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Fri, 08 May 2009 Climbing Mount Everest with a MacBook Pro and iPod

The team is scheduled to make the ascent to the peak of Mount Everest today

Jim Dalrymple Macworld.com

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If you're planning an expedition to conquer Mount Everest, you need to make sure you have all have of the necessary supplies. If your list of supplies is anything like the most recent group to take on the Everest challenge, you should pack your MacBook Pro and a few iPods, too.

On the First Ascent Web site, Gerry Moffat, head of production for the team, films daily dispatches and uses his MacBook Pro to transfer and edit the data. All of the footage is shot on a solid state cards on the mountain.

"It's then put into the trusty MacBook Pro," Moffat said in a video on the Web site. "These have been functioning superbly all the way up -- we're at about 21,000 feet."

After the footage has been backed up, the card goes to one of the sherpas who takes it to the base camp for editing. The video editor, Tom, then makes another backup of the data and begins editing the footage for public viewing.

The relevant clips are imported into Final Cut Pro, Apple's professional video application. Music is added, the video is edited and the dispatch is ready to be encoded for the Internet. The files are uploaded via satellite connection to an FTP server in the US and posted to the Internet.

Documenting the journey is not the only reason to carry Apple gear on Everest. Each climber has an entertainment pack that they carry for rest periods. Many of them chose to bring their iPods.

During a rest day, some of the climbers give us a glimpse of what they take with them to pass the time.

"This is what's turing out to be the best entertainment on this trip -- my iPod touch," one of the climbers said.

"Of course, I've always got my trusty [iPod] shuffle," said another climber when he was going over his entertainment kit.

One of the other climbers brought her iPod nano on the trip to sit back and rest with.

The team is scheduled to make the ascent to the peak of Mount Everest today. You can view all of the video dispatches on the First Ascent Web site.

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Comments received


ARI-Boy said on Tue, 12 May 2009

Just imagine how long your power cable would need to be to recharge your laptop!!! ;-)

I bet it's tough getting a good internet connection up there too....

ramblingjohn said on Tue, 12 May 2009

Nice to read this, although Apple clearly doesn't approve - their specs quote a maximum operating altitude of 3000 m. See www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs.html, www.apple.com/ipodnano/specs.html etc. Anyone know why? (I might want to take an iPhone, but not a MacBook, into the mountains with me.)

ARI-Boy said on Tue, 12 May 2009

Just imagine how long your power cable would need to be to recharge your laptop!!! ;-)

I bet it's tough getting a good internet connection up there too....

ramblingjohn said on Tue, 12 May 2009

Nice to read this, although Apple clearly doesn't approve - their specs quote a maximum operating altitude of 3000 m. See www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs.html, www.apple.com/ipodnano/specs.html etc. Anyone know why? (I might want to take an iPhone, but not a MacBook, into the mountains with me.)

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