Climb Your Mountain

I am a big fan of Sir Ranulph Fiennes - often described as the greatest living explorer. He has pretty much done it all in terms of exploring and setting records; his life has been extraordinary and through his books and lectures you get to see and listen to his tremendous ability to tell a great story. One of his books is called ‘Climb Your Mountain’ and is a bit of self-help/management book as he uses experiences from his life to demonstrate skills such as self-discipline, motivation, leadership, ambition, dealing with failure etc. It is a good read. What underpins his stories is a message to not waste time on second-class ambitions - but go for the big ones. Easier said than done of course. I usually temper this type of thinking with a solid dose of knowing your limitations and capabilities.

Anyway, so what. Well, they say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing and so armed with the bit of knowledge I have gained through Mountain Skills and a desire to push myself somewhat (not quite Sir Ranulph Fiennes!) I have signed up for two mountaineering events this year - 4 peaks in 44 hours and Island Peak via Everest Base Camp (EBC).

The 4 peak challenge is to climb the highest peak in each of the 4 Irish provinces - Slieve Donard (Ulster), Lugnaquilla (Leinster), Carrauntoohil (Munster) and Mweelrea (Connaught) - in 44 hours or less. The clock starts when we begin the climb to Slieve Donard and finishes when we return down off Mweelrea. This will be a good challenge of stamina and endurance but will also hopefully be goo fun especially as a couple of the mountains will involve night hiking. I am using this as a way to judge my fitness journey in preparation for Island Peak later in the year.

So the trip to the Himalaya - EBC and Island Peak is a serious step up for me. Island Peak (Imja Tse) is 6189m .. close to 6 times the height of Carrauntoohil. I am told it is not technically challenging and is within range to anybody who has good fitness and endurance (physical & mental I suspect). All in, this is a three week trek (expedition even!) to a part of the world that really intrigues me. A lot of time is spent acclimatising to the altitude and I suspect that will be my biggest challenge. It will be fun to get the crampons, ropes and ice axe out again and use the little bit of knowledge I gained on Mont Blanc a couple of years back.

I don’t know if I will complete either of the trips above - I will certainly give it a good go. Ranulph’s book is peppered with little nuggets of inspiration and the one that I am clinging to is in relation to what excites me - and it’s the challenge itself rather than necessarily the destination - we’ll see as the year progresses.