Tallest Thai in the world.EVEREST ATTEMPT.

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EVEREST ATTEMPT

Tallest Thai in the world
By Manote Tripathi
The Nation
2011-04-04

Natapol Supmanu expects to brandish our flag and the King's portrait at the summit of Mount Everest next month

Why does Natapol Supmanu want to climb Mount Everest? Britain's George Mallory famously replied, "Because it's there." The answer from the 35-year-old Thai reflects his ambitiousness: "Because it's the highest."

Sponsored by Thai Beverage Marketing, Natapol heads to Nepal today for a summit attempt called Thai Everest 2011: Live Your Dream.

From Kathmandu he'll cross into Tibet and reach Everest Base Camp on April 20. The ascent will take place sometime between May 15 and 25, and he plans to be back in Thailand around June 11.

"I've always been an adventure lover, an outdoor type, since my school days in the US," says Natapol, whose father used to take him deep-sea fishing. "I was often caught in a tug-of-war with big fish, but my dad would never let me go for a shark - he always said they were bigger than I was."

Two decades on, his father has no such reservations about the Himalayan mission, although Natapol says his mother is worrying. He's somehow managed to assure her that it's only "a stroll on the summit of Mount Everest".

Natapol is managing director of Finestra, a firm that distributes uPVC windows and doors, but he's physically and mentally prepared for this challenge and others planned afterward. He's spent two years exercising strenuously - weightlifting, regular 10-kilometre runs and other cardiovascular training.

Prior to that he built up muscle by eating a dozen of more egg whites a day and lots of meat. "Since then I've been eating five or six egg whites a day. I tried protein supplements, but I think it's best to get protein from my regular food.

"But I've been exercising all my life. I was a bodybuilder and an 800m runner in college in the US.

"On the mental side, I meditate. I think I've attained the necessary physical fitness, but whether I can reach the summit depends on my mental strength. Meditation helps, and I've been attending sessions at the Ban Wang Muang Meditation Centre in Phang Nga. I also do yoga and Pilates."

And in his time he's been a PADI-certified diver, downhill skier, boxer, footballer and cross-country runner.

High-altitude climbing consumes a lot of physical energy, he acknowledges, but he's had no serious problem with acute mountain sickness on lower peaks in Nepal and elsewhere.

Natapol is familiar with the rarefied air on the world's highest peaks, having scaled Mt Kanabalu, which reaches 4,082 metres, Chola Pass (5,420m) and Kala Patthar (5,545m), as well as mountains in the US, where he began climbing while at college.

"What fascinates me about mountaineering is that you always have obstacles in sight to overcome. The moment arrives in this vast quiet. All you need to do is solve the problem at hand. I like that moment!"

Natapol, making his first trip to Everest, is keen to follow in the footsteps of George Mallory, whose life story is recounted in the adventure documentary "The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest", soon to be released in Thailand.

Narrated by actor Liam Neeson, with Ralph Fiennes providing the voice of Mallory and Natasha Richardson that of his wife Ruth, the film follows American climber Conrad Anker as he retraces Mallory's 1924 trail up Everest.

In doing so, Anker attempts to solve a 75-year-old mystery: Did Mallory make it to the top?

In fact the British climber might have been the first to reach the summit - and not New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Tibet's Tensing Norgay in 1953.

Mallory was last seen 800 feet from the summit - but was he going up or coming down? He then vanished, and remained missing until Anker discovered his body on the mountain, frozen and intact, nearly eight decades later.

In the film, Anker scales Everest using the same equipment and clothing as Mallory.

Natapol met Anker at his Khumbu Climbing School in Nepal last year. "He invited me to see the film and also gave me a hat! He's one of my inspirations. And I've got three sherpas on my ascent who were trained by Conrad."

Mallory tackled Everest from the Tibet side, and Natapol is too. He'll visit Rongbuk Monastery, the world's highest temple, for the same blessing the lamas gave Mallory in 1924. He hopes to see the same scene among the monastery's murals that Mallory recorded: a black demon disembowelling a white man.

A staff of 10 will help Natapol at Everest Base Camp, and on the ascent he'll be accompanied by the three experienced sherpas - Pa Sang has been to the summit nine times and Kunulu and Mingma seven times each. Mingma will also be his official cameramen.

Natapol admits the cost of a summit attempt is astronomical, nearing Bt10 million. Thai Beverage, which produces Beer Chang, is paying for that as well as the Bt40-million price of a 30-part TV documentary about the expedition.

"I want to thank Thai Beverage Marketing for sponsoring my climb, which extols the 'Live Your Dream' concept of the Chang products," he says. "If you dare to dream, you need to go out and realise it. You don't need to scale Everest like me, but you need to play hard in your field and achieve success by turning your dream into reality."

Natapol will make his climb carrying a portrait of His Majesty the King and the flags of Thailand and Suankulap School, which he attended, and a third bearing the Buddhist Dharmachak symbol.

He's confident he won't let his fellow Thais down, but just the same, he says, "Wish me luck - I'll need a lot of it up there!"

Progress reports

Natapol's preparations for his ascent are chronicled in first segments of the work-in-progress documentary "Thai Everest 2011: Live Your Dream", produced by the Thospak studio, which will premiere on Channel 5 on April 25, following the evening news, and on Thai Global Network.