In the social chatter of Mount Everest Base Camp, everyone has heard about “Wally.”
That’s the nickname given to Viorel Stirbu, a 74-year-old man who has become a crowd favorite in the mountaineering community. Wally is an American citizen who speaks with a thick Romanian accent. He was born in Romania but sought asylum in the United States 45 years ago. After settling in Chicago, he spent 28 years working for the city’s fire department.
Check out the above video for a behind-the-scenes look at Ben Ayers’ chat with Wally.
But Wally is also a seasoned climber, and he’s at Mount Everest to complete the so-called Seven Summits—climbing the highest mountains on all of the continents. He’s also trying to reach the roof of the world after two earlier attempts. In 2015 his climb was disrupted by the Nepal Earthquake, and in 2016 he reached Camp III at 23,600 feet but turned back due to shortness of breath.
If Wally reaches the top of Mount Everest this year, he will become the oldest Romanian to climb the peak, and the first person to fly the flag of the Chicago Fire Department from the summit.
Throughout my career covering Mount Everest, I have been admittedly skeptical about climbers trying to set age records on the mountain. As a whole, it seems like a risky idea that could place undue pressure upon guides and high-altitude Sherpa staff. But when I sat down to speak with Wally, I couldn’t help but be caught up in his infectious positive energy. Within minutes, I was entirely rooting for him.
Wally’s story began with his first failed attempt to escape Romania by swimming across the Danube River in 1974, when he was 24. He was captured by the Yugoslavian security forces and deported back to Romania—the attempt landed him in jail for 18 months. He swam again in 1978 and managed to make it to Austria, where he was granted asylum by the U.S. Embassy. A few years after arriving in Chicago on December 21, 1978, Wally joined the Chicago Fire Department, raised a family, and prospered.
As a retirement celebration in 2013, he took a trip to climb Kilimanjaro. During the ascent, he learned about the Seven Summits challenge. He climbed steadily thereafter, completing six of the seven by April 2015 when he arrived in Nepal to complete the circuit on Mount Everest.
And this is where, unbeknownst to me, our paths crossed.
When the 7.8 magnitude Great Nepal Earthquake unleashed a massive serac from the East face of 23,507-foot Pumori, the pressure wave blasted through Mount Everest Base Camp, killing 18 people and injuring dozens more. The entire complex was flattened.
Wally escaped injury during the blast and immediately went to work helping set up a triage hospital at Base Camp. He used his skills as an emergency medical technician and firefighter to assess victims and assemble them for helicopter transport down to the small airstrip in Lukla. That’s where I happened to be helping set up the triage hospital that received the stricken climbers and guides.
Even now I can see the precise handwriting on the notes scrawled across medical tape on the down jackets of the dozens of casualties we processed and expedited to advanced care in Kathmandu that day. I recently learned that this was Wally’s handwriting—the revelation blew my mind.
While my conversation with Wally was brief, it was sprinkled with some Himalayan snow-dust of magic and serendipity. It closed a door for me that I didn’t know was left open, and it opened my mind.
When we parted, Wally shook my hand and leaned in. “You know,” he whispered, “If I pull this one off, I might try for K2 this year, too.” If successful, that would make him the oldest summiteer by almost ten years. I wished him the best of luck.
Ben Ayers is a filmmaker, journalist, and adventurer who splits his time between Vermont and Nepal. In 2022 and 2024, he chronicled the Mount Everest climbing season for Outside.
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