I want to climb mount everest ?

Question

i'm 15 years old, in pretty good shape, and female. what i want to know is how can i make this dream come true. what do i need to do and pay in order to get on an everest team or whatever?

Answer 1

First, take a glacier travel / climbing course. Second, get a lot of experience climbing snow covered peaks (NW peaks like Shasta, Hood, then Rainier). Next, get experience on a multi-day climb like Denali in Alaska.

You don't even need to worry about Everest until you can do smaller peaks and decide that you like it and want to continue. Once you have all of that experience, you will need a lot of training, determination and money - and then you can think about climbing Everest.

Good Luck

Answer 2

okay well first i want you to consider the following:

everest is 29,032 feet above sea level. at that altitude you will need to be in amazingly good shape, and you will need a lot (and i mean more than an indoor rock gym) of experience. and thats only the first part. i am 17, and when i was 15 i climbed mount hood which is around 11,000 feet as my first mountain. it was one of the hardest things i have ever done, considering i wasn't in very good shape. (i wasn't over weight, just not muscular or in good physical condition) anywho, take into consideration that everest is almost TRIPLE that altitude. you are going to have to work your @ss off to get in good enough shape to even consider everest.

as for finding a team, thats a hard thing to do. climbing everest can cost you up to $50,000. plus technically you have to be asked to be on a team up everest, or you have to show plenty of experience in climbing to qualify. you should climb something above 18,000 feet (everest BASE CAMP is at 17,000 feet...) for experience. keep in mind the climbing world is very small. its not the hardest thing in the world to get asked to be on a team for everest, but believe me... they won't ask you if you don't have a lot of experience. they don't want someone on that mountain who doesn't know what they are doing. if i were you, i would consider a camp like NOLS (national outdoor leadership school) where they teach you stuff that will be important once you start climbing. they have summer camp stuff that you should look into.

next, remember that once you are on everest, there's no turning around. if you're on a mountain like Hood for example, (11,000 ft) and you are too tired to keep going, tired of climbing for 8 hours a day, whatever it may be, NO ONE is coming to get you. its too dangerous for them. so consider what would happen if you were on everest and you wanted off. too bad. so many people think that they can pay their way up everest (i am not at all referring to you, just stating some facts...) and they end up either hurting/killing themselves or their team mates. i would read Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer if i were you.

i encourage you to keep your dreams for everest alive. its an accomplishment that not many people achieve, and its something to work for. just don't be in any rush to get to the top (and back down...). the mountain isn't going anywhere, and you can only get better with experience. its better that you get to everest and know exactly what you are doing and be able to summit (or get close) than get there and completely freak out because its nearly impossible to breathe at base camp. its a VERY hard thing to do, and i encourage you to climb. you shouldn't climb just to summit the big mountains, you should climb because you love it, just like anything else. if you don't have an honest to god love for climbing, you will know very, very soon after starting up a mountain. its not easy for anyone, but the challenge is half the fun. good luck, and believe me... don't try for everest just yet. give it sometime and everything will work out for the better.

again, good luck with climbing!

Answer 3

well sarah gives a very good answer, so i'll attempt to add a couple of things, hah despite not actually knowing anything specific about the climb of everest, but i'm a reasonably experienced alpinist so might be able to help.

i'd say the main thing you need is an absolute heap of experience with mountains. this means going to a lot of ranges, i don't know where you live but go to the alps, the caucauses, the dolomites, the rockies, whereever is a good alpinism centre nearest to you. go here either with people you know that are good alpinists, or book yourself on a beginner's course. i don't know if you have any winter/alpine experience already, but they'll teach you things like ice axe technique, crevasse rescue, navigation, reading conditions etc. Once you've got some basic knowledge you should be able to tackle an easy and accessible peak (something like Aiguille du Tour in Chamonix, which is an F+ (facile+, i.e. easy+), then move slowly through the grades, up to PD, AD, D (pas difficile, assez difficile, difficile). I don't know what alpine grade Everest is, must be at least a D though, if not a TD or ED (tres difficile or extrement difficile).

You would need to be extremely competent and confident with all aspects of snow and ice work, climbing vertical ice or sustained steep ice/snow, protection, route-reading etc.

I'm reckon you might be able to pay a lot for mountain guides or sherpas to take you up to the mountain, i don't know, but they probably cost a lot, and you'd still need to be a good climber or you'd endanger everyone.

As for what you'd have to pay, it is quite a lot. The permit alone is tens of thousands (though the chinese north face i've heard is the cheapest, though hardest!). The gear will cost a lot too, for example, the high altitude boots that scarpa and la sportiva (both excellent boot manufacturers) come in at £500-£600 alone. then you'll need down jackets at maybe £300, down sleeping bag at maybe £500, outer shells at £200-£300, gloves at £100, trousers for maybe £200, several axes at £100 each.. then your team at least will need dozens of ice screws, at £40 each, a few ropes at £200 each.. plus oxygen, food, fuel, burners, rucksacks, etc.

as for dealing with altitude, i've read in one place that it is often the younger, fitter team members that have more problems with altitude, so that suggests that there's nothing you can do to counter it. however, you would need to be extremely fit and have a very high degree of willpower required to push yourself on and get up when it's reeally cold and dark outside your bivouac.

so it's an immense undertaking, but imagine the feeling once you've done it. it's too much of a challenge for me to contemplate i'm afraid, but good luck!