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Ranking in 7summits list, either CP or K | : | 28 |
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Ranking in Carstensz Pyramid list | : | 23 |
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Ranking in Kosciuszko list | : | 17 |
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First name | : | Hall (W. Hall jr) |
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Family name | : | Wendel |
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Gender | : | male |
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Country of origin | : | USA |
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Date of Birth | : | 1943-01-17 |
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Name of first summit | : | Aconcagua |
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Date of climbing the first summit | : | 1988-01-20 |
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Name of final summit in Carstensz list | : | Carstensz |
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Date of final summit in Carstensz list | : | 1994-11-12 |
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Name of final summit in Kosciuszko list | : | Everest |
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Date of final summit in Kosciuszko list | : | 1994-05-09 |
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Date of climbing Kilimanjaro | : | 1990-05-08 |
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Date of climbing Elbrus | : | 1989-09-10 |
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Date of climbing Aconcagua | : | 1988-01-20 |
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Date of climbing Denali | : | 1988-06-12 |
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Date of climbing Vinson | : | 1988-12-06 |
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Date of climbing Everest | : | 1994-05-09 |
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Date of climbing Carstensz Pyramid | : | 1994-11-12 |
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Date of climbing Kosciuszko | : | 1989-12-22 |
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Climbed Carstensz Pyramid? | : | Yes |
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Climbed Kosciuszko? | : | Yes |
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Total time including Carstensz Pyramid | : | 06y,297d |
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Total time including Kosciuszko | : | 06y,110d |
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Age when finished with CP | : | 51y,300d |
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Age when finished with K | : | 51y,113d |
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Website | : | http://www.polarisindustries.com/img/history/history_8002.jpg |
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Additional Info | : | Another businessman; from: http://www.alumni.hbs.edu/bulletin/1997/october/wendel.html
"At an altitude of more than 29,000 feet, on a bright May morning in 1994, Hall Wendel gazed down at the mountainous panorama beneath him. To the north lay China; to the south, Nepal.
Wendel's view was not from the pressurized comfort of a jetliner. After weeks of grueling climbing and life-threatening situations, he had reached the top of Mt. Everest, the earth's highest point. By doing so, he became only the 24th person in history to "summit" the tallest mountain on each of the seven continents.
Wendel was the first of a team of eleven experienced mountaineers (led by the famous New Zealand guide Rob Hall, who would perish on Everest two years later) to summit Everest that day. His triumph followed a two-mile vertical ascent from a final staging camp, a climb begun shortly after midnight in below-zero temperatures and lasting nearly eight hours. Equipped with extreme-weather gear and an oxygen mask, Wendel spent ninety minutes on the mountain's tiny peak. "Even now, it's difficult to describe my exhilaration when I realized I was going to make it," recalls Wendel, seated in his office at Minneapolis-based Polaris Industries, where he is chairman and CEO.
Wendel has always relished exceptional personal challenges - running in big-city marathons, amateur race car driving, and, as befits a graduate of the Naval Academy, skippering his 58-foot sloop Integrity to victory in the 1991 Bermuda Race. "I lead a full life," says the trim, personable Wendel, "and I enjoy taking calculated risks."
He has followed that philosophy in business as well - and no more so than in 1981, as president of the Polaris E-Z-Go Division of Textron. Says Wendel: "Textron wanted to sell Polaris because the snowmobile business was overcrowded, gasoline shortages were recent memories, and the U.S. economy was entering a recession. Great timing!" Leading a group of seven other Polaris managers and joined by his late father, William (MBA '40), he acquired the unit, accomplishing one of corporate America's first LBOs. "We signed the deal on the back of a napkin in a bar in Providence, Rhode Island. No lawyers or investment bankers," Wendel smiles.
Polaris has also earned a reputation as a solid corporate citizen; last spring, for example, it provided utility vehicles to flood-stricken towns in Minnesota and North Dakota. For his part, Wendel has personally made a significant effort to share his good fortune with the community, creating a $5-million foundation to help inner-city youth with education and job training and establishing scholarships for the children of Polaris employees.
Looking back, Wendel recalls, "When we took second mortgages on our homes to buy the company, we felt if we could just recoup our money, we'd be reasonably happy. I think my share was $40,000, so things have turned out much better than I ever dreamed." For a man who thrives on conquering some of the toughest challenges on earth, that success is not surprising." |
