Climbing Mount Everest is Quite a Feat

Many people have bucket lists — lists of things they’d like to do before they die, such as running a marathon, swimming across the English Channel or getting gored by a bull in Pamplona.

I’ve never written a bucket list, but if I did, climbing Mount Everest would definitely be one of the things I’d leave out.

I’m not going to fool myself into thinking I could ever climb Mount Everest, especially since I lose my breath just watching other people climbing.

Climbing can be exhausting, as I realized recently when I made my way up to the 21st floor of a building. I had to catch my breath several times as people got on and off the elevator.

Mount Everest is 8,849 meters high, which is like climbing 50,000 steps, according to Glorious Eco Trek Nepal. That’s 3,000 to 4,000 flights of stairs, depending on the number of steps in each flight. At my age and physical condition, I’d want to take only two flights: one flight onto a plane, and another flight to the mountain top.

There’d be no landing spot, of course, so I’d have to use a parachute, which would result in me achieving three bucket list items: (1) Getting to the top of Mount Everest; (2) skydiving; and (3) being carried on a stretcher.

Thankfully, commercial planes are prohibited from flying over Mount Everest, preventing people like me from easily checking off a bucket list item. Anyone who wants to climb Mount Everest has to do it the hard way. I’d never be able to make it to the summit even once, so I’m full of awe when I hear about Kami Rita Sherpa, a Nepali guide who recently broke his own record by reaching the summit for the 31st time.

Climbing Mount Everest 31 times is a huge achievement. It’s like walking barefoot 31 times across Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in the middle of the road during the hottest month, holding a sign that says, “The crown prince has stinky breath.” Your chances of survival are slim.

Photo by Weichao Deng on Unsplash

Kami Rita is 55, an age at which the only mountain most people are willing to challenge themselves to is the mountain of pancakes at IHOP. But Kami Rita has been climbing the world’s tallest mountain since 1994, when he was 24, guiding other climbers as they achieve their dreams of reaching Everest's summit.

During his latest climb, he led a team of 22 Indian Army members and 27 fellow Sherpas to the summit.

“I’m proud of this achievement,” he told the New York Times. “As a guide, I fulfilled the long-cherished dreams of climbers to stand atop the world’s highest point. I’m happy that I fulfilled their dreams this year as well.”

The biggest lesson he has learned over the years is about valuing life. “Taking clients to the summit is not the ultimate success; bringing them safely back to the base of the mountain is more important,” he said. “Reuniting clients with their families is the greatest achievement.”

Yes, there’s no point in making it to the top if you can’t make it to the bottom and be admired by bottom-dwellers like me. You can take photos at the top, but you can’t share them on Instagram until you have wifi at the bottom. And until you have shared the pics, have you really climbed the mountain?

While Kami Rita’s record is impressive, so is the record set by another climber, Tashi Gyalzen Sherpa, 29, who recently reached the summit of Everest four times in just 15 days. How is that possible? I have no idea, but someone needs to check if Tashi Gyalzen has a twin brother.

Whatever the case, he deserves not just the hero’s welcome he received in Kathmandu, but also a statue (or twin statues).

If I attempted to climb Mount Everest four times in 15 days, there’s no doubt where I’d find myself: completely and permanently in “ever rest.”