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Greg Adams Is Newest Top Gun on Court
Junior guard Greg Adams, of Toms River, N.J., became the  28th player in the history of the College's men's basketball program to score his 1,000th career point. Adams achieved the milestone on January 22, 2000 by scoring a game-high 24 points in an 82-76 double overtime victory on the road against Haverford College. His career points total stands at 1,212, placing him 13th on the all-time scoring list.
At the end of this season, Adams was named a first-team Centennial Conference all-star after averaging 18.2 points, 2.4 assists, 1.5 steals and 2.5 rebounds per game. The Shoremen qualified for the Centennial Conference playoffs for the fourth straight year.
Barto Finds Extreme Adventure in Ecuador
Todd Barto '98 is the kind of guy who enjoys a challenge. He goes rock-climbing for fun. His idea of a walk in the park is a 14-mile hike through the mountains with a full pack. He is also intensely goal-oriented and methodical in his approach.
It is no surprise, then, that Barto, a satellite systems engineer working with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope project, has a carefully laid plan to enter the astronaut program. His strategy includes earning a pilot's license, getting certified in scuba diving and achieving peak physical condition.
The pilot's license may have to wait a couple of years, but Barto is way ahead of the game when it comes to conditioning. During his first mountaineering expedition--a two-week trip to Ecuador under the direction of Earth Treks, he summited three peaks as high as 19,348 feet. He made the first high altitude climb without the benefit of Diamox, a drug that enhances the blood's ability to carry oxygen.
Barto's first success was a conditioning climb--achieving the summit of Pinchincha and safely returning to base. The team climbed 2,500 vertical feet over about eight miles of terrain in order for their bodies to acclimate to the high altitude. "I felt strong, but I definitely felt the effects of being at 15,700 feet. I was woozy and had a small headache. At very high altitudes this condition can develop into acute mountain sickness. At this altitude, and with my good conditioning, it was far from dangerous, and I felt better after two Tylenol, some water, and a short rest period at the summit."
Barto and his team then set their sights on Cotopaxi, the world's largest active volcano. After their bus navigated the winding dirt roads of Cotopaxi National Park to 14,900 feet, the climbers hiked 800 vertical feet to the climbers' hut, a dank shelter that would be their home for the next two days. On their first day they practiced their rescue and glacier travel skills, while again allowing their bodies to acclimate to the higher elevation.
"Glacier travel at altitude is much like walking," notes Barto, "but your body and lungs feel more like you are sprinting."
Walking on glaciers can also be treacherous. Imagine leaping over gaping crevasses and crossing snow bridges two feet across, with bottomless crevasses on either side. As Barto climbed on knife-edge ridges, with 70-degree slopes on either side, each foot placement counted.
"At about 100 vertical feet from the summit, we began to smell sulfur from the active volcano," Barto says. "As we came over the summit crest we were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise over the Amazon, an erupting volcano in the distance, and several peaks poking through the clouds below us. It was a great feeling to be at 19,348 feet, and we all felt a wonderful sense of accomplishment. Physically, even after the long climb, I felt as though I were at sea level."
Dangerous icy conditions reported on Chimborazo swayed their decision to attempt Cayambe instead. Bad weather turned them away from that peak, too, where giant snow plumes were driven by wind gusts of 60 mph, as well as from Antisana, where a covering of fresh snow made the crevasse fields too treacherous. The climbers would summit Iliniza Sur, a shorter but more technical peak of 17,800 feet.
From their drop-off point 4,000 vertical feet below the peak, the team hiked up the ridge line to reach the glacier. There they donned their crampons, pulled out their ice axes, and divided into two rope teams.
"The fog was so thick that we couldn't distinguish where the snow ended and the fog began," Todd says. "The summit ridge took us across a knife-edge ridge that sloped to the right into the abyss of fog, and to the left into a giant crevasse. It was quite a challenge.
The climb on Iliniza Sur was as much about teamwork as individual perseverance. Because he felt so strong, Barto was able to kick out steps in the snow to help the other climbers coming up behind him.
"If I were to fall, chances are I would pull my whole rope team down. So you work as a unit, and develop that team mentality. In retrospect, I am really proud of what we did as a team and what I did individually. The view, the camaraderie, the feeling of accomplishment, made all that training worthwhile."
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