Climber
Tahoe City, CA
Age: 36

A gourmet chef and devoted climber, James, 36, of Tahoe City, California, has climbed all around Lake Tahoe, where he has lived since high school. He grew up in the Morristown and Mendham areas of New Jersey. He moved to California to climb, and has since become a gourmet chef, having graduated from the California Culinary Academy and worked at the likes of the Resort at Squaw Creek. He specializes in French cuisine, speaks French, and helped Jeff Alzner with food preparations for the expedition. He also has worked as a chef in France, spending the year climbing part-time at the Calanques and Verdon.

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James has climbed coast to coast in North America, including ice in Colorado and rock in Mexico, and is a frequent climbing partner for Paul Teare. His travels have taken him to Chamonix, in the French Alps, and he completed a 14-hour ascent of Yosemite's Half Dome, by the Northwest Face, and has been up El Capitan's West Face. He also has climbed in the Alaska Range, including Denali by the Messner Couloir and the Ruth Gorge. He has been married, and hopes to summit but says that "it's a team, and whatever it takes for the team is most important. If I didn't get out of Base Camp, I wouldn't be upset."