Featuring Mountaineer, Pete Athans, a.k.a. Mr. Everest!
The brand new Seattle Chapter of Mappy Hour held a launch party at the North Face flagship store on Pike Street to hear from Bainbridge local mountaineer and filmmaker Pete Athans. The love of the outdoors is strong in Seattle! The event brought in over fifty people (and a cute pup) to the cool new venue which actually pipes around a custom scent to mimic the smell of Yosemite. Fancy! New Belgium brought in delicious beer, super soft t-shirts and buttons to giveaway, and The North Face raffled off 2x $100 gift cards to some very lucky attendees.
But the highlight of the event was hearing Pete Athans tell stories about his experience on Everest, which wins him the nickname “Mr. Everest”. He has climbed the mountain a record seven times, participated in 16 expeditions there and was awarded the highest medal of recognition from the American Alpine Club for the rescue of Dr. Beck Weathers and Taiwanese team leader, Makalu Gau as featured in the best seller, “Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer.
Pete is anything but boring. He has also been supporting philanthropic endeavors like the Himalayan Cataract Project and the “Magic Yeti Library” project in Nepal. In addition to climbing and philanthropy, Pete has an interest in Himalayan Archaeology and has been working with the Nepalese government in exploring ancient cave dwellings in North West Nepal (so cool). And as a cherry on top, he added a personal touch with a story about the time his daughter found an injured snow leopard.
For some hiking ideas, below are the top places Pete likes to hike in Washington State:
- Disappointment Cleaver, Mount Rainier
- Easton Glacier, Mt. Baker
- Backpacking at Lake Ozette
- Second Beach, Northwest coast
- Little Mount Si, local hike
Coming up:
As The North Face is such a great partner and awesome venue, you can rest assured that you’ll be seeing more Mappy Hour events at The North Face on Pike Street.
AND we’re looking to start 2020 with a bang, so we have a big surprise in store for the January event. Hint* We want to be cool like the other chapters*
Tuesday, December 17th: Mappy Hour SEA Holiday Meetup
Join Mappy Hour at Redhook Brewlab on Tuesday, December 17th for a holiday celebration with our outdoors community! Instead of inviting a formal speaker, we’ll be keeping it casual with beers, maps, and conversation. Be ready to meet with new friends and share about the adventures you’ve had this fall, the ones you’re planning for 2020, as well as share ideas for how to get engaged as Mappy Hour Ambassadors.
And attendees will get a sneak peek at the big surprise we have in store for the January event.
