Russell Brice

Russell Reginald Brice born 3 July 1952 is a New Zealand mountaineer He was the ownermanager of Himex Himalayan Experience Ltd a climbing expedition company He has summited Cho Oyu seven times Himal Chuli and Mount Everest twice as well as Manaslu in October 2010 which was his 14th summit of an 8000 m peak Brice first went to Everest in 1974 as part of Edmund Hillarys Himalayan Trust His first attempt to climb the mountain was in 1981 In 1988 Brice and Harry Taylor were the first climbers to successfully climb The Three Pinnacles on Everests Northeast Ridge Brice reached the summit of Everest on 29 May 1997 and again on 25 May 1998 He is best known for leading the 2006 2007 and 2009 expeditions on Everest which were filmed by the Discovery Channel for three seasons of a series titled Everest Beyond the Limit The series touts Brices experience weather savvy and professionalism compared to other groups on the mountain Following the first season Brice became part of a controversy over the death of climber David Sharp who was found in a weakened state high on the mountain by Brices climbers footage of Sharp was filmed but he was deemed impossible to save and left to die In the series Brice estimates that 80 of his mates have died during his climbing career In 2012 Brices clients each paid his company 43000 to climb Mount Everest Due to his concerns about dangerous conditions Brice pulled all of his guides clients and Sherpas off Mount Everest and his companys reputation was damaged due to perceptions that he was overreacting During the 2013 season Brice was involved in brokering an agreement between Sherpas and Western climbers after disputes broke out on the mountain Brice also used to own Chamonix Experience based in Chamonix in the French Alps and Mountain Experience based in Nepal Brices expertise has been used for a number of filming projects in the Himalaya including as location manager for the film The Wildest Dream 2010 the story of George Mallory and the expedition to locate his body which was discovered by Conrad Anker Brice is a central figure in the documentary Sherpa 2015 which recounts events surrounding the 2014 Mount Everest ice avalanche