Kit on the Summit of Everest. Photo, ŠJimmy Chin.

Kit DesLauriers Becomes First Person to Ski from Seven Summits, First Woman to Ski from Everest Summit The North Face athletes Kit DesLauriers and Jimmy Chin bag first successful autumn Mount Everest summit in four years and claim several world records.

San Leandro, CA, October 20, 2006 – The North Face, the world's premier supplier of authentic, innovative and technically advanced outdoor apparel, equipment and footwear, today announced The North Face athletes Kit DesLauriers and Jimmy Chin successfully summited Mount Everest (29,035 feet) via the Southeast Ridge on October 18, 2006, at 10:54 a.m., local Nepal time.

This summit marks the first successful autumn attempt in four years and designates Kit DesLauriers as the first person to successfully ski from all of the Seven Summits, the highest peak on each of the seven continents. She also becomes the first American and first woman to ski from the Everest summit.

After skiing from the Everest summit, DesLauriers arrived at the top of the Hillary Step, a nearly vertical, 40-foot drop-off where she changed out from skis to crampons. The following day, DesLauriers skied down the Lhotse Face, a 3,700-foot wall of glacial blue ice, on her return to Basecamp. She later wrote in an email, "We all agreed that it was the most serious ski descent of our lives."

This was DesLauriers' first Everest summit, and Chin's third. They were accompanied on the expedition by: Rob DesLauriers, Kit's husband; Everest veteran Dave Hahn; and a team led by Wally Berg of Berg adventures. The team arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal, in late August and spent several weeks trekking to Everest Basecamp, establishing routes, and acclimatizing before the successful Summit Day.

Joe Flannery, Vice President of Marketing for The North Face, was one of many friends, followers, family members, and fans who eagerly awaited daily dispatches from the mountain. Afterward, he expressed boundless excitement. "Kit, Jimmy, and the crew redefined what is possible on Everest and in ski mountaineering. They had the courage and talent to dream bigger than ever, and then they made it happen. It's incredible."

Prior to this expedition, there had been only 15 ski-descent attempts from the Everest summit. DesLauriers and Chin, who both live in Jackson, Wyoming, brought impressive credentials to the slopes of Everest.

DesLauriers is a two-time women's world freeskiing champion. She was the first American woman to climb and ski from the summit of Denali, Alaska, the first woman to ski the north side of Mount Elbrus, Russia, the first woman to ski Mount Aspiring, New Zealand, and the third woman to climb and ski the Grand Teton in Wyoming. Most recently DesLauriers has added a successful ascent and ski of Mount Vinson, Antarctica, and Aconcagua, Argentina.

Chin had summited Everest two previous times and is a veteran of several other mountaineering expeditions in China, Pakistan, Tibet, and Argentina.

For more information on Kit DesLauriers, Jimmy Chin, and the expedition, please visit Berg Adventures International at http://www.bergadventures.com.

Press Contacts:
European Press Contact:
Francesca Nalesso, francesca_nalesso@vfc.com

US Press Contact:
Pamela Bennett, pam_bennett@vfc.com