2 April 2004

South Africa's 10 Years of Freedom flag departs the country today en route to Mount Everest with three Cape Town climbers.

Andre Bredenkamp, Mike Nixon and Chris Drummond are the only South African climbers to have been granted permits to climb Mount Everest this year.

The climbers will spend five to six weeks lower down on Everest preparing for the climb before making their summit bid - tackling the more difficult north face route - from 15-30 May, depending on the weather.

Presenting the trio with the flag at his Leeuwenhof residence recently, Western Cape Premier Marthinus Van Schalkwyk said: "I hope they realise that the flag symbolise our 10 years of freedom, our own mountain that we climbed the past 10 years."

Speaking for the climbers, Andre Bredenkamp noted that roughly one out of 20 climbers who go past base camp manage to summit Everest, "and that is sort of parallel to the chance South Africa had, 10 years ago, to arise from its difficult situation to becoming a success.

"We have lots of hurdles, such as lack of oxygen, winds and the cold - so South Africa had many hurdles", Bredenkamp said, adding that the country's determination to succeed would act as their motivator, and that carrying the flag would make a difference to their attitude.

"As we are crawling up the mountain like little ants, the hardest obstacle will not be the mountain itself, but maintaining a positive attitude", he said.

The trio have been climbing together for over three years, during which time they have climbed Aconcagua, South America's highest mountain, and Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Europe.

Last year, South Africa joined the rest of the world in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the conquest of Mount Everest, with two South Africans, Sibusiso Vilane and Sean Wisedale, making sure that the SA flag flew on top of the world.

Vilane made history in the process, becoming the first black African to summit the world's highest mountain, while Wisedale has since made history - this year he became only the 79th climber of all time, and the first African, to have climbed the highest mountain on each of the seven continents.

Source: BuaNews

10 Years of Freedom: South Africa 1994-2004 Looking back on 10 years of freedom. Looking forward to a South Africa Alive with Possibility.

Round the world in a microlight - In celebration of the first decade of the new South Africa, two men set out in December to circumnavigate the globe, flying over 80 000km, visiting 50 countries and crossing six continents - in what many would consider impossibly small aircraft. SA's double Everest triumph SA joined the rest of the world in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the conquest of Mount Everest, and two South Africans made sure the flag flew on top of the world. Game ranger Sibusiso Vilane made history in the process, becoming the first black African to summit the world's highest mountain. Wisedale cracks seven summits - Many people have stood looking down on Africa's plains from the top of Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro. When Sean Wisedale summited Africa's highest peak, however, he became only the 79th* climber of all time, and the first African, to have climbed the highest mountain on each of the seven continents.