Ask this climber 'What's up?' He'll say, '7 tempting peaks'

Paul Giorgio hopes to climb the 'seven summits.'
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
Paul Giorgio and Terry Engberg braced themselves against the freezing 100 mph winds tearing across Aconcagua, a 22,841-foot mountain in Argentina known as "the stone sentinel."
The winds on that day in January were stronger than those in a tropical storm that rips trees from the ground; stronger than the winds in a Category 1 hurricane that topples mobile homes.
One of the other climbers with Giorgio and Engberg was lifted off his feet by the wind.
The wind chill was about 55 below, Engberg added, and the climbers were wearing layers of clothes to stay warm.
Giorgio, of Auburn, Mass., knew that there were many ways a climber could die on a mountain like Aconcagua, including frostbite. An experienced climber, Giorgio had twice reached the summit of Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain.
He's at Everest this spring for a third summit and plans to bring back artifacts from the last camp Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made before reaching the summit in 1953. It was the first conquest of Everest.
The artifacts will be included in an exhibit at the Smithsonian.
Ready to reach it
Giorgio hopes to reach the summit this week. His team includes Dr. Jason Fought, an Austintown native who serves as a base camp doctor and has been chronicling the climb in a series of columns for The Vindicator.
On Aconcagua, Giorgio asked Engberg to fight the winds and press on for about another 30 minutes to try to reach the mountain's icy gray-and-white peak, which taunted them against the clear blue sky. It was still 1,500 feet above them.
"He's very aggressive. He's type A," Engberg said of Giorgio.
Yet Engberg also said Giorgio understands that safety is more important than reaching the top of a mountain.
"He's willing to call it quits when he sees a bad thing coming up," Engberg said. "You do not want to get trapped up there."
Giorgio and Engberg made it 15 more feet up the Aconcagua before deciding to turn back for fear of frostbite, Engberg said. It was the second time Giorgio, 39, of Auburn, Mass., had failed to summit Aconcagua.
Engberg said Giorgio was crestfallen as a result of his failure to reach the summit."You hate to get beat by the mountain."
The 'seven summits'
Giorgio, however, will likely be back to challenge Aconcagua, said his wife, Diana. She said his goal is to climb the tallest mountains on each of the world's seven continents, known as the "seven summits:" Aconcagua in South America; Mount McKinley in North America; Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa; Mount Elbrus in Europe; Vinson Massif in Antarctica; Mount Kosciuszko in Australia; and Mount Everest in Asia.
"He's relentless; he does not take no for an answer," Diana said. "Once Paul gets something into his head, he will do whatever it takes to reach his goal."
Only 75 people have climbed each of the seven, according to the Internet site everestnews.com. Giorgio has already reached the top of Mount McKinley and Mount Elbrus, as well as Everest.
Dr. Fought said that he was worried about Giorgio's health at the start of the Everest expedition this spring.
"He was the first to get sick and struggled to get to base camp (at 17,500 feet above sea level). I was tracking heart rates and the amount of oxygen in the blood, and he was consistently among the worst in the group," Fought wrote in an e-mail.
"As we went higher, however, everything improved. His stamina increased, and when we neared Base Camp, he was leading the pack," Fought wrote.
In shape
Diana noted that her husband is very athletic. He played football and baseball at his high school in Millbury, Mass., and at Fitchburg State College in Fitchburg, Mass., she said.
Giorgio graduated from Fitchburg State in 1987 with a bachelor's degree in electronic engineering. Today, he is a real estate investor.
Diana said she and her husband met while growing up in Massachusetts and have been "best friends" for 20 years. They've been married for 12 years and have a 6-month-old daughter, Alexandra.
Giorgio talks to his family about twice each day from Everest using a satellite phone, Diana said.
"I know that's difficult for him," she said.
Diana added that her husband is drawn to the spiritual aspects of climbing, and that it gives him greater respect for nature. Giorgio began climbing mountains in New England in 1980.
"I think that climbing mountains is a humbling experience for anyone that does it," she said.
Dr. Fought describes Giorgio as "Italian-American through and through."
"He's brash and opinionated, but loyal," Fought wrote. "He's emotional and doesn't hesitate to tell people ... what he thinks."
Giorgio first became interested in reaching Everest's summit in 1998, when he climbed Kala Patar, an 18,500-foot mountain west of Everest. Diana said that from the top of Kala Patar, her husband had "the most beautiful view of Everest."
"That's when the fire was lit under him," she said. "From there, he was hooked."
To prepare for Everest, Giorgio took survival courses and climbed Aconcagua and reached the summit of Mount McKinley. He joined his first Everest expedition in May 2000.
Giorgio almost had to settle for climbing 280 feet short of the summit that year, because he ran out of rope. He then hiked 11,500 feet back to base camp to decide what he should do.
Two days later Giorgio was back climbing, and he eventually reached the summit. It is thought to be the first time any climber has gone back to base camp from near the top of the mountain, only to return and reach the summit a few days later.
The next year Giorgio climbed to the summit without using supplemental oxygen. He spent four hours there, bringing with him a Boston Red Sox baseball cap.
He hoped the cap would help break the "Curse of the Bambino," which Red Sox fans believe began when their team sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees.
"He hates the New York Yankees with a burning passion and loves the Red Sox," Dr. Fought wrote.
hill@vindy.com