How to Climb Everest

Climbing Mount Everest is the hardest thing you'll ever do. There's no way around it. A lot of people think that you can pay a sherpa to carry you to the top. That's absolutely not the case. No matter who you are, no matter how much you spend, when you set foot on Mount Everest, you're climbing on your own. You need to put one foot in front of the next until you get to the safely. No one can pull you or carry you to the top of Mount Everest. Because there is a lot of fixed line climbing on Everest, you need to be competent clipping into a fixed line and climbing efficiently. That's kind of the most important skill, but also building that experience climbing at altitude is really important as well. Just knowing how your body does at altitude before stepping on Everest is very important. There's a lot of very specialized gear that you need for climbing Mount Everest. Of course, there's your normal tactical gear, your harness, crampons, ice axe. Beyond that, an ascender for climbing fixed ropes. Even beyond that though, you need triple boots, so the warmest boots you can get. Some really insulated big boots. You need down suits, which is a very specialized item of gear. Even beyond that, you need things like oxygen systems to climb Mount Everest. The oxygen tank, the regulator, the mask, these are all very highly specific to Mount Everest. They're things that you're going to need if climbing on oxygen to tackle Mount Everest. Both the north and south sides of Everest are commonly climbed, but overall, I think that the south side of Mount Everest is a safer route and it's a much more enjoyable experience. Very importantly, there's a lot of infrastructure on the south side. There's a bit more risk climbing through the Kubu Icefall, but there are a lot of different ways to manage that risk. We found that statistically over the years, it's not as dangerous as it seems. In general, it takes about two months for a Mount Everest expedition. The reason it's so long is really because of the extreme altitude. You need to spend months acclimating your body to that extreme altitude, to that rarefied air. It might take two weeks to get to base camp and then you take consecutive trips up the mountain, acclimating your body before coming down and resting before going up to the summit the final time. But actually climbing the peak itself, when you leave base camp, go to the summit and come back down, that stretch of time is usually four to six or seven days. There's a lot of history and fame that goes with Everest and it's very powerful. It's easy to be kind of overwhelmed by that, but if you've done your homework and deserve to be on Everest, don't be intimidated. Just treat it as another climb and know that you deserve to be there. Crowding can be an issue on Mount Everest, but in general, these concerns are overhyped. Crowds aren't a huge concern. Any summit day can be a bit busy, but if you've signed on with a reputable guide service, a guide service that has experience dealing with these issues, dealing with crowding, they're easy to avoid. No matter how you slice it, climbing Mount Everest is very expensive. And the reason it's so expensive is, well, number one, the permit, but the logistical challenge of putting together an Everest expedition is huge. You know, some expeditions may employ 400 local people throughout the course of an expedition between porters and sherpa and cooks and so on and so forth. So, you know, these are massive logistical operations with months of food, gear and supplies. In terms of training, physical preparedness, you want to be training months in advance of the trip. Most people train a year or more for an Everest expedition, if not their entire lives, and make sure you peak your training about a week before you leave for the climb so your body has time to rest and recover and be ready for the stresses of the climb. I think the hardest thing about mountaineering is staying dedicated to one specific goal over a long period of time. And a lot of people are not able to persist towards that goal. They want that immediate gratification. It's really hard to do, but that's what you need to do to be successful on some of these higher altitude peaks like Mount Everest. Be determined, be persistent, and you'll get it done.