My trip to the top of Everest
Discussion
Matt.. said:
5yrs have passed. What have you done since then or was this the achievement met and that was the end?
What was your training plan like for the initial phases and getting up Mont Blanc?
I hate that it's already been 5 years, I still think about it every day. Sadly I have found out that I am the sort of person with zero motivation for fitness, running etc without a goal like this. And after Everest, K2 would be the next one I'd really love to do, but there is very little chance of that happening without a lottery win and not having a job anymore. So short answer is I've done very little of note like this since, although did do the 3 peaks challenge the year after because Mrs UTH fancied it. What was your training plan like for the initial phases and getting up Mont Blanc?
My training plan was weirdly simple, and it did worry me I hadn't done enough. I ran a fair amount, often 10km home from work, and I went to the gym to do a fair bit of leg work. And that was actually about it!
Between the Manaslu trip and Everest I had to leave my job as they didn't want me off work for the month or two it takes to do these trips, so I had 6 months where I had no job, so I was doing a 5km run to the gym, 30 mins in the gym doing my legs, and repeating that 4 or 5 days a week. In my mind as long as my cardio fitness was good, and my legs were strong, I'd be ok. And it turned out I was right.
GiantCardboardPlato said:
Was it hillier than you expected?
Were you tempted to take a sledge up?
Could you see your house from there?
Having done Manaslu, I think it was pretty much as I expect luckily. Were you tempted to take a sledge up?
Could you see your house from there?
Was tempted to take my skis, but you need more permits for that and more ££
Well, I could see my tent?
Not to diminish the feat - we all know how deadly it can be, but I am genuinely surprised at how easy it seemed, from the timeline, to the low amount of fitness training required. Did it really feel like you had achieved anything? Is the achievement more financial than physical, in that you managed without great effort? The hardship for most it seems is not the fitness or ability barrier, just merely a question of affordability?
You mentioned K2, which is known to be a much harder climb, and has been summited by fewer people than have travelled to space IIRC. Would you be expected to carry out more training before attempting that one? Are there tourist operators which offer that climb, or would you have to organise your own expedition?
Why do you think so many people chose Everest, rather than K2 or another unclimbed peak, either of which would arguably be more of an adventure? Is it the relative ease or the simple matter of it being the highest?
You mentioned K2, which is known to be a much harder climb, and has been summited by fewer people than have travelled to space IIRC. Would you be expected to carry out more training before attempting that one? Are there tourist operators which offer that climb, or would you have to organise your own expedition?
Why do you think so many people chose Everest, rather than K2 or another unclimbed peak, either of which would arguably be more of an adventure? Is it the relative ease or the simple matter of it being the highest?
LimaDelta said:
Not to diminish the feat - we all know how deadly it can be, but I am genuinely surprised at how easy it seemed, from the timeline, to the low amount of fitness training required. Did it really feel like you had achieved anything? Is the achievement more financial than physical, in that you managed without great effort? The hardship for most it seems is not the fitness or ability barrier, just merely a question of affordability?
You mentioned K2, which is known to be a much harder climb, and has been summited by fewer people than have travelled to space IIRC. Would you be expected to carry out more training before attempting that one? Are there tourist operators which offer that climb, or would you have to organise your own expedition?
Why do you think so many people chose Everest, rather than K2 or another unclimbed peak, either of which would arguably be more of an adventure? Is it the relative ease or the simple matter of it being the highest?
Yeah I can see where you're coming from, and perhaps it did surprise me that it was slightly 'easier' than maybe I thought it would be. That said, if weather was worse and we spent more days battling through worse conditions, but still making the top which many people do, then it would have been harder of course. You mentioned K2, which is known to be a much harder climb, and has been summited by fewer people than have travelled to space IIRC. Would you be expected to carry out more training before attempting that one? Are there tourist operators which offer that climb, or would you have to organise your own expedition?
Why do you think so many people chose Everest, rather than K2 or another unclimbed peak, either of which would arguably be more of an adventure? Is it the relative ease or the simple matter of it being the highest?
There is an element I think that I seem to have somewhat natural physical attributes to this sort of thing. Pretty much day 1 in Chamonix the guide could see I immediately needed to be taken to harder things straight away.
But, overall, if you are in great shape and you have the mental side sorted, then yes Everest should be achievable to a large number of people.....if they can afford it. And people choose Everest because it's Everest. Personally I'm almost more pleased with my Manaslu expedition. FAR fewer people have ever stood at the top of that one, I did it as the first team that season to summit so we climbed with nobody around.....but say Manaslu to someone and they look blankly at you.
K2 is a LOT harder, but I think I'd stick to similar training, but more intense. End of the day it's still climbing, so strong legs, strong heart, good cardio and I don't think there's actually much more to it in terms of your body.
And in the same way you sign up with an operator for Everest, you do the same thing for K2.....not quite as many operators run there, but that list is growing every year though.
UTH said:
threespires said:
Has anybody ever seen the top of Everest or just the snow on the top?
Is it a plateau or is there an actual point?
Just a snow tip, sort of thing. The bit I'm sitting on in that photo could, in theory, have collapsed under me, which my guide pointed out so I moved pretty quickly. But everyone does sit on that point as it is the highest, but who knows, one day maybe it will give way! Is it a plateau or is there an actual point?
UTH said:
LimaDelta said:
Not to diminish the feat - we all know how deadly it can be, but I am genuinely surprised at how easy it seemed, from the timeline, to the low amount of fitness training required. Did it really feel like you had achieved anything? Is the achievement more financial than physical, in that you managed without great effort? The hardship for most it seems is not the fitness or ability barrier, just merely a question of affordability?
You mentioned K2, which is known to be a much harder climb, and has been summited by fewer people than have travelled to space IIRC. Would you be expected to carry out more training before attempting that one? Are there tourist operators which offer that climb, or would you have to organise your own expedition?
Why do you think so many people chose Everest, rather than K2 or another unclimbed peak, either of which would arguably be more of an adventure? Is it the relative ease or the simple matter of it being the highest?
Yeah I can see where you're coming from, and perhaps it did surprise me that it was slightly 'easier' than maybe I thought it would be. That said, if weather was worse and we spent more days battling through worse conditions, but still making the top which many people do, then it would have been harder of course. You mentioned K2, which is known to be a much harder climb, and has been summited by fewer people than have travelled to space IIRC. Would you be expected to carry out more training before attempting that one? Are there tourist operators which offer that climb, or would you have to organise your own expedition?
Why do you think so many people chose Everest, rather than K2 or another unclimbed peak, either of which would arguably be more of an adventure? Is it the relative ease or the simple matter of it being the highest?
There is an element I think that I seem to have somewhat natural physical attributes to this sort of thing. Pretty much day 1 in Chamonix the guide could see I immediately needed to be taken to harder things straight away.
But, overall, if you are in great shape and you have the mental side sorted, then yes Everest should be achievable to a large number of people.....if they can afford it. And people choose Everest because it's Everest. Personally I'm almost more pleased with my Manaslu expedition. FAR fewer people have ever stood at the top of that one, I did it as the first team that season to summit so we climbed with nobody around.....but say Manaslu to someone and they look blankly at you.
K2 is a LOT harder, but I think I'd stick to similar training, but more intense. End of the day it's still climbing, so strong legs, strong heart, good cardio and I don't think there's actually much more to it in terms of your body.
And in the same way you sign up with an operator for Everest, you do the same thing for K2.....not quite as many operators run there, but that list is growing every year though.
Of course as you say, the weather can make a huge difference to the experience and outcome!
So, quickly going to try and get a post up for the start of the journey.
Having met up with the leader of the company that would ultimately run my trip to Everest, he had suggested I head out to Chamonix. At this point I'd never even put a crampon (spikey things on your boots) on before, never held an ice axe etc, so this was the first step where you give these things a go and you may well decide "nope, hate this".
Somehow I managed to convince Mrs UTH to come with me - she's usually up for trying things once (fnar fnar) so she said why not, could be an experience. She's not a fan of cold weather, never really skied or spent time in the mountains, so fair play that she came along. Every day was up at 6am to head off up the mountains to crack on with what was planned that day.....by day 3 she had decided that a) this wasn't for her and b) she was holding me back so she spent the next few days enjoying Chamonix while I carried on up the mountain doing increasingly more challenging stuff.
This is probably not the most exciting part of the overall story, so just a few photos of the sort of thing we got up to - learning ropes, crampons, ice axes and general mountain stuff:
Having met up with the leader of the company that would ultimately run my trip to Everest, he had suggested I head out to Chamonix. At this point I'd never even put a crampon (spikey things on your boots) on before, never held an ice axe etc, so this was the first step where you give these things a go and you may well decide "nope, hate this".
Somehow I managed to convince Mrs UTH to come with me - she's usually up for trying things once (fnar fnar) so she said why not, could be an experience. She's not a fan of cold weather, never really skied or spent time in the mountains, so fair play that she came along. Every day was up at 6am to head off up the mountains to crack on with what was planned that day.....by day 3 she had decided that a) this wasn't for her and b) she was holding me back so she spent the next few days enjoying Chamonix while I carried on up the mountain doing increasingly more challenging stuff.
This is probably not the most exciting part of the overall story, so just a few photos of the sort of thing we got up to - learning ropes, crampons, ice axes and general mountain stuff:
Congratulations on those summits - I am jealous of the EU ones!
I took a similar route though over more than two years, starting with trekking to Everest and getting hooked. I subsequently returned becoming more adventurous/higher/challenging each time - Mera, Island, Lobuche, then Aconcagua (argentina), Lenin (Kyrgyzstan), Alpamayo (peru), Ama Dablam then Everest.
I didnt summit Everest - several days at camp4 (up and down from BC twice) with very poor weather including all our tents and equipment being blown away/destroyed. So may return at some point - though I would prefer a different 8k mountain to everest as I have been on and around it so much already and it is now very expensive, bc a circus and the icefall becoming very sketchy.
Like you I have been lucky with weather (mostly) and most of what I have done isnt technically challenging (Ama Dablam and alpamayo perhaps needing some skills), having a very high degree of fitness made it all enjoyable. My training boiled down to lots of hiking long distances over hills with a heavy backpack (100km per week at times) and lots of running. I smoked cigarettes on all these mountains except the higher everest camps when my lighter stopped working).
I took a similar route though over more than two years, starting with trekking to Everest and getting hooked. I subsequently returned becoming more adventurous/higher/challenging each time - Mera, Island, Lobuche, then Aconcagua (argentina), Lenin (Kyrgyzstan), Alpamayo (peru), Ama Dablam then Everest.
I didnt summit Everest - several days at camp4 (up and down from BC twice) with very poor weather including all our tents and equipment being blown away/destroyed. So may return at some point - though I would prefer a different 8k mountain to everest as I have been on and around it so much already and it is now very expensive, bc a circus and the icefall becoming very sketchy.
Like you I have been lucky with weather (mostly) and most of what I have done isnt technically challenging (Ama Dablam and alpamayo perhaps needing some skills), having a very high degree of fitness made it all enjoyable. My training boiled down to lots of hiking long distances over hills with a heavy backpack (100km per week at times) and lots of running. I smoked cigarettes on all these mountains except the higher everest camps when my lighter stopped working).
Zaichik said:
Congratulations on those summits - I am jealous of the EU ones!
I took a similar route though over more than two years, starting with trekking to Everest and getting hooked. I subsequently returned becoming more adventurous/higher/challenging each time - Mera, Island, Lobuche, then Aconcagua (argentina), Lenin (Kyrgyzstan), Alpamayo (peru), Ama Dablam then Everest.
I didnt summit Everest - several days at camp4 (up and down from BC twice) with very poor weather including all our tents and equipment being blown away/destroyed. So may return at some point - though I would prefer a different 8k mountain to everest as I have been on and around it so much already and it is now very expensive, bc a circus and the icefall becoming very sketchy.
Like you I have been lucky with weather (mostly) and most of what I have done isnt technically challenging (Ama Dablam and alpamayo perhaps needing some skills), having a very high degree of fitness made it all enjoyable. My training boiled down to lots of hiking long distances over hills with a heavy backpack (100km per week at times) and lots of running. I smoked cigarettes on all these mountains except the higher everest camps when my lighter stopped working).
Now, Aconcagua certainly appeals! A trip to Argentina with the steaks and Malbec, with a lovely climb up a mountain all part of the trip would be amazing. How long did that whole trip take, I seem to remember we're talking a couple of weeks or so, right? I took a similar route though over more than two years, starting with trekking to Everest and getting hooked. I subsequently returned becoming more adventurous/higher/challenging each time - Mera, Island, Lobuche, then Aconcagua (argentina), Lenin (Kyrgyzstan), Alpamayo (peru), Ama Dablam then Everest.
I didnt summit Everest - several days at camp4 (up and down from BC twice) with very poor weather including all our tents and equipment being blown away/destroyed. So may return at some point - though I would prefer a different 8k mountain to everest as I have been on and around it so much already and it is now very expensive, bc a circus and the icefall becoming very sketchy.
Like you I have been lucky with weather (mostly) and most of what I have done isnt technically challenging (Ama Dablam and alpamayo perhaps needing some skills), having a very high degree of fitness made it all enjoyable. My training boiled down to lots of hiking long distances over hills with a heavy backpack (100km per week at times) and lots of running. I smoked cigarettes on all these mountains except the higher everest camps when my lighter stopped working).
Ama Dablam I wish we'd been able to do as part of our Everest trip, sadly no one was really offering that as part of the package. Annoyingly, the company I went with switched their 'training peak' from Lobuche to Pumori the year after I went.....I wished I could have climbed Pumori.
Dan_1981 said:
Wow.
How old are you if you don't mind answering?
And how much is actually 'climbing'? Or is it like walking up a pretty steep, snowy hill?
Are there points with huge drops below you?
38 now, depressingly haha. So 33 when I was at the top, so started this whole thing just after 30 really. How old are you if you don't mind answering?
And how much is actually 'climbing'? Or is it like walking up a pretty steep, snowy hill?
Are there points with huge drops below you?
I'd say the Matterhorn was probably the one with the most 'climbing' in it.....although actually one of the 'training days' in Chamonix where we went actual ice climbing was probably the most 'climby' thing I've done.
Everest had its moment, but even parts like the Lhotse face which is very famous, that was a case of a very steep ice slope that you just put the toes of your crampons in and keep going up and up. Nothing like hanging on for dear life with your finger tips or an ice axe that might let go any second:
UTH said:
Now, Aconcagua certainly appeals! A trip to Argentina with the steaks and Malbec, with a lovely climb up a mountain all part of the trip would be amazing. How long did that whole trip take, I seem to remember we're talking a couple of weeks or so, right?
Ama Dablam I wish we'd been able to do as part of our Everest trip, sadly no one was really offering that as part of the package. Annoyingly, the company I went with switched their 'training peak' from Lobuche to Pumori the year after I went.....I wished I could have climbed Pumori.
Aconcagua was great - two weeks on the mountain , pretty cold and windy- the summit day was fabulous still and sunny. This is not a technical mountain - you pretty much walk up it, but it is an expedition - you are at reasonable altitude, living in tents on an inhospitable mountain and going up and down several times to move kit up the mountain - extreme cold and at times very windy, a great intro to higher expeditions. VERY civilised. Our guide kept offering grape juice at all altitudes (malbec). I stayed in region for two months to also trek in Chile (atacama, lakes and Torres del Paine). Ama Dablam I wish we'd been able to do as part of our Everest trip, sadly no one was really offering that as part of the package. Annoyingly, the company I went with switched their 'training peak' from Lobuche to Pumori the year after I went.....I wished I could have climbed Pumori.
UTH said:
Now, Aconcagua certainly appeals! A trip to Argentina with the steaks and Malbec, with a lovely climb up a mountain all part of the trip would be amazing. How long did that whole trip take, I seem to remember we're talking a couple of weeks or so, right?
Ama Dablam I wish we'd been able to do as part of our Everest trip, sadly no one was really offering that as part of the package. Annoyingly, the company I went with switched their 'training peak' from Lobuche to Pumori the year after I went.....I wished I could have climbed Pumori.
Aconcagua was great - two weeks on the mountain , pretty cold and windy- the summit day was fabulous still and sunny. This is not a technical mountain - you pretty much walk up it, but it is an expedition - you are at reasonable altitude, living in tents on an inhospitable mountain and going up and down several times to move kit up the mountain - extreme cold and at times very windy, a great intro to higher expeditions. VERY civilised. Our guide kept offering grape juice at all altitudes (malbec). I stayed in region for two months to also trek in Chile (atacama, lakes and Torres del Paine). Ama Dablam I wish we'd been able to do as part of our Everest trip, sadly no one was really offering that as part of the package. Annoyingly, the company I went with switched their 'training peak' from Lobuche to Pumori the year after I went.....I wished I could have climbed Pumori.
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