News Story

Matterhorn Webcast 22nd August!

Marc Eisenstadt, Thursday 8 Aug 2002

UPDATE: Lorenzo and Scott reached the summit around 09:30 BST, 10:30 local time, and sent their final audio message before the descent. Several people tuned in to the webcast from around the world including one from Florida.Unfortunately, due to a problem dialling into the Internet account, Lorenzo was unable to send any photos using the mobile phone but has taken many and we will slot them into the replay website when he returns.

UPDATE: Climb/webcast taking place 1 day early due to weather opportunity. Photos may be delayed, but live and replayed audio still available as team nears summit. See URL below to join this live event.

[Original story follows, unedited]

KMi hopes to achieve another first on 23rd August 2002, when the world’s lightest audio/imaging webcasting unit will be deployed from the top of the Matterhorn by Lorenzo Gariano and his colleague Scott Woolums.

Lorenzo has long been known to us as ‘the plant guy’ who runs Botany Bottle and looks after the plants at the Open University’s Knowledge Media Institute. In his other life he’s a mountain climber on his way to traversing the highest peak on each of the seven continents. He’s already done four of them, and the Matterhorn climb is just a little light relief and exercise while he raises funds for his forthcoming climb up The Carstensz Pyramid in Irian Jaya, the highest point on the Australasian Continent. Lorenzo’s climbing partner Scott Woolums completed his Everest ascent in May 2002.

Lorenzo will be submitting live audio reports and just-in-time photos using a Nokia 7650 ‘2.5G’ GPRS phone, about the size of a typical mobile phone, but with a large colour screen and embedded camera able to send mountain snapshots straight back to ‘mission control’ in KMi.

In addition to the newly launched 7650, KMi will be deploying some other novel technologies for the event. Macromedia Flash MX and the Flash 6 player will be used to display Lorenzo’s latest position on an interactive map providing links to the latest pictures. The new Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX will handle the live streaming audio and a live chat room through which the webcast audience can pose questions to Lorenzo. In addition, Lorenzo’s audio will be broadcast live as well as recorded for replay, all by an automated system that enables us to continue presenting even during anti-social hours– critical for Lorenzo’s pre-dawn start!

Revisit the first web site listed below for webcast timing updates, links to photo updates, and further details of Lorenzo’s Seven Summits Quest.