Everest2 Programme: Schools & Challenges

To help students to better understand Everest’s rich history, the traditions of its people, and the dynamic forces that have shaped it – I have developed a set of ‘Challenges’ which I will undertake as fieldwork on behalf of the students of Ridgetown District High School (Canada), Sevenoaks School (UK) and Future Hope School (India) over the course of my journey to the summit of Mount Everest.

In the Halls of Legends at the RGS

Last night I had the honor of presenting at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) in London as part of their “Geographical Journeys: Younger Members’ Micro Lectures” series. I was part of a programme where seven members of the Society gave a ten minute informal ‘micro lecture’ about a recent journey with a geographical theme. As the self proclaimed, “Geekiest Geographer in the Whole Entire World” this was a dream come true..! 

Altitude Training - at Sea Level

I placed a clear plastic surgical mask against my face and tried to relax. The mask was linked via an omnious thin tube to a greyish white box about two-foot square called a "hypoxicator", which micro-filters the air to reduce oxygen and remove impurities. My immediate reaction was a panic wondering if had been a good idea to attempt my first Intermittent Hypoxic Training (IHT) session of the year without supervision.

Training for Everest

It’s slightly ironic that I’m writing about training for Everest as I’m doing this to procrastinate for today’s training session… It should consist of a 10km run which I’ll *likely* end up doing tonight after cleaning my room, doing my nails, washing my hair, scrubbing the floor, doing my family tree, writing emails to long lost family, twice removed… ‘Training for Everest’ is a pretty ‘hot topic’ and one that certainly deserves a proper entry in this blog as it has literally taken over about 90% of my evenings and weekends over the past 1.5 years..! * Shudder * - no wonder the highlight of my social life involves buying bags of frozen-peas from my local grocer to nurse sore joints … and, these days, having too much to drink involves being wired on orange-flavored Maximuscle viper gels rather than flaming sambukas….