My trip to the top of Everest
Discussion
gotoPzero said:
What a journey! I would love to do the hike to base camp one day, prob too old now tbh. A mate of mine did it and even that was pretty wild from the sounds of things. Your pics look great keep them coming!!
How old are you? My Dad came with me on the basecamp trek......he was nearly 70.....
Next up after leaving the Matterhorn was to get straight in the car and drive to the Eiger. Luckily David my guide was in charge of driving so I may have slept a bit on the way there! We weren't under too much time pressure as the plan was to get on the train that goes right through the mountain, where we'd get off right in the middle, and exit through this weird little hatch in the side of the mountain, then a bit of climbing up to the hut where we'd spend the night before starting the main climb at dawn the next day.
So, we were able at last to celebrate the Matterhorn success with a beer at the bottom of the Eiger in the village.....amazing view looking up at the mountain in the sunshine, already planning on being back in this spot the next day hopefully celebrating another successful summit!
Just to note, when people hear about the Eiger, they assume it's the famous north face that lots of people have heard of that everyone climbs. As much as that would appeal to me given I have a screw loose, it's actually the ridge that most people climb when they say they're climbing the Eiger, the North Face is a very different beast.
One of the best beers I've ever had:
Waiting for the train that takes you into the mountain
Ended up sitting with the driver as the place we needed dropping wasn't exactly a normal stop on the train's route!
As I said, strange little 'hole in the wall' which is where we were dropped!
Looking back at the hole in the wall where we popped out
A bit of climbing later arrived at the lodge at sunset
Seems they sold beers at the lodge!
Impressive view back down the North Face to where we had a beer earlier
Nice sunset at the lodge
Set off at dawn for the main climb to the top
Climbing along the top of the North Face
Much of the climb was up and down on the ridge
And another success
Back down to the train. Bit weird walking around having down an exhausting climb amongst loads of tourists who had been dropped here by the train to have a look around and take photos etc
Another celebratory beer before driving back to Chamonix
So, we were able at last to celebrate the Matterhorn success with a beer at the bottom of the Eiger in the village.....amazing view looking up at the mountain in the sunshine, already planning on being back in this spot the next day hopefully celebrating another successful summit!
Just to note, when people hear about the Eiger, they assume it's the famous north face that lots of people have heard of that everyone climbs. As much as that would appeal to me given I have a screw loose, it's actually the ridge that most people climb when they say they're climbing the Eiger, the North Face is a very different beast.
One of the best beers I've ever had:
Waiting for the train that takes you into the mountain
Ended up sitting with the driver as the place we needed dropping wasn't exactly a normal stop on the train's route!
As I said, strange little 'hole in the wall' which is where we were dropped!
Looking back at the hole in the wall where we popped out
A bit of climbing later arrived at the lodge at sunset
Seems they sold beers at the lodge!
Impressive view back down the North Face to where we had a beer earlier
Nice sunset at the lodge
Set off at dawn for the main climb to the top
Climbing along the top of the North Face
Much of the climb was up and down on the ridge
And another success
Back down to the train. Bit weird walking around having down an exhausting climb amongst loads of tourists who had been dropped here by the train to have a look around and take photos etc
Another celebratory beer before driving back to Chamonix
Great story that’s quite an achievement in 2 yrs so well played! I was in Grindelwald last year and you take one of those large gondola lifts up which gives you a great view of the Eiger north face , very intimidating looking mountain when you see it up close and has a fascinating history with the many who perished there in the early days . I find high mountain climbing intriguing and have read many books on the famous climbing expeditions (and disasters), K2 in particular sounds like a huge challenge with a scary death rate. Not something I’ll ever do myself but appreciate what it takes to climb these big mountains .
RSbandit said:
Great story that’s quite an achievement in 2 yrs so well played! I was in Grindelwald last year and you take one of those large gondola lifts up which gives you a great view of the Eiger north face , very intimidating looking mountain when you see it up close and has a fascinating history with the many who perished there in the early days . I find high mountain climbing intriguing and have read many books on the famous climbing expeditions (and disasters), K2 in particular sounds like a huge challenge with a scary death rate. Not something I’ll ever do myself but appreciate what it takes to climb these big mountains .
Yeah I've watched pretty much everything out there, including the Eiger stuff and K2. All amazing, depressing, impressive etcHigh altitude climbing is a bit of a weird one, as some people has asked on this thread, is it actually 'climbing' as such? If I'm honest I'd say the two 8,000m mountains I did, if they were down at sea level, you could probably call them a tough hike. But then I do think to myself that surely not everyone would be waking up in a frozen tent, heading out in howling winds, struggling to breathe, plodding on for what seems like forever......so even if it's not hanging by your finger tips, there's certainly something about it that sets it apart!
It must have been pretty special climbing through the 'stollenloch' on the Eiger. Did you pause to think of all the climbing history on the face before you headed to the ridge?
Great prep by the way. Many attempt Everest almost in isolation as a climb and don't get this wide experience.
Thanks for the updates!
Great prep by the way. Many attempt Everest almost in isolation as a climb and don't get this wide experience.
Thanks for the updates!
Mabbs9 said:
It must have been pretty special climbing through the 'stollenloch' on the Eiger. Did you pause to think of all the climbing history on the face before you headed to the ridge?
Great prep by the way. Many attempt Everest almost in isolation as a climb and don't get this wide experience.
Thanks for the updates!
To be honest, until I just Googled it I didn't know it actually had a name!!! Learnt something new there! Great prep by the way. Many attempt Everest almost in isolation as a climb and don't get this wide experience.
Thanks for the updates!
Yeah definitely thought about all the things that had gone on below where I was standing. As you can imagine in the build up to doing all of this I was scouring YouTube, Amazon, Netflix etc to watch anything to do with climbing, so I think I've seen pretty much all the good and bad things that have happened on these mountains.
This is absolutely epic, truly could be the stuff of a netflix documentary. Guy has a look at an Everest documentary and thinks I fancy a go at that, 2 years later is on the top of the world.
Absolutely exceptional.
UTH did you at any point on Everest, or any of these climbs think Oh s
t. What have I got myself into? Have you had any slips / falls / close calls on any of these climbs?
Any concerns from family / partner at the dangers?
Would you do it again / similar level risk elsewhere now you have kids?
Truly admirable stuff btw. At the very least you've made me want to go and do a winter skills course later this year.
Absolutely exceptional.
UTH did you at any point on Everest, or any of these climbs think Oh s
t. What have I got myself into? Have you had any slips / falls / close calls on any of these climbs?Any concerns from family / partner at the dangers?
Would you do it again / similar level risk elsewhere now you have kids?
Truly admirable stuff btw. At the very least you've made me want to go and do a winter skills course later this year.
JimmyConwayNW said:
This is absolutely epic, truly could be the stuff of a netflix documentary. Guy has a look at an Everest documentary and thinks I fancy a go at that, 2 years later is on the top of the world.
Absolutely exceptional.
UTH did you at any point on Everest, or any of these climbs think Oh st. What have I got myself into? Have you had any slips / falls / close calls on any of these climbs?
Any concerns from family / partner at the dangers?
Would you do it again / similar level risk elsewhere now you have kids?
Truly admirable stuff btw. At the very least you've made me want to go and do a winter skills course later this year.
I must say with hindsight I do wish I'd got in touch with a few production companies etc to see if it would have been something worth filming from day 1. Obviously there is plenty of stuff about Everest, but following a journey from the very start could have been interesting. Oh well, I'll never know. Absolutely exceptional.
UTH did you at any point on Everest, or any of these climbs think Oh s
t. What have I got myself into? Have you had any slips / falls / close calls on any of these climbs?Any concerns from family / partner at the dangers?
Would you do it again / similar level risk elsewhere now you have kids?
Truly admirable stuff btw. At the very least you've made me want to go and do a winter skills course later this year.
The only thing I can remember is Manaslu - obviously the pics/post about that is yet to come, but there's a point where the 'true' summit is, that's very hard to reach, but the very famous Sherpa I was with went and fixed a rope to it so we could get to it. As I was turning around to head down, I slipped slightly in the deep snow and I guess potentially could have been heading 8,000m down! Other than that, everything on every mountain went perfectly to plan really, including weather etc, so I didn't have any moment of wondering what the hell am I doing.
Family were worried to the extent that climbing these things does have its risks. Now I've done Everest most of them are very much NOT behind the idea of me doing any others though!
If I won the lottery I'd definitely be doing more of these for sure. As mentioned in this thread, K2 would be incredible to add to the list - Everest is the highest but K2 is pretty much the hardest, and very few have done both.
Enjoyed reading this, quite a journey you have been on.
I've been a climber for 40 years, with numerous trips to greater ranges. I have not done the Mittellegi, but did once attempt the 38 Route and sensibly realised I was out of my league.
Great to watch someone's journey through the sport, and how you gained your experience. There is massive potential for Dunning Kruger, but you approached it entirely the sensible way (sorry if that reads a bit condescending, I really don't mean it that way).
If you are not already a member, I would join the Alpine Club - you'll go straight in with full membership I suspect and it is great resource, not least the ability to kip down at the HQ, next to the room that contains all sorts of Everest and mountaineering artefacts, and get you valuable connections onto other trips in the future.
I didn't spot who was your guide on Everest -was it Kenton?
I've been a climber for 40 years, with numerous trips to greater ranges. I have not done the Mittellegi, but did once attempt the 38 Route and sensibly realised I was out of my league.
Great to watch someone's journey through the sport, and how you gained your experience. There is massive potential for Dunning Kruger, but you approached it entirely the sensible way (sorry if that reads a bit condescending, I really don't mean it that way).
If you are not already a member, I would join the Alpine Club - you'll go straight in with full membership I suspect and it is great resource, not least the ability to kip down at the HQ, next to the room that contains all sorts of Everest and mountaineering artefacts, and get you valuable connections onto other trips in the future.
I didn't spot who was your guide on Everest -was it Kenton?
Edited by Castrol for a knave on Thursday 29th June 12:18
Castrol for a knave said:
Enjoyed reading this, quite a journey you have been on.
I've been a climber for 40 years, with numerous trips to greater ranges. I have not done the Mittellegi, but did once attempt the 38 Route and sensibly realised I was out of my league.
Great to watch someone's journey through the sport, and how you gained your experience. There is massive potential for Dunning Kruger, but you approached it entirely the sensible way (sorry if that reads a bit condescending, I really don't mean it that way).
If you are not already a member, I would join the Alpine Club - you'll go straight in with full membership I suspect and it is great resource, not least the ability to kip down at the HQ, next to the room that contains all sorts of Everest and mountaineering artefacts, and get you valuable connections onto other trips in the future.
I didn't spot who was your guide on Everest -was it Kenton?
I went with Himex (Russell Brice) which I'm sure you've heard of. I've been a climber for 40 years, with numerous trips to greater ranges. I have not done the Mittellegi, but did once attempt the 38 Route and sensibly realised I was out of my league.
Great to watch someone's journey through the sport, and how you gained your experience. There is massive potential for Dunning Kruger, but you approached it entirely the sensible way (sorry if that reads a bit condescending, I really don't mean it that way).
If you are not already a member, I would join the Alpine Club - you'll go straight in with full membership I suspect and it is great resource, not least the ability to kip down at the HQ, next to the room that contains all sorts of Everest and mountaineering artefacts, and get you valuable connections onto other trips in the future.
I didn't spot who was your guide on Everest -was it Kenton?
Edited by Castrol for a knave on Thursday 29th June 12:18
We did see Kenton briefly on the mountain, he was with Fogle and Pendleton that year
UTH said:
Castrol for a knave said:
Enjoyed reading this, quite a journey you have been on.
I've been a climber for 40 years, with numerous trips to greater ranges. I have not done the Mittellegi, but did once attempt the 38 Route and sensibly realised I was out of my league.
Great to watch someone's journey through the sport, and how you gained your experience. There is massive potential for Dunning Kruger, but you approached it entirely the sensible way (sorry if that reads a bit condescending, I really don't mean it that way).
If you are not already a member, I would join the Alpine Club - you'll go straight in with full membership I suspect and it is great resource, not least the ability to kip down at the HQ, next to the room that contains all sorts of Everest and mountaineering artefacts, and get you valuable connections onto other trips in the future.
I didn't spot who was your guide on Everest -was it Kenton?
I went with Himex (Russell Brice) which I'm sure you've heard of. I've been a climber for 40 years, with numerous trips to greater ranges. I have not done the Mittellegi, but did once attempt the 38 Route and sensibly realised I was out of my league.
Great to watch someone's journey through the sport, and how you gained your experience. There is massive potential for Dunning Kruger, but you approached it entirely the sensible way (sorry if that reads a bit condescending, I really don't mean it that way).
If you are not already a member, I would join the Alpine Club - you'll go straight in with full membership I suspect and it is great resource, not least the ability to kip down at the HQ, next to the room that contains all sorts of Everest and mountaineering artefacts, and get you valuable connections onto other trips in the future.
I didn't spot who was your guide on Everest -was it Kenton?
Edited by Castrol for a knave on Thursday 29th June 12:18
We did see Kenton briefly on the mountain, he was with Fogle and Pendleton that year
Enjoyed this thread
Castrol for a knave said:
UTH said:
Castrol for a knave said:
Enjoyed reading this, quite a journey you have been on.
I've been a climber for 40 years, with numerous trips to greater ranges. I have not done the Mittellegi, but did once attempt the 38 Route and sensibly realised I was out of my league.
Great to watch someone's journey through the sport, and how you gained your experience. There is massive potential for Dunning Kruger, but you approached it entirely the sensible way (sorry if that reads a bit condescending, I really don't mean it that way).
If you are not already a member, I would join the Alpine Club - you'll go straight in with full membership I suspect and it is great resource, not least the ability to kip down at the HQ, next to the room that contains all sorts of Everest and mountaineering artefacts, and get you valuable connections onto other trips in the future.
I didn't spot who was your guide on Everest -was it Kenton?
I went with Himex (Russell Brice) which I'm sure you've heard of. I've been a climber for 40 years, with numerous trips to greater ranges. I have not done the Mittellegi, but did once attempt the 38 Route and sensibly realised I was out of my league.
Great to watch someone's journey through the sport, and how you gained your experience. There is massive potential for Dunning Kruger, but you approached it entirely the sensible way (sorry if that reads a bit condescending, I really don't mean it that way).
If you are not already a member, I would join the Alpine Club - you'll go straight in with full membership I suspect and it is great resource, not least the ability to kip down at the HQ, next to the room that contains all sorts of Everest and mountaineering artefacts, and get you valuable connections onto other trips in the future.
I didn't spot who was your guide on Everest -was it Kenton?
Edited by Castrol for a knave on Thursday 29th June 12:18
We did see Kenton briefly on the mountain, he was with Fogle and Pendleton that year
Enjoyed this thread
Thread's not over, more to come, probably Monday.
I've been slack at getting round to the next stage of this, but here we go.
After the success of the European mountains, it was time to head to Nepal to experience an 8,000m peak. This is obviously quite a step change from doing a mountain in two or three days. These peaks take weeks, living in a tent at base camp, lots of rotations to camps higher up the mountain to get your body used to being higher up and encourage the production of red blood cells. We'd be having to melt snow for our water on little camping stoves, learn to use oxygen masks and work with Sherpa support.
Manaslu is the world's 8th highest and considered the 'easiest' of the 8,000m mountains, so is often used by people like me who are planning on taking on Everest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manaslu
The first thing that I still to this day find amazing is the amount of kit I needed to make sure I had. I still remember like it was yesterday laying all this stuff out and making sure I had everything:
Mrs UTH took came with me to Heathrow which ended in a goodbye with her in tears which wasn't the most enjoyable thing to see, as I was heading off on my own on a trip which, we had to be honest, had a chance of having a bleak ending.
The plan was to fly to Kathmandu where I'd meet up with the expedition leader, the other 'client' climber who I'd never met as well as the main guide who would be with us on the mountain. We'd stay at the hotel for a couple of nights before starting the expedition.
We take a helicopter from Kathmandu straight to Samaguan which is a little village below Manaslu
From the helicopter I get my first view of the Himalayas and my first experience of seriously big mountains
At Samaguan you suddenly get an idea of all the supplies and provisions required on an expedition
After the success of the European mountains, it was time to head to Nepal to experience an 8,000m peak. This is obviously quite a step change from doing a mountain in two or three days. These peaks take weeks, living in a tent at base camp, lots of rotations to camps higher up the mountain to get your body used to being higher up and encourage the production of red blood cells. We'd be having to melt snow for our water on little camping stoves, learn to use oxygen masks and work with Sherpa support.
Manaslu is the world's 8th highest and considered the 'easiest' of the 8,000m mountains, so is often used by people like me who are planning on taking on Everest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manaslu
The first thing that I still to this day find amazing is the amount of kit I needed to make sure I had. I still remember like it was yesterday laying all this stuff out and making sure I had everything:
Mrs UTH took came with me to Heathrow which ended in a goodbye with her in tears which wasn't the most enjoyable thing to see, as I was heading off on my own on a trip which, we had to be honest, had a chance of having a bleak ending.
The plan was to fly to Kathmandu where I'd meet up with the expedition leader, the other 'client' climber who I'd never met as well as the main guide who would be with us on the mountain. We'd stay at the hotel for a couple of nights before starting the expedition.
We take a helicopter from Kathmandu straight to Samaguan which is a little village below Manaslu
From the helicopter I get my first view of the Himalayas and my first experience of seriously big mountains
At Samaguan you suddenly get an idea of all the supplies and provisions required on an expedition
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