WEBVTT - What It Takes To Summit Everest 18 Times 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:03.440 We'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land 0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:06.880 on which this podcast was produced, the Galligall people of 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:10.479 the orination. We pay our respects to Elder's past and present. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:16.599 It's twenty twenty four and we're at the peak of 0:00:16.760 --> 0:00:21.160 Mount Everest with one of the world's leading high altitude climbers, 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:25.439 Kenton Cool. To most, this would be a once in 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:30.840 a lifetime moment, but for Kenton, this is his eighteenth summit. 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:36.680 Every climb is tough, and every climb has risk. If 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:40.480 you become complacent at eight thousand meters in the death zone, 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:44.600 the mountain is going to kill you. But the view 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:49.240 and the feeling at the top make every risk worth taking. 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:54.600 For Kenton, He's acutely aware of how things can change 0:00:54.880 --> 0:00:59.200 in an instant. In nineteen ninety six, a flash of 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:02.120 overconfidence and it's led to a fall that threatened his 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:07.520 ability to walk, let alone climb again. He doesn't take 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:11.759 this view and this feeling for granted. Right now, he's 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:17.440 the highest person on the planet. I'm at Middleton and 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:22.600 this is head game today Kenton call on his extraordinary 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:30.639 career and making his way to the top. Keentin Cool, 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:34.039 it is an absolute pleasure to not only see you again, mate, 0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:36.600 but to have you this time on my podcast, because 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:39.040 last time I saw you, I was on your podcast 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:41.600 and I think it's a year and a half late. 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:42.760 But that's COVID time. 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:45.680 No, No, that was mental right, And now you're on 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:49.000 my podcast head Game. So mate, it's great to see 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:51.600 you again. Thanks ever so much for joining me. And 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:53.760 I've got to say, mate, you know from day one 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:56.720 when I met you, Kenton Coole is a cool guy. 0:01:56.960 --> 0:01:58.480 I'm just going to put that out there. You are 0:01:58.520 --> 0:01:59.480 pretty cool, Kenton. 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:01.280 I don't know if it lived up to the name, 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:04.360 but the name is if the listeners don't know me, 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:08.440 it is actually c O O Out. I mean, I 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:10.280 know you wanted that for a stage name out, but 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:12.240 you know it was already taken. You couldn't have it. 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:12.880 It's my name. 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:16.400 And did that work with the Chickydezer when you were 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:19.640 going through school and you know, were you popular with 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:20.040 the women? 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:20.920 No? 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:23.480 Well I went to an all boys school, so that 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:26.040 that wasn't much of a thing. So if anything, it 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:28.440 was the negative is you think you're cool and you 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:31.680 get your head plunged down a toilet and and everything 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:34.679 else so, but but it works now because I work 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:37.880 in the service industry and people remember that name. But yeah, 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:40.400 growing up it was a little bit of a chalice. 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:43.040 Yeah I bet it was, Mate, but now missed the 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:46.600 cool you know that's that's mate, Like you said, it's 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:49.639 in the title right then, and having had the privilege 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:51.320 to spend it some time, if you Mate, you're certainly 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:55.480 a cool dude. But this is about you, Mate. You've 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:58.600 had a phenomenal career and you continue to have a 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:02.520 phenomenal career in the mountaineering world. You are one of 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:06.600 one of, or if not probably the most recognized and 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:11.680 best mountaineers in the world. And it's obviously taken a 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:15.960 lot of pain, sweating, tears and suffering. People see the summits, 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:18.120 especially with mountaineering, and I don't want to, you know, 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:20.480 get carried away with that cliche. You know, it's about 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:23.919 the summer, what's underneath it? But and what sparked your 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:27.480 ignited your passion for climbing as a youngster. 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:30.920 So I actually came to climbing relatively late. I mean, 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:35.120 I see this, this whole next generation coming through, you know, 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:38.360 underneath me, and you know, these guys and girls they've 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:41.600 all started super young, you know, climbing up, climbing walls, 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:44.800 perhaps getting out of the Alps. I realistically didn't start 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:49.000 climbing till I was I was pretty much eighteen. But 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:52.280 before that, and I think this is really important, before that, 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:55.480 you know, I was a boy scout. I grew up 0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:58.280 inside the M twenty five. But I was lucky enough 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:00.480 to grow up on the corner of a farm field, 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:04.600 and I had access to the outside, and all I 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:08.480 wanted to do was to be outside all the time. 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:12.240 Building dens like say, climbing walls, climbing buildings, falling out trees, 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:15.800 climbing itself as we know it to be a sport 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:19.960 for me did not exist. But that love of the outdoors, 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:23.040 the love of adventure, the love of watching the sunset. 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:25.160 When I knew I was meant to be back at 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:28.560 home having my supper, Mum's going, where is he? Your 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:32.400 dinner's burning? The street lights are on, you should be 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:36.360 back exactly Well, well, in actual fact, you know where 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:39.279 I grew up, there were no street lights. Oh yeah, 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:41.680 you know. I grew up in the inside the M 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:44.840 twenty five. For those who don't know London, I mean 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:47.839 it was on kind of the outskirts of London, but 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:50.560 we had all these farm fields and it was just 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:55.240 incredible the access to just getting in the woods. And 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:57.919 even when they were building the motorway, so the M 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:00.200 twenty five was built when I was living there, we 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:02.920 used to like break into the motorway and steal lamps 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:05.880 of wood to build the dens, and dodge the big 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:09.320 earth movers and watch these guys cut down the trees 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:13.960 and all sort of things. So climbing came late. Yeah, 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:17.400 But the love of adventure and just being outside and 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:21.800 maybe bending the rules that was instilled into me from 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:25.440 quite a young age. And we're sat here today. You know, 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:28.480 I'm talking to you in Dubai. I'm in the cotsworlds. 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:30.120 We've got a computer and you know this is my 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:33.480 phone and yeah, and you know, and these are dangerous 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:36.320 things for the next generation. It's so easy to get 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:41.359 sucked into this rather one. You know, that upbringing that 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:43.880 I had of but we just didn't have it, did we. 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.960 So your parents almost kicked you out as well, didn't they. 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:48.919 You know, it was more like, well, like just go 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:51.240 out and play, you know, stop annoying us, you know, 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:53.880 because we had to entertain ourselves. Back then, we had 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:56.480 no technology, We had no TV, like you said, which 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:59.480 I found fascinating. You just said, we knew nothing about 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:02.280 the climbing world. There wasn't these big expeditions that were 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:05.640 going on, or you know, you'd hear about the fascination 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:08.599 of Mount Everest. That's the only mountain you heard back 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:11.480 in the day, and it would be just a myth, right, 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:13.600 we'd never had that. Our parents would push us out. 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:15.719 We had to use our imaginations, right. 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:20.240 Yeah, to a certain extent. But then there were the books, 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:23.360 and you know, for me, there was a couple of 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:27.520 climbers in the UK, Sir Chris Bondingan and the late 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:33.840 Great Doug Scott. They published these coffee table books, you know, 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:37.680 the big A three types of style books or A 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:43.040 four style books. And I remember getting Sir Chris Bondington's 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:46.880 book a Mountaineer, I think it was called, or maybe 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:50.200 Himalayan Climate one or the other and just flicking through it. 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:53.840 And yes there was Everest obviously, which captivates you. We 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:57.560 all knew about Everest. We all learnt about sim Hillary 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:02.440 Sherp pretending nineteen fifty three. You know, news breaking on 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:05.400 the Queen's coronation. I mean, you just couldn't have make 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:07.320 that up, could you. So we kind of knew about 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:10.160 that a little bit. But then there's these other mountains 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:15.920 like Shanga Bang or Counting Junger and Conger and just 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:22.160 the photography was amazing, but it felt untouchable. It felt 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:27.120 like it was way beyond you know, but certainly my reach. 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:30.040 It's like, well, how do you go from kicking football 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:33.360 about in the backyard to climbing big mountains? It was 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:34.840 a complete disconnect. 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:38.400 So kenon when did that transition come from, you know, 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:42.800 you reading a book and ultimately you know, inspiring to 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:46.800 be someone or inspiring to climb and looking at these 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:50.640 mountains outside of Mount Everest, these these bigger mountains but 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:53.680 also mountains in the in the UK. Did you first 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:55.800 seek to climb in the UK then try and go 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:58.640 bigger or what? What really sparked that thing to go, 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:00.000 I'm going to tackle the big mountain. 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:04.920 Yeah, there was a very logical stepping stone, and you know, interestingly, 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:08.840 the commercialism that goes with these big mountains these days, 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:13.040 those stepping stones I kind of hacked. You know, people 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:17.880 are bypassing the apprenticeship and going straight to the big mountains. Now, 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:20.400 I'm not saying that that's right or that's wrong. It's 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:25.400 just a very very different approach for me. Yeah, for me, 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:30.040 it started with Andy Foux. There was this guy at school. 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:34.720 His dad was just an outlier, you know. He was 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:38.599 a professional rally driver, Tony Foux. He drove for Team Mercedes. 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:42.199 He tried the paris that are unsupported on a motorbike 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:45.480 like three or four times. He would just disappear for 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:49.600 weeks on end. And his son was Andy Foux, who 0:08:49.880 --> 0:08:51.440 was in my class at school. I think we might 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:54.120 have been the same mass class or something. And they climbed, 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:57.240 I mean they did all sorts of like amazing stuff. 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:00.920 And Andy used to go down to the climbing wall. 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:05.120 And remember that back this would have been in the eighties, 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:08.040 the climbing walls are not the climbing walls that we 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:11.000 know today. There were very few and far between. And 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:13.360 I just said to him one day, can I come 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:15.880 with you? And He's like, yeah, of course, you can 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.200 come along. And I just loved it. And yeah, I 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:21.200 loved the movement. I loved the physicality of it. I 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:25.520 just loved the problem solving. And it very quickly snowballed 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:27.640 from there, and then one day he said listen, because 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:30.000 he could drive and I couldn't, he said, listen, We'll 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:32.959 take my mum's car. And it was a Vauxhall Astra, 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:35.760 this pretty pooky little thing, and we shot down to 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:39.040 the South coast. We were stopped by the police. We 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:42.840 slept in a public toilet overnight and we went climbing 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:44.680 outside for the first time. 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:46.119 And that you were on an adventure. 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:49.600 Yeah, We're on the sea cliff and the waves are 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:51.280 crashing in. I didn't know what I was doing. It 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:53.920 got so scared. It's just like climbing up this thing, 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:57.360 like throwing stuff over my shoulder. And I remember getting 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:01.160 to the top of my first ever proper rock climb 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:04.439 and there was a metal steak and I just remember 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:06.600 putting my arms around it and it was, you know, 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:08.880 as if it was like a newborn baby. It's like, 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:11.720 oh my god, I'm safe. I'm not going to die 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:15.160 after all. And then the adrenaline hits you and it 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:20.760 says like, oh my god, that was insane. I want more, 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:23.439 I want more, I want more, and it just snowboard 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:27.280 and it went went from the South Coast to Scotland. 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:31.359 To the Peak District and then I finished my A levels. 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:35.880 So I finished school and Andy, his brother Roger, and 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:38.600 myself and another could made Chris. We just went to 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:42.000 the European outs. We did not have a clue, we 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:44.760 didn't know what we were doing. We made all the mistakes, 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:50.040 but just had the best time ever. Yeah, and that 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:52.200 was it. That was a catalyst. That was like I 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:53.840 love this. I want to do more of this. 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:56.560 Yeah. So that was sparked. And that was, like you said, 0:10:56.559 --> 0:11:00.200 it's addictive writer. You get into it. That adrenaline kicks in, 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:02.480 you know. And what I love about what you just 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:07.160 said was you know I'm alive. You know, you know 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:09.720 because it is because ultimately, when you say problem solving, 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:12.640 you mentioned the word problem solving, your problem solving to 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:16.040 ultimately in that moment, even though you've got safety equipment on, 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:18.720 and in that moment, you're you're problem solving with your life, 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:20.720 aren't you. You know, you're problem solving to get to 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:22.839 the top, You're problem solving to get to the next, 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:26.120 the next stage, and ultimately you're problem solving to keep 0:11:26.160 --> 0:11:28.559 yourself alive. On that mop face. 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:32.320 It it's one hundred percent. I mean, my first climate 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:34.880 is a vs. You know, if American listeners is like, 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:37.800 I don't know, five eight maybe. I mean, it's not hard, 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:39.320 but you know, I just didn't know what it's doing. 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:43.040 It's steep limestone. And I got about halfway up, and 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:45.400 you put these little metal wedges into the rock to 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:47.680 protect your so if you fall off, the ropes clipped. 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:52.160 And I get about just over halfway and I'm getting 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:53.800 tired and I'm trying to put one of these little 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:55.800 metal wedges in. I've got my hand in a crack 0:11:55.840 --> 0:11:57.520 every time I tak my hand out of like barn 0:11:57.640 --> 0:11:59.920 door about to fall off, and i can't get it in, 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:02.320 and I've got to make that decision. I'm like, look 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:04.000 at the floor, look at the rope, look at match 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:06.440 ropes out, look at the top, and just think no. 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:08.800 And this is that, you know, we're talking about problem 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:12.280 solved in decision making. It's like, can I make it 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:16.360 to the top without putting any more gear in before 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:19.840 I fall off? And if I fall off? And and 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:22.599 he said afterwards it he was like, oh mate, what 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:24.760 what were you doing? I was I was like running 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:26.800 through how am I going to tell your mother that 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:29.000 you created that you fell off? And hit the floor 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:32.559 and you know, but but it's that key decision making. No, 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:36.720 you know, I laugh about it now, but you're doing 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:41.320 it almost instantaneously without even thinking about it. And that 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:46.680 apprenticeship to be able to make those decisions, I think 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:50.760 is critical. And that's where maybe some of the modern 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:55.839 generation of peak baggers, those who are just simply looking 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:58.680 at climbing these peaks on big commercial strips, they don't 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:06.040 go through that apprenticeship it. Yeah, so, and it's not right, 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:08.160 it's not wrong. It's a different aspect of the sport. 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:13.160 But that apprenticeship serves you so well in other stuff 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:15.960 that you do. Be it. You might be sat in 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:18.400 the boardroom and you're trying to make a decision or something, 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:20.720 or you're talking to somebody and you've got to make 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:25.680 a quick, snapshot decision yourself. You can't chunk it to 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:28.000 somebody else. You can't go to your boss and say 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:29.680 what do you think about You've got to make that 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:33.800 decision yourself. And for me, I learned that through climbing. Yeah, 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:36.120 and that's a that's a critical life skill. 0:13:36.600 --> 0:13:40.000 Yeah, absolutely, And I make you right there, Kenton, when 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:42.520 you say you know it's different, it is different. But 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:46.079 now going straight to the big mountains and people paying 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:51.400 all this money to ultimately relinquish, which they do personal 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.560 safety and personal responsibility. They think that when you know, 0:13:54.800 --> 0:13:57.400 the shit hits the fan and things go wrong, that yours, 0:13:57.400 --> 0:14:00.600 you've paid your sheirpers thousands and you paid the exhibition thousands, 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:02.199 that they're going to get you out of trouble. And 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:04.640 they almost, you know, wipe their hands and go, you know, 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:06.800 you get me out of this. I've paid you all 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:09.360 this money to do it. And that's not the case, 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:11.920 right because you get people that go up there and 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:16.520 it's quite dangerous to be just wanting to hit those 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:19.720 big summits. Like you said that apprenticeship sort of prepares 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:23.040 you for the mountain life. There is a mountain life, 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:25.200 and then there's these big expeditions that you go on. 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:27.760 And I believe and I've seen it on Everest, and 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:30.360 I think that a lot of people do pay the 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:34.160 big bucks and they do actually relinquish. Not all the people, 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:36.720 but I've seen it happen where they go, right, you know, 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:39.440 if something goes wrong, then I've paid all this money. 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:40.400 You need to get me out of it. 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:44.240 Yeah, I mean, I think you're absolutely right, it's not everybody, 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:48.440 but that personal responsibility. I mean, I'm a professional mountain guide. 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:50.800 You know, I take people to Everest as well and 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:54.720 look after them, and there is a you know, I'm 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:59.160 essentially being paid to keep somebody safe. You know, that 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:02.960 is the one part my job, keep somebody safe, bring 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:04.920 them back through the front door at the end of 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:07.800 the expedition. But at the same time, there is a 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:12.440 degree of responsibility to the client as well. And it 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:15.840 doesn't matter that you climb in ben Nevis, Scarfel mont 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:19.080 Blanc or Everest, there's got to be a degree of 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:23.720 responsibility or accountability. Maybe yet the guide's going to do 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:26.280 and the sherbet teams because the Sherpe teams, as you know, 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:30.960 their epic you know, they're they're just on a different level. 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:35.240 I mean, we think we're pretty fit guys, but you know, 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:37.840 put like twenty kilos on these guys and they're like 0:15:38.680 --> 0:15:43.800 mounting rockets and they're getting better and better and better 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:46.880 about client care and knowing what the likes of you 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:49.320 and I need on that mountain. You know, it'll be 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:52.000 talking about Everest is incredible, But let's go back to 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:55.360 the you know, some of the clients. Is that sense 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:59.560 of responsibility and to a certain tent etiquette as well, 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:04.600 and that etique you learn from from the apprenticeship, know 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:07.960 how you treat people in the mountains, how you conduct yourself. 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:10.120 In the right You've hit the nail on the head there. 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:13.600 Mountain etique is it teaches you to how to how 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:16.160 to be a mountaineer, how to act like a mountaineer, 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:19.000 how to you know, respect the mountains. 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:21.080 And how to be around and how to respect others 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:23.960 on the mountains. If you're on summit day on everest 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:26.560 and you see those long lines, no one wants to 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:28.880 be stuck in those lines, but there are ways and 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:31.920 means you can overtake and get round people. And you 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:34.000 might tap somebody on the shoulder and say, hey, we're 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:36.920 moving faster than you can. We come past you. And 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:38.600 on every it's more often than not you get like 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:42.440 a blank face and someone says no, and you're like, hmm, well, 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:44.000 I'm not going to stand in this line and wait 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:49.800 to get dead. I want to come past you. So yeah, 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:52.120 you tap them on the shoulder again and say hey, listen, 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:54.600 we're still moving faster than you can. We come past 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:56.760 and they're like no, and in the end you're like, 0:16:56.800 --> 0:16:59.760 you just muscle past them, which in itself is not 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:06.640 mountain etticu. Yeah, and we learn all this, yeah, climbing 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:09.480 in the Alps, climbing on mountains like a mounte Horn 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:13.280 or Mont Blanc or you know, smaller peaks, and it's 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:15.960 just ingrained in us now in the same way that 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:19.399 you serve an apprenticeship in anything generally that you do, 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:22.160 if you're work in finance or if you're working pharmaceuticals 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:24.320 or whatever it is that you're do. Like you and 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:29.440 you didn't go straight into the special forces, Yeah, you 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:32.399 done your time learning what you need to do, learning 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:36.480 how you conduct yourself before you get to those higher levels. 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:40.960 And it's exactly the same. So it's there is no 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:43.119 hack that, there's no hack to experience. 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:55.960 You had a tragic fallback in nineteen ninety six, right, 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:58.520 where were you and how did that happen? And you 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:00.680 know what was going through head at the time. 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:03.720 I mean it is a cliche, but what a great 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:06.239 life lesson. So it was a week before I've been 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:10.239 beging on this epic expedition to Pakistan to climb the 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:14.439 Ogre and I was in North Wales, it was a 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:20.000 great drizzly day. I didn't really feel the motivation to 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:22.080 get out and climb. We were just there to collect 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:26.639 some sponsorship kit and and the people that I was 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:28.520 with there were like, hey, let's go into the slate 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:31.280 quarries of North Wales. So they all dis used slate 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:34.680 mines and you know there's quite hard climbing in there. 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:37.959 So we go in there, and I reluctantly went along 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:41.560 because my ego was getting in my way of my 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:44.119 decision making. I'm like, well, okay, if these guys are going, 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:46.919 I'm going to go. If they're going to climb hard, 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:50.639 I'm going to climb hard. And mate of mine jumped 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:53.560 on a relatively hard route and okay, so I jump 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:56.520 on the one to the left, and you know, I 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:59.680 broke a hold off. I wasn't that high. Slate is 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:02.119 a very friable rock. That's where we have it on 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:05.560 our roofs. You know, it cleaves quite easily, and putting 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:08.359 on its hole, I've got no gear in common thread 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:10.120 here is and there's no gear when I go climbing 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:12.560 and I break the hold off and bang, I just 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:16.879 hit the floor and yeah, I ended up what four 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:20.480 just over four weeks in hospital, three operations, three and 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:22.959 a half months in a wheelchair. How high were you 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:23.879 fifteen feet? 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:26.879 Ye? Still, but you peeled you proper peeled off, did you? 0:19:27.080 --> 0:19:31.800 I fell off and the landing surface was just covered 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:36.320 in these little flakes of slate, So it's like hitting concrete. 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:39.119 And because it happened like that, there's no kind of 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:41.720 parachute role also to speak, there's no shock absorbing. I 0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:45.200 fell off unexpectedly, and then before I know it, bang, 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:48.880 and I got up and I made about three steps 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:53.680 and just collapsed again. I didn't walk for four months. 0:19:53.920 --> 0:19:57.080 Was there time to panic? Was there time? Or did 0:19:57.119 --> 0:19:59.080 you just before you know you've hit the deck and 0:19:59.080 --> 0:19:59.600 and you're. 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:03.800 Because where I was climbing wasn't actually that hard. I 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:05.800 tried to get a little bit of gear in. It 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:09.200 didn't fit, and you know I made we're talking about 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:12.359 snap decisions. I made decisions. I don't need it. You know, 0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:14.920 this is easy. I'll get up to that bit up there. 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:18.800 And then because I broke the hole, it was totally unexpected, 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:21.840 totally entertainous. It wasn't like I can't do this, I 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:23.800 can't do this, I can't do this. Watch me and 0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:26.760 you jump off. It was like bang, yeah, do. 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:28.440 You remember waking up in hospital? 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:31.359 Well, so I spent a couple of hours at the 0:20:31.359 --> 0:20:34.440 bottom of the climb while everybody was trying to sort 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:37.560 out and get an ambulance in, and you know, and 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:41.680 then I got carried down. It was quite heroic from 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:45.119 those around me. I get carried down and then get 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:48.200 handed over to the paramedics who then put me into 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:52.560 the into the into the ambulance and it was so funny. 0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:55.199 So my friends carried me all the way down and 0:20:55.280 --> 0:20:58.359 it was like down these little steep paths and you know, 0:20:58.440 --> 0:21:01.720 I'm howling, and they get me down and hand me 0:21:01.760 --> 0:21:04.520 over to the paramedics who immediately smashed my legs into 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:08.359 the side of the ambulance. It's like, oh Jesus, Chris, I. 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:10.119 Think they might have done that. Burbers made to go 0:21:10.240 --> 0:21:11.120 use silly son. 0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:14.600 Yeah, yeah, possibly. And then I got carded off the 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:17.160 bank at hospital and spent time there and then ended 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:20.720 up back down near home. So it was a bilateral 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:24.280 cocaine and fracture. So I so the little hillbone that 0:21:24.359 --> 0:21:26.960 comes out if you think of your skeleton foot, there's 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:29.000 a little bit that comes out of the back and 0:21:29.040 --> 0:21:33.320 that's your hilbone right at the back. And I broke 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:35.600 the I think the right one was in fourteen pieces 0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:36.919 and the left one was in seven or. 0:21:36.920 --> 0:21:39.680