Melissa Arnot attempts to be the first US woman to summit the Everest without supplementary oxygen

GENEVA - April 22, 2015 - PRLog -- Melissa will take the South Col route and as part of her attempt she will be using the Alpina Horological Smartwatch to log her activity and effort of the expedition. She will be monitoring steps, distance, calories and sleep for the entire expedition, including the summit push.

Mount Everest, also called Sagarmatha (meaning "Head of the Sky" in Nepalese) and Chomolungma (meaning "Goddess Mother of the World", in Tibetan), is the world's highest mountain with its 8.848m (29.029ft). Most climbers climb Everest with supplementary oxygen, because the oxygen levels at that altitude are only 33% of the oxygen at sea level. It takes significantly more time and additional training for a climber to climb without oxygen. Less than 100 summits out of the over 6500 have been accomplished in this pure manner. No other American woman has climbed the Everest without supplementary oxygen.

"This challenge is a truly personal one that will allow me to push my body and test my own limits. It is the most difficult thing I have attempted in my climbing career thus far and the idea that the limits of possibility are something I can challenge is incredibly inspiring to me. I'm fascinated how my body will react to this challenge and the Alpina Horological Smartwatch will track that performance for and provide a valuable measurement ."

She is climbing with a very small team of 4 - including her climbing partner, Ben Jones, and expedition photographer, Jon Mancuso, and Ang Nuru Sherpa. All of them except Melissa will climb with the aid of oxygen.

Melissa is expected to arrive at Everest base camp in these days. From April 18 to the end of May, she and her team will make 3-4 acclimatization climbs up Everest to Camp 2, 3 and 4 - this gets their bodies used to the altitude and the lack of oxygen. This is necessary to make their summit push. When the weather will be perfect, and their bodies are ready, they will make their summit push. This is expected to happen anytime in late May.

Melissa will wear the Alpina Smartwatch along her entire climb and she will use it to measure her body output during the challenge, with is complementary to her personal challenge. Every day the Alpina Horological Smartwatch will record the main activity and sleep data of Melissa.

"At Alpina we are all behind Melissa in her extremely difficult attempt and are sure she will perform in an outstanding way. If there is one woman who can succeed it's her. We are also very curious about the data which our Horological Smartwatch will bring back to see what it really takes to get to the top of the Everest without supplementary oxygen"

Keep track of Melissa's efforts on Facebook and Instagram @melissaarnot @alpinawatches #meliclimbs #Horologicalsmartwatch #smartwatch #alpinawatches

About Melissa Arnot
Melissa Arnot has made her life about exploring the beautiful mountains of the world. She is passionate about climbing and pushing her own limits, but her ultimate joy comes from taking that journey with others, helping them push their limits and get to their own summit.

CLIMBING RESUME
• 2001 – First Mt. Rainier summit
• 2004 – Became professional mountain guide with Rainier Mountaineering, Inc.
• 2006 – Promoted to lead guide with Rainier Mountaineering, Inc.
• 100+ summits of Mt. Rainier (14,410 feet/ 4,392 meters)
• 5 summits of Mt. Everest – record holder (29,035 feet/8,850 meters)
• 4 expeditions on Aconcagua (22,841 feet/ 6,962 meters)
• 6 expeditions on Cotopaxi (19,997 feet/ 5,897 meters)
• 3 expeditions on Cayambe (18,997 feet/ 5,790 meters)
• 2 expeditions on Kilimanjaro (19,341 feet/ 5895 meters)
• 1 expedition on Mt. McKinley (20,320 feet/ 6,194 meters)

To learn more about Melissa's accomplishments and philanthropy activities, visit her website at www.melissaarnot.com

About the Alpina Horological Smartwatch
The Horological Smartwatch: the bridge between Silicon Valley and the Swiss watch industry.
Powered by MotionX®, the Alpina Horological Smartwatches is capable of bi-directional communication with iPhone and Android apps. The Alpina Horological Smartwatch is the synthesis of high-tech innovation and traditional Swiss watch craftsmanship; it is the link (no pun intended) between modern and classic, and the bridge between Silicon Valley and Switzerland. There is no digital screen on the Swiss Horological Smartwatch. Instead, the beautiful laser cut hands on the watch dial display information in analog form. The Swiss Horological Smartwatches retain their natural classic beauty and can deliver the benefits of the quantified self, all without ever having to recharge a battery.

The Alpina Horological Smartwatch supports the following functionalities:
-  Always-on time & date
- MotionX® activity tracking
- Sleeptracker® sleep monitoring
- Sleep cycle alarms
- Get-Active alerts
- Adaptive coaching
- 2+ years battery life

The MotionX patented sensor-fusion engine tracks activity and sleep patterns with high accuracy. Activity and sleep information is presented in real-time on the Swiss Horological Smartwatch using beautiful traditional analog dials. The Swiss Horological Smartwatch synchronizes automatically with applications on Apple and Android smartphones. On the iOS and Android apps, simple and easy-to-understand graphics highlight how much one has moved and slept during the day, week, or month. This data will assist users to better understanding themselves, and along with appropriate goal setting and intelligent coaching, will improve their well-being. Better sleep and a more active lifestyle are widely recognized as simple, but effective, positive behavioral changes. The Alpina Horological Smartwatch now combines the features and functionality of the MotionX® technology platform with a luxury timepiece.

About Alpina
ALPINA, THE ORIGINAL SWISS SPORT WATCH ALPINE SPORTS WATCH MANUFACTURING - SINCE 1883
Alpina, famous for its red triangle signature, is an independent, family-owned fine watchmaking manufacture based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1883, Alpina's watchmaking history spans more than 130 years. A true pioneer of the Swiss watchmaking industry, Alpina has been the source of numerous innovations, patents and calibers. Alpina invented the concept of the sport watch, as we know it today, with the birth of its legendary Alpina 4 in 1938.

Faithful to its long tradition of creating mechanical calibers, Alpina manufactures, in its Geneva-based Manufacture, four in-house movements in-house: the Tourbillon AL-980, the World Timer AL-718, the Automatic Regulator AL-950 and the Small Date Automatic AL-710.

Alpina's mission is to design and engineer luxury sport watches that operate with the greatest precision and reliability possible in the most demanding sporting environments, like the Alps.
www.alpina-watches.com

Press Contact Melissa Arnot
Christine Hass
christine@melissaarnot.com
tel. +1 (206) 718-9007

Press Contact Alpina
Yasmina Pedrini
pedrini@alpina-watches.com
tel. + 41 22 860 87 40

Photo Credit: Jon Mancuso