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Greg Mortimer is in hospital in Iceland

freepete

25-Aug-2010
10:30:54 PM

Hope this turns out OK

From Dagbladet Politiken:(http://politiken.dk/newsinenglish/article1038403.ece)

Wilderness adventurer and mountaineer Greg Mortimer, who was the first Australian to reach the top of Mount Everest and K2 in the Himalayas, had a serious fall last weekend when climbing a mountain in Ø Fjord some 200 km west of Ittoqqortoomiit on the east coast of Greenland.

Precise details of the accident remain unclear but Mortimer was flown by air ambulance to Iceland and admitted to hospital in Reykjavik where he is believed to have liver injuries.

No rescue equipment
The accident happened last Saturday, the day after the experienced mountaineer had received assistance from Denmark’s Ejnar Mikkelsen inspection vessel . Mortimer was on a climbing holiday with his son Oliver and two fellow-Australians.

Mortimer’s Zodiac rubber boat had broken down, and the Australian group was stuck in the fjord. Ejnar Mikkelsen engineers repaired the engine, but at the same time claim to have noticed that the Australians had no sea rescue or life jacket equipment with them for the 200 kilometre trip through the world’s largest and most deserted system of fjords.

The authorities in Ittoqqortoomiit were alerted about Mortimer’s accident in a satellite telephone call and dispatched a helicopter, which evacuated the Australian to the Konstabelpynt runway. From there the injured mountaineer was flown to Reykjavik by air ambulance.

Earlier, during the rubber boat repair incident, politiken.dk’s reporter was ashore with the engineers and spoke to both Greg Mortimer and his 24-year old son Oliver.

“My mother is not happy with this project, but in my view there are more dangerous things you can do in life. And here, at least, you don’t hang out with the wrong people,” Oliver Mortimer said.

Greg Mortimer said: “I have climbed many places, but there is something special about doing it here in Greenland. Nature is fabulously beautiful and wild – and everything is untouched.”

SteveH

27-Aug-2010
8:38:19 PM

My thoughts to Greg, Oliver and their family.

Hoping things turn out well and result in a speedy recovery.

Steve

DaveN

27-Aug-2010
9:46:58 PM

Greg and Ollie were climbing with Tom Williams and Lyle Closs. They were climbing at what Tom described as "a very remote location up the back of Scoresby Sound" in Greenland.

Dave

southcol

5-Sep-2010
9:46:15 PM

any news on Greg?

DaveN

6-Sep-2010
6:14:55 PM

I got an email today from Tom Williams. He said that they had done "5000 feet of new roped climbing" up until the accident. He added "Greg is back home following surgery and a brief convalescence in Reykjavik"

freepete

6-Sep-2010
8:28:56 PM

On 6/09/2010 DaveN wrote:
>I got an email today from Tom Williams. He said that they had done "5000
>feet of new roped climbing" up until the accident. He added "Greg is back
>home following surgery and a brief convalescence in Reykjavik"

Great news thanks Dave

paz

7-Sep-2010
12:15:03 PM

Oli's blog's here for those interested.......

http://oli-in-europe.blogspot.com/

Some pretty super photos

hargs

7-Sep-2010
1:11:20 PM

> "After Greg had left we were all so relieved that he was going to be ok, so we drank
> the rest of our alcohol, which might I add was a lot, we let the rifle off a few times and
> my god it had a kick! We carried on drinking and Lyle had to get something from the
> zodiac, 10 minuit's later he showed up dripping wet."

I'm not sure which sounds more dangerous, the climbing or the post-accident celebration. "He's going to be alright! Get the whiskey! I'll get the gun!"

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