Arne Næss Jr. (December 8, 1937–January 13, 2004) was a Norwegian mountaineer and businessman. Outside of Norway he may have been more known for being the former husband of Diana Ross. He is the father of singer/songwriter Leona Naess. December 8 is the 342nd day (343rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1937 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... January 13 is the 13th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mountaineering is an umbrella term that can variously be used to describe the actions of climbing, hillwalking and scrambling. ... Diana Ross on the cover of her collection Diana Ross: The Ultimate Collection Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross [1] on March 26, 1944 in Detroit, Michigan) is an African-American soul, R&B and pop singer and actress. ... Leona Kristina Naess, born July 31, 1974, is a singer/songwriter who has released three albums. ...

Næss Jr. was born in Germany in 1937 by Norwegian mother Kiki Næss and German father Raab, a physician and major of the Wehrmacht. Næss' mother was the sister of philosopher and mountaineer Arne Næss senior, who had a strong influence on his like-named nephew. Næss jr's family lived in Germany during World War II, but when his parents were divorced after the war, he moved to Norway with his mother. 1937 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... A physician is a person who practices medicine. ... For non-military meanings, see major (disambiguation). ... Wehrmacht was the name of the armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. ... Arne Næss (born 1912) is the foremost Norwegian philosopher of the 20th century. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

In 1966 he married Filippa Kumlin d'Orey of Sweden, and they had one son and two daughters together. After the divorce from d'Orey, he had a relationship with Norwegian actress Mari Maurstad. In 1985 Næss met pop and soul singer Diana Ross on a trip to the Bahamas. He and Ross married in 1985 and had two sons, until parting in 1999. The last five years of his life Næss lived together with Camilla Astrup of Oslo, Norway, with whom he had two sons. 1966 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Popular music is music belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and mostly distributed commercially. ... For other uses, see Soul music (disambiguation). ... Diana Ross on the cover of her collection Diana Ross: The Ultimate Collection Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross [1] on March 26, 1944 in Detroit, Michigan) is an African-American soul, R&B and pop singer and actress. ... 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

At the age of 19 Næss jr. already had twenty first ascents of Norwegian mountains under his belt. He then mostly left this sport and went for a career in the shipping industry. In the seventies he went back to mountain climbing, and in 1985 he led the first Norwegian expedition to Mount Everest, reportedly one of the more successful Everest climbs to have taken place. Also participating was British mountaineer Chris Bonington. In climbing, a first ascent (FA) is the first climb to reach the top of a mountain, or the first to follow a particular climbing route. ... Shipping is the transport of cargo between seaports by ships, typically large steel vessels powered by diesel engines or steam turbine plants. ... 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Everest is the highest mountain on Earth (as measured from sea level). ... Sir Christian John Storey Bonington (born August 6, 1934 in Hampstead), is a British mountaineer. ...

On January 13, 2004, visiting friends while on a business trip, he died in a climbing accident during descent of a peak in the Groot Drakenstein hills near the town Franschoek outside Cape Town, South Africa. According to police reports, Næss' anchoring equipment loosened from the porous mountainside, leading to a 50 m fall. Arne Næss Jr. was survived by seven children, his last child born as late as March 2003. January 13 is the 13th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Franschoek is a small town in the Western Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa. ... Missing image The central area of Cape Town as seen from Table Mountain. ... The metre (American spelling: meter), symbol: m, is the basic unit of distance (or of length, in the parlance of the physical sciences) in the International System of Units. ... March is the third month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

After his death, some media observers noted that Næss could be said to have died doing what he enjoyed most in life, a quite apprehensible statement judging from the adventurer's obvious love of the mountains. In a television interview in the late 1990s, being confronted about the risks of mountaineering, Næss told the reporter: "If I hadn't liked risks, I would rather have played tennis or golf." Events and trends Technology The World Wide Web was born at CERN Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other technology Reduction in size and cost of mobile phones leads to a massive surge in their popularity Year 2000 problem (commonly known as Y2K) Microsoft...

External links

• Arne Naess jr. killed in mountain accident (http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=708475),  'Arne was no daredevil,' claim friends (http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=709803)  (from Norwegian daily Aftenposten)
• Ross' ex-husband killed in fall (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3395831.stm) (BBC News)
• Arne Næss Jr remembered (http://www.aftenposten.no/english/bildeserier/article776580.ece) (photos from his memorial service, plus photo of Groot Drakenstein hills)
• Details and climbing history of 7 summiteer Arne Naess (http://7summits.com/info/stats2/index2.php?_=d&familyname=Naess) (www.7summits.com)