G'day guys,
and thanks to those that offered their congrats. Back now in (warm??) Melbourne.
No issue with those offering various opinions. The web site I built about 12 months ago for this trip called www.reachyoureverest.com prescribed the philosophy of reaching "your" Everest in whatever your goal was - Mt Everest as a mountain, or whichever goal you have mind (climbing or non climbing) based on what you believe, aspire, look up to etc etc.
For me, it was not important whether 10 or 10,000 people had done this route. The North East Ridge of Everest offered spectacular high altitude, semi-technical ridge climbing which led to the highest point on Earth and which tested me to the limit. After 12-18 months of very serious training and then 2 months on the mountain, Mt Everest pushed my immune system, fitness, mental state and endurance to a new limit and made me lose 10kg in weight in the process. Out of 18 strong climbers starting on the expedtion, 10 summited and one unfortunately died on descent (rest in peace my good friend Peter Kinloch).
It's not everyone's cup of tea, agree.
I don't think the route itself has gotten easier also. I simply think the equipment is just way better, people are now smarter and realise that with the right training they can reach the summit as they are fitter, smarter, faster and can follow in the foot steps of others who have summited before them. Always more difficult then being the first.
However, if anyone thinks that reaching 8000m and above is easy, then my opinion is please think again. At 8000m and above it's very easy to die up there and all the dead bodies I saw up there which will stay there for eternity are testament to this, as it's a very unforgiving environment. This I think will continue to happen unfortunately as people push their limits more and more - but that's life, not only on Everest but in other things in life as well.
Some photos attached below.
Thanks again, and look forward to seeing everyone around Melbourne over the coming weeks.
John K
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