Alon Newton, Rescue in the Pamir Mountains

He was born, raised and educated in Israel and graduated from the Technion - Israel Institue of Technology with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1989. While growing up in Israel, Alon was an avid climber and did many of his first ascents in the mountains of the Sinai Peninsula. He has summited, among others, Mont Blanc in the Alps and the Island Peak in the Himalayas. During his years in Israel he held the position of Secretary with the Israeli Alpine Club. Now married and with a teenage son, Alon considers himself retired from mountaineering. He moved to Vancouver from Hong Kong in 1996.
It was during his time as Secretary for the Israeli Alpine Club that Alon became involved with a search and rescue team that was sent to the Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan in the former Soviet Union, following an avalanche. On Friday, July 13, 1990 an earthquake caused a serac to collapse above camp II at the 6000 metre level on the route to Peak Lenin. The resulting avalanche obliterated the camp, killing 43 climbers with only two survivors.

Alon Newton spoke to us in May, 2011.