FAQs

Why Everest?

There are many reasons. At a basic level, there is something very primal about wanting to climb the biggest mountain. At a deeper level, I see it as an incredible challenge where I can really test what I’m made of. I appreciate that it may not be a true climbers’ mountain, with an ascent of the north face of the Eiger being far more impressive perhaps, but Everest is steeped in history, is set in a beautiful country with wonderful people and I think it would be quite something to say that I’ve stood on top of the world (and made it back down safely).

What do you eat when on expedition?

On my expeditions to date I’ve actually been quite lucky in that on the lower camps there’s always been a mess tent cooking us warm meals - it always amazes me what our support teams can produce at altitude including cheese filled empanadas in Bolivia and pizza in Kyrgyzstan. Higher up the mountain, you’re looking at a constant rotation of boiling snow to make water which you will then both drink and use to rehydrate ration packs - think glorified pot noodle. Some are actually quite nice, but it’s essential to get your pouring levels just right and give them a thorough stir or you’ll end up with grainy, super al dente food or just soupy mush. Supplement that with some high protein snacks (nuts, power bars, Snickers etc) and some electrolytes and you’re all set.

Make sure to keep the chocolate insulated at night and out of the sun during the day though or you’ll end up with either rock hard choc or mush. If you get the latter, squeeze the contents inside the wrapper to one end and twist the top, before placing it somewhere cool to set - you’ll end up with a super intense bite size chocolate - works great for mini Toblerones and Lindt hazelnut bars!

How do you go to the toilet on the mountain?

First of all, always be prepared and have on you (at all times!) some soft toilet roll and hand sanitiser / alcohol gel.

If there isn’t a designated toilet, you’re looking at either digging a pit with your ice axe or finding a nice rock to lean up against and if you can find a little privacy that’s a bonus. Personally I struggle to maintain a squat without something to hold onto, so I often take my axe with me.

Ideally, you will either be low enough where your business will still break down (it doesn’t higher up as it’s too cold) or you’ll have the ability to “pack out” that is to essentially pop into a glorified sandwich bag with kitty litter type filling that you can then carry with you off the mountain, usually in a big poster tube like container that’s sealed. Not the prettiest but better for the environment.

In my experience toilet anxiety about what the facilities are going to be like in each camp and where you’ll ultimately be able to go on the hill hits almost all climbers (especially when food you’re not used to has its usual say in proceedings) and is often cited as a barrier to people giving mountaineering a go (after the height and relative danger of course).

My advice is that we’re all the same, we all need to go and if we can try and be considerate for each other and the environment, it shouldn’t be an issue.

What’s your biggest fear when you’re on a mountain?

Either being hit by an avalanche (particularly if whilst sleeping in camp) or being caught behind inept climbers in a compromising position. The former you can try to legislate for e.g. you stay put when you know there’s been persistent fresh snowfall but the latter is often entirely outside of your control. I do, however, only go on trips with very reputable guiding companies and guides (e.g. Jagged Globe and Adventure Base) so I know that my fellow climbers won’t be the issue (having been vetted beforehand) and that we hopefully have the logistical support and experience between us to get out of most sticky spots.

Will you use oxygen on Everest?

Absolutely - from around camp 3 upwards, we will start to use oxygen and definitely from camp 4. Above 8,000m they call it the “death zone”, quite simply because the air pressure above that height is so low that you cannot get enough oxygen into your body to survive.

What the oxygen tanks do is give you a trickle flow to help delay your body from eventually shutting down - think of it as trying to finish Le Mans with a Jerry can strapped to the back of the car pouring a very slow flow of petrol into the tank whilst you’re driving. If you put your foot down, you’ll burn through it all, but if you conserve your energy and drive economically, you might just make it.

What kit do you use?

Probably the thing that takes the most time and effort when not in the mountains (aside from training of course) is researching kit. There will inevitably be a lot of “gear heads” out there, so this one is for you.

When buying kit, I’m a strong advocate of buying the best that you can afford, reading as many independent reviews as possible, taking them with a pinch of salt and thinking carefully about all the scenarios in which you’re going to be using your kit.

The following is simply what I currently use, it doesn’t mean there aren’t brilliant alternatives to suit your needs:

• Down suit: PHD Expedition Double Down Suit (-35c version) - superb quality, very light and comes with an under suit and over jacket and pants making it great for people who, like me, get hot very easily.

• Boots: Scarpa Pantom 8000s, Scarpa Phantom 6000s and Scarpa Charmoz OD - Scarpas fit my feet better than other boots, but they are excellent boots. The twisting zip on the 6k and 8ks allows you to lean forwards a bit more vs. Straight zipped boots, but I have seen the zips break on other boots, the zip also annoyingly overlaps the Velcro of the inner boot on the 8000s making it difficult to shut and they often rub people’s shins (so I stuff an additional sock around the top of the boot to stop this). All that being said, I trust them when it counts.

• Mountaineering Ice Axe: Grivel Air Tech Evo - great axe, ditch the leash (you should never drop your axe and a leash gets in the way of swapping hands to ensure your axe is always facing uphill, especially on zig-zag ascents)

• Climbing ice axes: Petzl Quark (adze and axe pair). On mine I’ve ditched the upper trigger on the handle and have added petzl’s accessory weights to the picks when I use them for climbing which creates more power when you swing. I’ve used them as general mountaineering axes too, but they are a touch short.

• Gloves: are a funny one, I prefer the dexterity of a glove but mitts are far warmer. I have Outdoor Research Alti mitts, Black Diamond Guide gloves as a back-up and either rab silk liners or black diamond fleece liner gloves. For my general purpose glove, I use Extremities Guide gloves.

• Sleeping bags: For high altitude and extreme cold, I use the PHD Diamir 1200 Down (K-series) sleeping bag and as a mid-range, lower camp (but still warm) bag, I have the Alpkit Alpinedream 1000 Hydrophobic which is excellent value for its price.

• Inflatable sleeping mats: for comfortable sleep with a mat that is super warm and compresses down surprisingly well for its thickness, I have the Exped Down Mat 9M which has an integrated pump - helpful when at altitude. If you’re looking to shave weight even further but still maintain warmth, my other mat is the Thermarest Neo-Air X-Therm. Not quite as warm as the exped, but packs down smaller and is lighter.

• Carabiners: for general purpose mountaineering, especially if you’re going to be wearing big gloves, I always think bigger is better - it just makes it quicker and easier to get stuff done. Assuming you tend to have 4 locking carabiners on you at all times I will usually have a couple of DMM Boas for their wide gate clearance and a couple of Petzl Attache crabs which are lightweight and can accommodate a surprising amount for their size.

• Crampons: Petzl Lynx are the only crampons I’ve ever owned. I love them and use them for ice climbing and mountaineering. They’re pretty light, adjustable and I trust their teeth to bite. They sharpen up pretty well too.

• Heavy down jacket: Mountain Equipment k7 - super snug, sturdy build and packs down relatively well.

• Lightweight down jacket: still rocking a north face summit series 800 fill from 2014. It probably needs replacing but does the job nicely. Either that or I use the PHD overjacket from my down suit if I’m trying to save space and not take too many things.

• Hardshell: Mountain Equipment Tupilak. It’s light, it’s waterproof and it’s well made.

• Baselayers: I have an Icebreaker Bodfitzone Hooded Merino Base Layer which I love, can’t recommend it enough and when it’s hot the hood can be used to keep the sun off your neck and face. Rab powerstretch pro pants are also a revelation as a base layer for your legs.

• Sunglasses and Goggles: I have Julbos with "Cameleon" lenses, that are meant to be made from the same material as black hawk helicopter windshields and which react to the light.

• Camera: Olympus Tough Guy 4 - I’d probably recommend upgrading to the TG-5 now though, as the camera can occasionally mist up (only happened to me once in Argentina), but I believe they have fixed this with a new lens. Other than that, it’s an awesome camera that you can chuck around and it simply will not skip a beat.

• Bags: duffel bag has to be the North Face Base Camp XXL. High volume bag is the Mountain Hardwear South Col 70 (which is waterproof) and for something lighter, the Black Diamond Speed 50 and Osprey Variant 37 are also in my line up.

How many camps are there on Everest?

On the South (Nepalese) side which I will be attempting the mountain from, there are 4 camps:

• Base Camp - 5,335m (17,500ft)

• Camp 1 - 6,000m (19,685ft)

• Camp 2 - 6,400m (21,000ft)

• Camp 3 - 7,200m (23,625ft)

• Camp 4 - 7,950m (26,085ft)

• Summit - 8,848m (29,029ft)

What will your itinerary be during the expedition?

Obviously nothing is set in stone as allowances have to be made for all sorts of factors. However, Jagged Globe has been kind enough to outline a high level itinerary on their website, the main details being as follows:

• Day 1 - 3: Fly to Kathmandu and leisure time in Kathmandu

• Day 4: Drive to Ramechap airport and Fly to Lukla

• Day 5 - 13: Trek to Everest Base Camp.

• Day 14 - 54: Ascent of Mt Everest, including:

  • 5 - 6 weeks in base camp with 3 acclimatisation climbs on the mountain:

    • Climb One - aim to reach Camp 1 and descend to Base Camp.

    • Climb Two - aim to sleep at Camp 1 for 2 nights, and to reach Camp 2 for acclimatisation on the day in-between.

    • Climb Three - aim to sleep at Camp 2 or above for 6 nights. During this time, we will climb to Camp 3 and descend to Camp 2 for a rest. We then take a day off in Camp 2, before going back up to spend one full night in Camp 3, using oxygen for sleeping. This rotation should take 8 days.

  • R&R - now well acclimatised with strong legs and lungs, we will stock up on calories and have a thorough rest, waiting for a weather window to make our bid for the summit.

  • Climb Four - we will make our summit bid via Camp 4 on the South Col (7,950m). To the summit and back should take around 5 days.

• Day 55 - 58 - Return trek to Lukla.

• Day 59: Fly Lukla to Ramechhap and drive to Kathmandu

• Day 60: Rest / Leisure in Kathmandu

• Day 61: Fly home

How did your body cope during the Everest expedition?

From a colitis perspective, surprisingly well. My stomach broadly seemed to behave but was very much put through its paces with two stomach bugs during the expedition which each required antibiotics. I was also blighted with quite a vicious cold / chest infection once I made it to base camp which took a lot out of me and made the early training and rotations particularly challenging. Again, another bout of antibiotics was prescribed. Thankfully I managed to sort myself out in the run up to the summit push, but for a number of weeks it was touch and go whether I would be fit to go for the summit. Other than that, despite drinking more than 3 litres of liquids, I suffered severe dehydration in the heat between camps 1 and 2, a side consequence of colitis where sometimes I find it hard to absorb fluids. I also had the joys of my crampons puncturing my right leg after someone prematurely weighted a rope I was descending on and a cracked rib caused by a high altitude cough! If anyone tells you that high altitude mountaineering is anything other than an exercise in suffering, they're lying!