About
My name is Arnold Coster, I’ve been born in Schiedam in The Netherlands on May 17 1976. I work as a professional expedition leader for my own company Outware Treks & Expeditions as well as for SummitClimb.
I hear you think: a flatlander as a professional climber?
It all started when I was 16 years old……………..
When I was 16 years old I went, like all Dutch people, on holiday to France with my parents and got the idea to join a climbing course in the Verdon. There I’ve learned to belay, lead and make safe ancors etc.
I got completely hooked to climbing, but what to do if you are from a country with no mountains?
So I went to indoor climbing gyms and started to meet “real” climbers. Very quickly I start making trips to the Alps and by the time I was 18 me and my climbing friend started to nail all the major peaks there. This was completely irresponsibly and dangerous, we had no idea what we where doing! We had no money, no gear, no experience!
Very quickly we gained experience and somehow survived this dangerous period of experimenting in the Alps.
I sarted to look around to find a way to make my proffesion of my hobby, this took a wile……
Then I met the famous climber Dan Mazur, we became friends and he offered me a chance as assistant leader and later I started to sole lead trips for him.
I went to Manaslu, Mount Everest Everest, Cho Oyu, but also Shishapangma, Lhakpa Ri, Mustag Ata, Khan Tengri, Mt Kenia and Kilimanjaro. I’ve led 5 trips to Mount Everest and summited 2 times. This year I’ll lead another Mount Everest expedition.
During these expeditions I’ve met my wife Maya Sherpa, she was the first nepaleese woman on Ama Dablam, Pumori and Cho Oyu.
At present time I live with my wife in Kathmandu, Nepal. We are married in 2003.
So from a flatlander I became part of the Sherpa community. I am a very lucky man to have uncles and cousins who are the best climbers in the world. I am very proud to be part of this family.
My passion is climbing and by being a proffesional climber I now have a chance to share this with all kinds of people from all over the world. The mountains are for everybody and I hope I can help a lot of people living their dreams in the future, like I do!
Also check out these sites about me:
My Facebook page
My LinkedIn profile
Outware Treks & Expeditions