Climbing Mountains

So, it finally happened. I climbed enough mountains that I concluded that I would have to eventually climb one of the big ones. What’s big? Well, something over 8000 meters there’s only 14 of them in the world so it’d be a tall one.

The plan is simple, continue to work on my fitness and training here in Scotland and then work towards climbing a series of seven or eight mountains gaining real world alpine climbing.

Training

Locally I will be focused on climbing Munros which I have been working on and continue to work on. They each have their own challenges and offer me a chance to keep getting better at endurance and better fitness to go up these mountains.

I am also slowly working through the courses offered by organisations like Mountain Weather Information Service (MWIS) and Mountaineering Scotland to be better informed of how to safely work on mountains in any condition (or at least any condition that presents itself here in Scotland).

Fitness

Health and fitness are a bit trickier. As a baseline I am currently a stone over my ideal weight, and my endurance is middling. I would hope to bring my weight down to a healthy range and start training endurance and some strength. In parallel I am hoping to take a VO2 Max test (which measures the amount of oxygen you use during exercise) to get a base line for understanding how I would perform at altitude. There will be more I will need to get better at, but for now that is the general aim.

Mountains

Kilimanjaro

This is about spending time and carrying weight at altitude. I’ll get to see how my body reacts and figure out how to adjust my training to compensate for weaknesses. To be fair each major climb will give me hints as to what I’m weak at.

Island Peak

It would be my first visit to Nepal. There would be step climbing at 20,000 feet using a jumar, moving on fixed lines and abseiling. Might even be able to hike up Kala Patthar and get an up-close view of Mount Everest.

Mount Elbrus

This one might be tricky. As it’s situated in Russia perhaps things will be better by the time, I can save up to visit this mountain. But here I can experience arctic conditions of cold and wind at altitude. I might be able to substitute Mount Blanc for this, but I'd hate to miss Europe's highest mountain.

Chiborazo

Gaining experience in mountaineering techniques as well as testing my gear.

Acongagua

Experience in an expedition style climb that involves moving gear and food up a mountain, establishing camps

Denali

This is a good test of fitness and everything I have learned during the previous climbs.

Cho You

An 8000-meter mountain, trains you to use oxygen, and how to climb under extreme stress.

Finances

This I don’t have yet. There is always winning the lottery, but that hasn’t helped me so far in life. My current plan is to put together a YouTube channel in the hopes that I can begin to bring in a very modest income that I can squirrel away to help offset the cost of climbing these mountains.