MERA PEAK
Ski Expedition 2003

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The team

The team members know each other from climbing and ski mountaineering trips in the Alps. The idea for the ultimate challenge, skiing in Nepal, was born during one of many climbing tours. All team members are excellent skiers and have many years of combined climbing experience.

Greg Nieuwenhuys, 23 yrs.

Joost Schreve, 28 yrs.

Greg is in the middle of a stormy ski career. It was only five years ago that he went off piste for the first time... since then he's part of the scene. Now he has found a new challenge: telemark skiing. Greg is a certified instructor of the Dutch Alpine Club, participated in 3 "extreme ski weeks" in Kaprun where Europe's best skiers join forces and stays many weeks in the Alps each winter.

In the snowless season Greg can sometimes be found in the Netherlands. He then goes running and mountainbiking to stay fit for the next ski season.

Greg is a student Technical Physics at Delft University of Technology. Short movie

Joost has more than 12 years of climbing experience and climbed among others the Lenzspitze Norh face. He has 5 times been head instructor of the High Altitude Mountaincamp and was a participant of the Dutch Apline Club's ski mountaineering instructor's course in 2002. Joost got enthusiastic for Nepal during a 5 months tenure at a trekking agency in Kathmandu in 1993.

Next to skiing and climbing Joost spends his free time catamaran sailing, running (marathon Paris 1999 and New York 2002) and playing squash.

Joost graduated from Delft University and now works at Fredhopper, a software company. Short movie

Falco van Vloten, 25 yrs.

Jan Maerten Smit, 27 yrs.

Falco has been an excellent ski mountaineer for years, and recently also an enthusiastic climber. To prove he is serious about his new sport he immediately successfully enrolled in 2 mountaineering courses and climbed the Gran Paradiso in summer 2002. In recent years Falco made trekkings in Australia, Bolivia, Norway and Nepal and teached extreme skiing to the best Austrian ski instructors during the extreme weeks in Kaprun.

To stay in shape when he is in The Netherlands Falco is a frequent runner. In 1999 he ran the Paris marathon.

Falco studied in Delft and currently works as a consultant at Accenture. Short movie

Jan Maerten is an exceptional skier. Especially on moguls he is unbeatable. He has years of ski mountaineering experience and he is a 3 times participant of the "extreme ski week" in Kaprun.

Jan Maerten loves extreme sports. As a member of the Red Bull team he participated at the World Championships sea rowing. He's also a fanatic ice hockey player and skater.

Jan Maerten brings medical skills to the team: he studied medical science in Utrecht and is a doctor. Short movie

Rogier Wouters, 26 yrs.	Ngima Dorji Sherpa, 29 yrs.
Rogier is a very good rock climber. He trains a couple of times per week in the indoor climbing hall. In the Alps snowboarding is his passion. On the Gross Venediger he proved that he is also a good skier. To stay fit, Rogier practices all the sports you can think off: hockey, soccer, squash, running, skating, etc. Rogier is a student in psychology at Amsterdam Univesity. Short movie	Ngima is from Kharikola in the Solo Khumbu. Ngima has more than 10 years of experience in trekking. He worked his way up from porter to sherpa and sirdar (guide). Since 3 years he runs his own trekking company, Nepal Myths & Mountain Trails. Ngima puts a lot of effort in supporting the education in the Solo Khumbu. See also this article in Nzine.