STEP 1: THE PREPARATION PHASE
“An ascent of Mt. Everest usually becomes viable for a mountaineer after many years of climbing gradually higher peaks while they gain experience and learn how to look after themselves in the extreme high-altitude environment. Non-climbers would begin with a training course through a reputable mountain guiding company then join commercial expeditions to ascend gradually higher peaks across the globe. Everest is no place to be learning basics so that preparation phase is vital and besides, the other trips you do to develop experience and skills will be fun too. We’ve helped people transition from their first-ever climbing experience, followed by a program of dedicated training and expeditions, to see them reach the summit of Everest only 18 months after they started out.”
STEP 2: MONEY MATTERS
“Raising the necessary funds to embark on an Everest expedition can be a huge challenge for some people as you’ll pay around $65,000 and have travel and equipment costs on top of that. Don’t allow yourself to be convinced by a cheap operator that you’ll be looked after just as well as you would with an ‘expensive’ operator. You get what you pay for on Everest and it is very common that people fail by going under-resourced because they went with a budget operator. Your life is too important to throw away to save a few bucks.”
STEP 3: GEARING UP
“Most operators provide all but your personal gear so you will need to acquire specialist high altitude down jackets and pants, sleeping bags, mittens, a backpack and high altitude climbing boots. Every climbing day you’ll be wearing your harness and you’ll have crampons on your boots. You will carry an ice axe and a climbing helmet and lots of warm gloves and hats. You’ll also pack a duffel with all the clothes and kit you’ll need for the two months duration of the expedition. So, throw in your iPod, some pictures of your loved ones, and a couple of books for those long nights in bed.”
STEP 4: OVERCOMING HURDLES
“Some of the biggest challenges are getting time away from work and home, the boredom of rest days, and the demands of the shear physical output over an extended period. At high-altitudes food will taste unappetising so you lose the desire to eat and you are unable to sleep well because you are generally in a state of physical duress for extended periods. To be successful up here you need to suck up the pain and have a good work ethic to reach the summit. Surprisingly, it’s not necessarily the honed athlete who summits Everest, but the person who doesn’t rush and maintains themselves throughout the duration of the expedition. Mountaineering is more a thinking game of strategy that necessitates an elevated state of self-awareness. It’s more about maintaining yourself over the duration of the ‘campaign’ than most people would realise. People who cannot resist the urge to push themselves hard every time they are climbing on the mountain tend to blow up and not make it to the top. There’s one day that really counts and that is summit day. Save yourself for this day, it really is worth it! The easiest part is going downhill after you have acclimatised to higher elevations. Every fibre in your body can be exhausted while you are going up but when you turn around to come down it seems to take no energy at all.”
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