OUTDOOR NOTES / RICH ROBERTS : Nations Congregate at Top of Mt. Everest

It was late at night in Seattle when Dianne Roberts heard the giddy voice of Robert Link from Mt. Everest.

“Hi, Dianne,” Link said, “I’m standing on top of the world.”

Roberts is executive director of the Mt. Everest International Peace Club, which placed 20 members--American, Soviet and Chinese--on the summit over four consecutive days, May 6-9. Her husband, Jim Whittaker, the first American to scale Everest in 1963, was the expedition leader.

The connection was beamed via satellite from Seattle to the Base Camp in Tibet, then patched through by Whittaker at Camp III to the summit.

The expedition, exploiting a clear, calm break in the weather after earlier setbacks, set a record for most members to reach the 29,028-foot summit. The number is remarkable in that the total party numbered only 30, most of whom had to double as support “mules” in ferrying equipment up the mountain to the high camps.

Each three-man team consisted of an American, a Soviet and a Chinese. The successful summit-climbers included the first Soviet woman and the second Chinese woman. One Chinese climber dropped out near the summit.

It had been hoped that at least one team would reach the summit on April 22, Earth Day, but bad weather spoiled that. Finally, when the first two teams stood on the summit together, it had also been hoped that they could talk to President Bush.

While Link and the others waited on the line, their Seattle headquarters phoned the White House.

“They wouldn’t wake him up,” a spokesperson said.

A heavy assault on Everest this year included Peter Hillary, 36-year-old son of Sir Edmund Hillary, the New Zealander who with his Nepalese guide Tenzing Norgay were the first to scale Everest in 1961. The younger Hillary reached the top a week ago.

There also were Swiss and Australian teams and another American group of five who reached the summit. A Japanese team tried to buzz the top in a hot-air balloon but crashed, causing leg injuries to one man.

But Whittaker’s people were the only group with a plan to leave the mountain cleaner than they found it, rather than discarding used oxygen bottles and other litter along the way. When the team left Camp III at 17,500 feet, two 16-person teams of trekkers walked four feet apart in a downhill sweep.

Dan Carlisle’s attempt to surpass the Guinness-recognized world record for clay targets broken in one hour will be the highlight of Raahauge’s eighth annual Shooting and Sports Fair Friday through Sunday in Norco.

Carlisle, a 1984 Olympic bronze medalist and an ’88 Olympic team member, will be aiming at the record of 2,312 set by Colin Hewish of England two years ago. Another American, Dan Reeves of Torrance, tried last year but fell 29 short.

Carlisle, 34, of Corona, will have aides reloading 15 shotguns. The attempt, scheduled for noon Sunday, will require him to break one target about every 1 1/2 seconds.

The fair also features hunting and calling seminars with experts, hunting dog exhibitions, junior gun safety and a women’s home protection clinic, and a biathlon for juniors, with bicycles and air guns. On Saturday at 10 a.m., a team of experts will attempt to fire 10,000 consecutive rounds from the same Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol.

Admission is $6, with children under 12 free. The area will be marked with directional signs.

Briefly

Frank LoPresti, skipper of the Royal Polaris on a 23-day trip out of San Diego, reported by radio that he made his biggest strike of tuna in eight years at Clipperton Island off Costa Rica. LoPresti said 22 anglers caught about 400 in four days, including 116 in the predawn hours Tuesday--the largest estimated to be 260 pounds. The sportfisher also encountered thick schools of rainbow runners--”They wouldn’t leave us alone,” LoPresti said--and some rare Chinese mask groupers. Updates are available by phoning (213) 976-TUNA. . . . Richard Castaneda reports “the best striped marlin bite in recent years” off the East Cape of Baja. Additionally, sailfish are arriving about two months ahead of schedule, so the blues may not be far behind. Dorado, yellowfin tuna and wahoo also are active. . . . The Fish and Game Commission’s revised plan for a black bear hunt in 1990-91 calls for selling up to 15,000 tags but stopping the hunt at 1,250 kills. Pro-hunting conservationists object that the scheme would only encourage hunters to take whichever bear they saw first--young, small, etc.--rather than taking their time to be selective.