My trip to the top of Everest
Discussion
renmure said:
Just in to say that is totally awesome!!
I watched the movie, Everest, and couldn't get my head round folk paying to do something like that for fun.
Screw loose is all I can say. I'm a field hockey goalkeeper, I loved everything about going to a mountain where I might not come back, in another life would love to do things like wingsuit, cave diving.....certainly something not right! I watched the movie, Everest, and couldn't get my head round folk paying to do something like that for fun.
Random84 said:
Did you get any frost bite? Was there a risk that you could get frost bite on your pecker when nature calls?
Who pays if you need to get off the mountain for something medical related (Requiring a helicopter etc), Can you even get travel insurance for this type of trip?
What did you think of the Sherpas? Do they get paid a decent salary?
What was the best item you took with you that you didn't think you would need?
Nope, no frost bite. I have naturally quite cold hands which was one of my concerns on all of these trips, but funnily enough the expedition leader told me that people who are used to having cold hands are usually better equipped to deal with it and make sure they keep them warm, as they've been doing it all their lives! I had those little hand warmer things for the summit push and very thick expensive gloves. Hands were a little cold, not nothing near frost bite. Who pays if you need to get off the mountain for something medical related (Requiring a helicopter etc), Can you even get travel insurance for this type of trip?
What did you think of the Sherpas? Do they get paid a decent salary?
What was the best item you took with you that you didn't think you would need?
And no worries when going to the loo, luckily we weren't finding ourselves in gale force winds at minus 20, which some people do.
We had Global Rescue insurance which pretty much covers a helicopter getting you off the mountain if possible, that's pretty much the only thing you can get cover for, and that's only up to a certain altitude.
Sherpas were amazing, but we didn't actually get to spend a huge amount of time with them, as they're on their own gruelling schedule heading up and down the mountain constantly setting up the 4 camps with all the equipment etc. Part of the high cost of my trip was that I was going with a company who paid them well, and then at the end of the trip we tipped I think somewhere in the region of $1,400 to the summit sherpa. To be honest I'm not sure if that then gets split between all of the sherpa team, or went directly to the sherpa who was by my side the entire time, but either way, compared with what sherpas earn in a normal life cultivating potatoes etc, working on Everest is extremely well paid.
In terms of best item, I think I knew everything I took I would need, but having a little solar charger, a power pack and a lot of episodes of my favourite TV shows downloaded on my phone was perfect for killing a lot of the downtime you end up having.
NickXX said:
Awesome achievement!
Could you do us a timeline of how long the whole thing takes please? From getting off the plane to basecamp to summit to basecamp and back to civilisation please? I have no concept of how long any of this takes. Appreciate that the timeline could be very weather dependent!
I'm going to try and dig out my diary over the weekend which is packed away in a box somewhere, as I think I was pretty good at logging nearly every day.....although I know I stopped on the final week which I now regret because reading back I'll have the whole story right up until actually heading to the top, but it's weird how at the time lots of things suddenly didn't seem important. Could you do us a timeline of how long the whole thing takes please? From getting off the plane to basecamp to summit to basecamp and back to civilisation please? I have no concept of how long any of this takes. Appreciate that the timeline could be very weather dependent!
From memory it looked something like:
Land Kathmandu - 2 nights here
Helicopter to Lukla, then another helicopter to Namche - I know lots of people trek from Lukla to Basecamp, but for reasons I won't go into, this company didn't see the benefit over the admin and other factors
8-10 days trekking in to basecamp
5-6 weeks living at basecamp including rotations up the mountain to camp 2, back to base, camp 3, to camp 2, back to base etc
Final summit push was about 6 days basecamp, camp 2, camp 3, camp 4, summit, back to camp 2 for a couple of nights, back to base.
Couple of nights at basecamp, then trek back to Namche. Couple of nights at Namche celebrating, helicopter to Kathmandu. Couple of nights here, fly home.
Next step of the journey having done the week in Chamonix and learning that a) I liked it and b) seemed quite capable at it, was signing up to climb Mont Blanc, which I think was August 2016.
My step brother and his friend were keen to join which was great to be doing it with a couple of people - they'd both attempted Denali, one had got to the top, one had to stop as weather wasn't ideal, so they'd done some climbing, more than me at that stage to be fair.
The trip was for a week I think, with the first 4 days dedicated to acclimatising climbs/treks, learning a few things like crevasse rescue and similar to my first trip to Chamonix generally doing climbing based bits in and around the area to prep ourselves for the final 3 days push up Mont Blanc.
These pics are just of the first 4 days of various bits we did
There was one day where I went off on my own with our guide to do an ice climb while the other two carried on with something else, can't quite remember what they did that day to be honest:
My first time hitting 4,000m
My step brother and his friend were keen to join which was great to be doing it with a couple of people - they'd both attempted Denali, one had got to the top, one had to stop as weather wasn't ideal, so they'd done some climbing, more than me at that stage to be fair.
The trip was for a week I think, with the first 4 days dedicated to acclimatising climbs/treks, learning a few things like crevasse rescue and similar to my first trip to Chamonix generally doing climbing based bits in and around the area to prep ourselves for the final 3 days push up Mont Blanc.
These pics are just of the first 4 days of various bits we did
There was one day where I went off on my own with our guide to do an ice climb while the other two carried on with something else, can't quite remember what they did that day to be honest:
My first time hitting 4,000m
SteveStrange said:
Brilliant. Love the "4" shot above the clouds. But... T shirt? At that sort of altitude? Must have been a bit fresh...
That T shirt shot was when we were doing the 'trek' across Valleé Blanche so not quite as high as the ice climbing bit, so it was pretty bloody hot in the sun. You'll see me in a T shirt a few times on the Everest trip at well above 6,000m......
NickXX said:
UTH said:
I'm going to try and dig out my diary over the weekend which is packed away in a box somewhere, as I think I was pretty good at logging nearly every day.....although I know I stopped on the final week which I now regret because reading back I'll have the whole story right up until actually heading to the top, but it's weird how at the time lots of things suddenly didn't seem important.
From memory it looked something like:
Land Kathmandu - 2 nights here
Helicopter to Lukla, then another helicopter to Namche - I know lots of people trek from Lukla to Basecamp, but for reasons I won't go into, this company didn't see the benefit over the admin and other factors
8-10 days trekking in to basecamp
5-6 weeks living at basecamp including rotations up the mountain to camp 2, back to base, camp 3, to camp 2, back to base etc
Final summit push was about 6 days basecamp, camp 2, camp 3, camp 4, summit, back to camp 2 for a couple of nights, back to base.
Couple of nights at basecamp, then trek back to Namche. Couple of nights at Namche celebrating, helicopter to Kathmandu. Couple of nights here, fly home.
Awesome, thank you! What was the purpose of the 5-6 weeks at basecamp? Was it to acclimatise, or was it to wait for the right weather window?From memory it looked something like:
Land Kathmandu - 2 nights here
Helicopter to Lukla, then another helicopter to Namche - I know lots of people trek from Lukla to Basecamp, but for reasons I won't go into, this company didn't see the benefit over the admin and other factors
8-10 days trekking in to basecamp
5-6 weeks living at basecamp including rotations up the mountain to camp 2, back to base, camp 3, to camp 2, back to base etc
Final summit push was about 6 days basecamp, camp 2, camp 3, camp 4, summit, back to camp 2 for a couple of nights, back to base.
Couple of nights at basecamp, then trek back to Namche. Couple of nights at Namche celebrating, helicopter to Kathmandu. Couple of nights here, fly home.
So after my previous post of our 4 days of general climbing and acclimatising in and around Chamonix, climbing Mont Blanc was up next.
This was a 3 day process - we started on the Italian side which, as you can see from the photos, very warm and started off as basically a nice walk/hike in warm sunny conditions. First day was to head to the "hut" where we'd spend have dinner, sleep and then set off before dawn for the summit. Having made the summit, we head down and stay one night in a "hut" for dinner etc, then up in the morning to head all the way down then back to Chamomix for a final night then head home.
This was a 3 day process - we started on the Italian side which, as you can see from the photos, very warm and started off as basically a nice walk/hike in warm sunny conditions. First day was to head to the "hut" where we'd spend have dinner, sleep and then set off before dawn for the summit. Having made the summit, we head down and stay one night in a "hut" for dinner etc, then up in the morning to head all the way down then back to Chamomix for a final night then head home.
Having completed my first ever summit of a mountain successfully, I met up again with the Everest expedition leader to talk through the next steps. He was in touch with the team in Chamonix and said that feedback was very positive, and for all intents and purposes moving on to an 8,000er was definitely going to be on the cards. So with one eye already on signing up to the Manaslu trip, we decided it would be a good plan to tackle the Matterhorn and the Eiger in an intensive week, with the final couple of days dedicated to scaling the mountains after a few days of climbing various things to get body ready again for altitude.
So below are just a few shots of the first 3/4 days again in and around Chamonix doing various routes of climbing to prep for the final push on the mountains themselves
So below are just a few shots of the first 3/4 days again in and around Chamonix doing various routes of climbing to prep for the final push on the mountains themselves
With the preparation climbing done, it was time to tackle the mountains!
The plan was to arrive at the Matterhorn, head straight up to the top, climb down, stay the night at the lodge/hut at the bottom, then drive from there to the Eiger, take the train through the middle part of the mountain and climb to the hut, sleep then set off before dawn to the top of the Eiger, head down then drive back to Chamonix.
The Matterhorn was possibly the hardest of all the climbs I've done, mainly because the descent just seemed to take forever as the bottom never seemed to get any closer. We were pretty much alone on the mountain as we were on a different time schedule from what most other people would do. We did have one hairy moment where we suddenly heard something coming quickly towards us from above - we knew there was one duo above us as we'd passed them on our way down, and we thought we were going to look up and see one of the people tumbling down. Luckily it was just a rucksuck, but it was a pretty worrying moment.
It was after 10pm by the time we finally made it back down, having navigated our way in mostly darkness by the end, with one thing keeping us motivated - a beer back at the lodge. Very disappointingly, the whole place was already shut, with everyone in bed already as all the people staying there would be getting up at dawn for their push to the top. Luckily they don't lock the front door so we did get in and found a bed, but the beer we'd dreamt of all evening wasn't happening.
First view of the mountain, sadly sitting in a lot of cloud
Sadly weather wasn't great for this mountain, which was a shame
Cracked 4,000m again
A sadly cloudy summit. The view would have been incredible, although at the time it didn't matter, reaching the top is always amazing, no matter what.
Looking back having conquered one, one more to go
The plan was to arrive at the Matterhorn, head straight up to the top, climb down, stay the night at the lodge/hut at the bottom, then drive from there to the Eiger, take the train through the middle part of the mountain and climb to the hut, sleep then set off before dawn to the top of the Eiger, head down then drive back to Chamonix.
The Matterhorn was possibly the hardest of all the climbs I've done, mainly because the descent just seemed to take forever as the bottom never seemed to get any closer. We were pretty much alone on the mountain as we were on a different time schedule from what most other people would do. We did have one hairy moment where we suddenly heard something coming quickly towards us from above - we knew there was one duo above us as we'd passed them on our way down, and we thought we were going to look up and see one of the people tumbling down. Luckily it was just a rucksuck, but it was a pretty worrying moment.
It was after 10pm by the time we finally made it back down, having navigated our way in mostly darkness by the end, with one thing keeping us motivated - a beer back at the lodge. Very disappointingly, the whole place was already shut, with everyone in bed already as all the people staying there would be getting up at dawn for their push to the top. Luckily they don't lock the front door so we did get in and found a bed, but the beer we'd dreamt of all evening wasn't happening.
First view of the mountain, sadly sitting in a lot of cloud
Sadly weather wasn't great for this mountain, which was a shame
Cracked 4,000m again
A sadly cloudy summit. The view would have been incredible, although at the time it didn't matter, reaching the top is always amazing, no matter what.
Looking back having conquered one, one more to go
Burrow01 said:
Looks fab - how hard would you say the Matterhorn was in terms of actual climbing?
I have often thought about doing it, I was on a trip in the 90's where the intention was to do it, but the conditions were not good, and so we did other peaks.
I am more of a hiker than a climber, and wondered how much actual climbing was involved (I think I would have to get used to exposure again :-) )
Probably the one with more climbing/scrambling than just hiking/trekking I'd say. Still no points where you're dangling off your finger tips, but certainly a heavy workout on your legs and arms......I have often thought about doing it, I was on a trip in the 90's where the intention was to do it, but the conditions were not good, and so we did other peaks.
I am more of a hiker than a climber, and wondered how much actual climbing was involved (I think I would have to get used to exposure again :-) )
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
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!
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.
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 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.
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.
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
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.
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