Rolf Bae (9 January 1975 – 1 August 2008) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

Arctic adventurer and

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

. Bae operated an adventure company called Fram, specializing in Arctic and Antarctic travel and survival courses.

Biography

In 2000/2001, Bae crossed Antarctica with fellow explorer Eirik Sønneland, completing what was then the world's longest ski journey, 3800 km long, taking 105 days to complete; the record was beaten by

Rune Gjeldnes Rune Gjeldnes (born 20 May 1971 in Surnadal) is a Norwegian adventurer. He completed his military education in 1992, when he met fellow adventurer-to-be Torry Larsen, also of Møre og Romsdal. Gjeldnes served in the Norwegian Naval Special Oper ...

in 2006. On 27 December 2005, he arrived at the South Pole, after skiing from the ice shelf, and on 24 April 2006, he reached the North Pole unsupported, both expeditions together with Skog. In 2008, Bae together with Stein-Ivar Gravdal, Bjarte Bø and Sigurd Felde reached the top of

Great Trango Tower __NOTOC__ The Trango Towers ( ur, ) are a family of rock towers situated in Gilgit-Baltistan, in the north of Pakistan. The Towers offer some of the largest cliffs and most challenging rock climbing in the world, and every year a number of exped ...

(6286 m) in

Karakoram The Karakoram is a mountain range in Kashmir region spanning the borders of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range falls under t ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, via the "Norwegian Buttress" (VII 5.10+ A4). The team spent 27 days ascending and 30 hours descending the peak. This was the second complete ascent via this route.

Death

Rolf Bae died on 1 August 2008, in a climbing accident while taking part in an international expedition on K2 mountain. According to his wife, Cecilie, she saw her husband swept off the mountain during an ice fall accident. Bae was a friend and teammate of

Ger McDonnell Gerard McDonnell (20 January 1971 – 2 August 2008), mountaineer and engineer, was the first Irishman to reach the summit of K2, the second- highest mountain on Earth, in August 2008. He lost his life along with 10 other mountaineers following ...

, the first Irishman to summit K2. Both men died within hours of each other in separate avalanches on K2.

Personal life

He was married to

Cecilie Skog Cecilie Skog (born August 9, 1974) is a Norwegian adventurer. She studied and worked as a nurse, but since summiting Mount Everest in 2004, she has worked as a professional adventurer, guide and lecturer. In August 2008, she climbed K2. Her hus ...

, the first woman to complete the

Explorers Grand Slam The Explorer's Grand Slam is an adventurer goal to reach the North Pole and South Pole, as well as climb the Seven Summits (Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Vinson, and Puncak Jaya or Kosciuszko). Purists also include a subma ...

. She has climbed the highest mountains of every

continent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...

(the

Seven summits The Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven traditional continents. Climbing to the summit of all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first achieved on 30 April 1985 by Richard Bass. Climbing the Seven Summits ...

) in addition to reaching the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

and

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bae, Rolf 1975 births 2008 deaths Deaths in avalanches Mountaineering deaths on K2 Natural disaster deaths in Pakistan Norwegian mountain climbers People from Sandnes Sportspeople from Rogaland

Biography

Death

Personal life

See also

References