Somehow, the idea of charity balls and Mount Everest just don't fit together. But neither does the idea of someone from backwoods BC organizing an Everest attempt, which normally involves millions of dollars, high-profile sponsors -- even royal backing.

Prince George's Peter Austen proved that, while all that might be nice, it's not necessary. Working from, his living room, he assembled a cohesive, high-spirited team whose Everest adventure takes them to such far-flung places as Mount Communism in the former Soviet Union to Popacatepetl in Mexico to the red-light district of Bangkok. But the real adventure begins when they arrive in the fabled city of Kathmandu From there, not even landslides and hostile border guards can keep thern from Chomolungma, the Mother Goddess of the World.