Everest2: Ridgetown District High School, Canada - Attempt 2.0

Ridgetown District High School

My mother always says, “If you’re going to do something, do it well”. A rather broad statement but one that drove me to book my 2nd flight from London, England to Canada in the span of 13 days. I was about to embark on my 2nd attempt at presenting the Everest2 programme at Ridgetown District High School. The first valiant attempt was thwarted by a snow storm that cancelled school and therefore impacted my presentation..! Instead of presenting, I ended up sitting in Pinnells Pastries in Ridgetown comfort-eating Ben’s world famous honey-dipped donuts while the snow piled up outside. Not content with accepting defeat, I decided to make another attempt (this seems to be a recurring theme of stubbornness?). Before booking my 2nd attempt, I did have a look at the forecast and whilst it wasn’t tropical, there was no snow in the forecast and the temperature was a balmy -5 degrees. Spring has arrived in Canada…

I often wonder whether I missed my calling and my lifelong dream is to become a geography teacher. It was a slightly surreal experience to be standing in front of about 300 students (RDHS,  Ridgeview Moravian Elementary School) delivering a presentation about Mount Everest, covering the history of the mountain, the acclimatization process, highlights of our 2010 expedition, and an overview of the Everest2 programme. If you would have asked me 15 years ago whether I ever thought I’d be back at RDHS, the highschool that I attended in my teens, presenting about a forthcoming expedition to Mount Everest I would likely have laughed and responded with a ‘yeah right!!’

Talking about Everest gear in the RDHS library

This is one of the reasons why I was adamant about going back in spite of the costs incurred and my rapidly increasing carbon footprint. I wanted to present to the students at Ridgetown District High School – students, who, like me, come from a small community and the prospect of going out to Explore The World can sometimes seem like a daunting aspiration. In spite of the *generation gap* (I can’t believe that I said that!!) I completely understood their questions, concerns and hesitations about undertaking decisions and challenges that delve into the Unknown. Sometimes taking the first step is the most difficult. I hope that through my presentation at least one or two students have started to consider the possibilities…

My initial presentation in the school gym was 75 minutes – many thanks to teacher Mr. Elliot Blackshaw and my two fantastic helpers for support in organizing the logistics for presentation and getting the students organised. The second presentation, delivered in the library, was more ‘hands on’ and interactive, giving students the opportunity to ask questions, try on some equipment, and for me to provide the students with an overview of the fieldwork and ‘Challenges’ that I would be undertaking on their behalf while on the mountain.

The students had some fantastic questions about the positive reactions from the body to sleeping in an altitude tent during the pre-acclimatisation process, how to get sponsorship for expeditions, questions about the psychology of climbing (fear, motivation, determination) and also about the Sherpa culture and roles of Sherpas vs client climbers during an expedition. A comment which drew a gasp from the audience was the fact that on a typical summit day a climber can burn up to 20,000 calories (apparently this equates to about 40 Big Macs or 60 Krispy Kreme donuts!!!). Similarly astonishing was the fact that Everest is equivalent to the height of 16.5 CN towers….

Mr. Blackshaw has asked his Social Science class to send through some questions for the ‘Namaste! Welcome to Kathmandu’ challenge which I look forward to receiving before my arrival in Kathmandu on Sunday. Hopefully I’ll have enough time to complete as much of the fieldwork as I can and send back the appropriate results..!

Feedback from the students included:

 “Very exciting, I liked the equipment. Heather put a lot of information into the presentation and the follow up activity in the library complemented the first talk”  (Brady, Gr. 11 RDHS)

“I really like the pick axe thing and the crampons were pretty sweet” (Logan, Gr. 11 RDHS)

“Stellar” (Cassey, Gr. 11 RDHS)

“Kind of cool how Heather plans these big adventures… no car, no house, just an inspiration which she jumps on and makes it this huge journey” (Sabrina, Gr.11 RDHS)

“Very inspirational. It was important for the students of this school to see what happens when a person is highly motivated and follows their dreams”. (Mr. Blackshaw, Teacher, RDHS)