt Burns, and
his expedition of seven others were on the icefall,
a massive earthquake shook the area, exponen-
tially increasing its danger, which resulted in the
group having to return to base camp. “I think
they had already written our obituaries when
we walked into camp,” says Oldring.
Despite that experience, Oldring was unde-
terred. Though about half of his original group
decided against it, he chose to attempt the climb
again, finally reaching the summit in May of 2017
at the age of 64, which made him the second-
oldest Canadian to have done so. “It’s pretty neat
to stand at the tallest spot on earth and look out
to see the curvature of the world,” says Oldring.
At the time of the climb, Oldring didn’t
know he’d be one of the oldest Canadians to
summit Everest. It was only after he returned
home and saw the news coverage that he
learned of his new title.
A long-time lover of mountain views and
the outdoors, Oldring began seriously climbing
John Oldring (left) with
climbing partner Damian
Benegas at the summit
of Everest.in his late 40s after a friend convinced him to
give it a try. He says he only considers his age
when he’s training, as he never wants to hold
the group up. “I always know that I’m probably
going to be the oldest climber on the team,” he
says. “My theory is you train harder, you train
smarter and you try to climb smarter.”
For Everest, Oldring trained more than
30 hours a week for about six months. Part
of his regimen was climbing Ha Ling Peak
near Canmore every weekend carrying added
weight — sometimes three times per weekend
and frequently twice in one day. “It’s mentally,
physically and emotionally challenging,” says
Oldring. “I can say that I reached the point
where I don’t ever want to go up Ha Ling again.”
After seven weeks spent tackling Everest,
Oldring says he couldn’t wait to get home to
his bed, a warm shower and a glass of red wine.
However, as happy as he is to be home and
recovering, he hasn’t ruled out a third run at
Everest, and he knows he’ll be looking for his
next challenge soon enough. “You know, it’s
funny,” he says. “After you’ve been down for
a little while you can’t wait to find another
mountain again.” —Jennifer DorozioInsider
WINSPORT’S LEAD SNOWMAKER,
IAN NEWCOMBE, ON BUILDING
THE DOWNHILL COURSE
For 15 winter seasons, Ian
Newcombe has made it snow
at WinSport’s Canada Olym-
pic Park, allowing riders to jet
down the hill at high velocity.
Ninety-nine per cent of the
snow at the park is artificial
by Newcombe’s estimate,
and as soon as the tempera-
ture sustains below zero he
and his crew mobilize.
“We need 25 periods of 24
hours to make all the snow
we need across the hill. We
will make snow 24 hours a
day, seven days a week if
the weather allows us to.
“[The term] ‘artificial snow’
is kind of funny because it
is actually real snow; it’s just
made out of a machine. We
have high-pressure air and
water and we pump the water
through a snow gun. We add
an additive called Snomax
— it’s kind of like the nucleus
of a snowflake — which then
allows us to build real snow-
flakes. So we break that water
down through high-pressure
nozzles and the air helps dis-
perse those water particles to
make them even smaller. They
freeze, and then they drop and
make snow.” —J.D. Ian Newcombe and Winsport photographs courtesy of WinSport