Sublime

an opportunity to prove to the world that everything, anything, was possible if an individual dedicated their heart and mind to a plan.

I then took on one of the hardest treks in Nepal on foot with my Sherpa team, at speed, running all the way to Kathmandu, only stopping to drink beer and whisky, until we’d completed a six-day journey in eighteen hours.

Turning my thinking around, I found fuel: I saw myself a year down the line, fuming at my inability to pull through at the end. I thought of the people that had put their faith in me, the friends I had made along the way – and most of all I considered Suchi and the family. They needed me to get back. Finally, I envisioned the finishing line, my asc

because of our fading energy levels, to stop and rest would have caused us to fail.

but Kanchenjunga was renowned for being brutally tough to climb; few people had the resilience, luck, or strength to reach its peak because the ascent to the summit from Camp 4 – which was pitched 7,750 metres above sea level – was a soul-breaking grind.

In turn, that one half-hearted effort might have led to countless other half-hearted efforts on the climb.

We were to move fast, pushing immediately to the top in one hit, rather than resting for a day at Camps 1, 2, 3 and 4, like normal expeditions usually did.

The first was applicable to shin- to knee-deep snow: in those conditions a climber had to make footfalls by lifting their knee to their chest with every step, then planting their foot firmly.

If I could show kids and adults alike what was humanly achievable, then my far-fetched ambitions might inspire others to think big; to push themselves in ways that were previously considered unimaginable.