2009 Everest Challenge

When Ran Fiennes asked Michael Kobold to accompany him on his expedition to Mount Everest in 2008, the then-28-year-old watchmaker thought he was kidding. Still, he went along to Everest Base Camp and even climbed part of the way up the Khumbu ice fall, not quite reaching Camp 1 in the process before getting injured. Mike thought his climbing days were counted and considered himself lucky to be alive.

A year later the two men would be reunited, along with veteran mountaineer and guide Kenton Cool and expedition manager Henry Todd, to attempt to climb the mountain with a noble purpose: raising funds for and awareness of the Navy SEAL Warrior Fund (site: www.sealfund.org). A group of Navy SEALs volunteered to train Mike in order to prepare him for the challenges he would face during the course of the expedition. By April of 2009, Fiennes, Kobold and Cool were back at Base Camp under the direction of Todd.

After six weeks, the men reached the summit of the world's highest mountain, where they raised an outsized flag depicting the Navy SEAL trident. The pictures here complement those found on the expedition's official blog. To read Mike Kobold's journal entries from the expedition, or to see additional pictures, please visit www.everest-challenge.com.

Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Navy SEAL Warrior Fund by visiting www.sealfund.org.