Pak, a native of Korea, was a member of a team sponsored by The Korea Times newspaper that attempted to climb Mt. Whitney, a 14,495’ peak in the Sierra Nevada mountains in southern California.

The Korea Times is the largest Korean language newspaper in the United States, and the second most read newspaper in Los Angeles, Calif., where it is based, according to the website wikipedia.

The newspaper mounted the expedition on the 40th anniversary of another mountain climbing project it had sponsored, which resulted in the death of a climber on Mt. McKinley in Alaska.

The Mt. Whitney climb was led by Myung Joo Kim, a Korean American man who holds the record as the oldest person to successfully climb the highest peaks on all seven continents. Kim achieved the feat in 2006 at the age of 63 years and 258 days.

Pak said he trained for almost a month before tackling the Mt. Whitney climb. Some other members of the team, which included two Korea Times reporters, trained for three months, he said.

There are several ways to reach the summit of Mt. Whitney, including a popular 22 mile hiking trail and some more difficult routes that involve various degrees of technical climbing skills. The newspaper team attempted one of the most challenging routes, which demanded the use of ice axes and crampons by the climbers.

To make the summit attempt, the climbers left their base camp at 1:30 in the morning on June 6, said Pak. Although weather conditions were fairly good, the team hit a road block on a steep, ice covered slope leading to a gentler ridge line towards the peak, he said.

Pak had reached the top of the 70 degree slope to take photos of the other climbers, but some of them were having trouble with the ascent. After waiting for more than an hour, he watched in horror as one member of the team lost his footing and slipped about 150 feet down the slope before he was able to use his ice ax to arrest his fall.

Pak and the other team members went to the aid of the man, who was unhurt but had lost some of his gear. The incident was enough to call off the summit attempt however, said Pak, and it was almost 24 hours after their departure that the team made it back to their base camp.

Although the members didn’t make the summit, the story of their attempt was featured prominently in The Korea Times, and a photo by Pak, taken on the slope where the climber fell, was featured in the paper.

Pak said he wasn’t that disappointed about not making it to the top of the mountain, because he hikes for enjoyment and isn’t concerned about making a list of mountains he has climbed.