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Ed Viesturs Says He Can Climb Trump’s Border Wall

Donald J. Trump and Ed Viesturs

Ed Viesturs is the only American to have climbed the 14 8,000-metre peaks and the fifth person to do so without supplemental oxygen.

It’s probably no news to anyone that President Donald J. Trump wants to build a 10-metre, $10 billion wall between the United States and Mexico.

On Tuesday, Trump visited prototypes of the wall in California, where he mentioned “professional mountain climbers” who might attempt to breach it.

Viesturs, who took part in the 1998 IMAX filming of Everest and has saved lived on K2, said he could climb Trump’s border wall.

Of course he can, most climbers probably could, but his recent interview with Esquire is fantastic.

Trump’s exact statement was, “Who would think? Who would think? But getting over the top is easy. These are like professional mountain climbers—they’re incredible climbers. They can’t climb some of these walls. Some of them, they can. Those are the walls we’re not using.”

Could you climb these walls?

“Oh no, a good professional mountain climber can probably do it in a few hours, easy,” said Viesturs.

“I mean you could put a whole bunch of ladder sections together, flop it up and over and put down a rope and drop down to the other side. You could back a fire truck up to the wall and raise the ladder over the top.

“The most technical way to do it is to drill bolts into the wall; you hang anchors into the bolts, and then you rig a series of steps into those anchors.

“Whoever’s coming behind them has to climb that series of anchors as well, and then once you get up and over the top, you have to have a way to get down the other side, so you have to have a rope, then maybe rappel down that. Maybe take a lunch break on the summit.”

When asked “Any message for professional mountain climbers trying to sneak into America right this moment?”

Viesturs said, “Oh, you know. Go for it [Eh].” Read the full interview here.

Aid climber making quick work of a border wall prototype

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