Prof. Alejandro Marangoni is a professor in U of G’s Department of Food Science and also an avid mountaineer. He spoke to CBC Radio Kitchener on May 29 about the many deaths this year on Mount Everest, and why climbing Everest has never been on his bucket list.

Marangoni, who has climbed in the Canadian Rockies and in other countries including Ecuador and Peru, said one of the appeals of high-altitude mountaineering is the chance to get away and to focus on being part of the mountain and nature.

“I think that experience gets diminished when you have 400 other climbers around you,” he said.

As the Canada Research Chair in Food, Health and Aging, he studies the physical properties of foods, especially fat crystallization and structure.

His next climb will take him to Russia’s Caucasus Mountains, where he plans to summit the dormant volcano of Mount Elbrus.