Running up Everest

Actually,
Running up AND down Everest


On May 29th 1988, over the Spring Bank Holiday Weekend, Scarthin Books helped celebrate the thirty-fifth anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest , which may be taken to be 8,848 m (29,028 feet) high. With the co-operation of The Heights of Abraham and the sponsorship of Scarthin Books, a team of four by no means elite athletes set out to commemorate the first ascent by running up and down the full height in Matlock Bath. Masson Hill, which rises a full 240 metres steeply from the Derwent Valley, was an excellent location for this endeavour. An extreme runner could no doubt achieve this feat double-footed in under 24 hours, in our case we decided that a relay team of four would still find this a sufficient work-out! The team was made up of Oread Club member Rob Tresidder, Scarthin Books proprietor Dave Mitchell, both then in their forties, and Paul Hopkinson, Peak Park footpaths officer, and a friend, both in their twenties. Appropriately, the average age of the team was exactly 35 years.

The precise altitude of the summit on Masson Hill and the base-camp outside Hopkinson’s Hotel on Matlock Bath Parade were surveyed by Fred Chapman and Mike Coveney, Civil Engineering friends, and independent verification of the attempt arranged. Each runner ran nine legs, Rob ( who, with a little help from many friends including myself, completed the Bob Graham Round later that year) had most left to run the 37th leg, and the whole team finally ran up West Bank to the point needed to complete the exact Everest altitude from sea-level. (Interestingly, the Bob Graham Round is said to involve 28,500 feet of ascent and descent in the 24 hours allowed.) Legs generally took about 18 minutes – maybe 12 up and 6 down – slowing to 20 minutes or more towards the end. Rob threw in a 17 minute leg which Dave just managed to pip at a few seconds under the minute. Obviously, elite athletes in their prime would easily lower these times, and the total overall time of 11 hours, 2 minutes and 7 seconds.

We submitted this World Record, we presumed, to the Guiness Book of Records, but they turned it down as too route-dependent. Atually, selecting a good route was a large part of the fun. I trained for it myself by running up and down 900 metre Lake District heights several times, up to 11,000 feet (to mix units) in the day. Fewer, longer legs would perhaps be more satisfying. The gradient of the chosen route is obviously a factor; for ascent it should probably be as steep as remains technically easy, with the fastest descent perhaps by a longer, easily runnable route. At Matlock Bath, the up and down routes were the same. At the time, I heard of proposals to emulate our feat at the Wrekin in Shropshire and, even, up and down the stairs of a high building. The team could certainly be reduced to three members, indeed to two, which I would certainly have been able to cope with in youth or middle age. Now, I fear that the four man version would be beyond my running (if not walking) capacity. A Bob Graham could do the whole thing, and I have dreamed of that too! Life as a bookseller and serial father is too full. Why run up AND down, you might ask? Well, visual or radio/phone communication might make an “up only” event possible, with sufficient runners, but the satisfaction of passing the baton diectly, the exchange of commendation and encouragement, the team “bonding” would be lost.

I missed the chance of doing it again at the 50th anniversary in 2003 – I was injured and, of course, “very pushed”. Now, after yet another renaissance in 2005 and 2006 I’m injured again. Maybe it’s “the end” this time. BUT, I have a new team in mind, so perhaps 2008 will see a fresh, “old fogeys’” attempt in the 50 and 60+ category??? Watch this site. No. better still, beat our record!!! (maybe you already have).

Dave Mitchell 22nd. November 2007