Social Round Up: 12 Inspiring Stories of Everesting & Climbing Challenges Over Memorial Day Long Weekend
With racing still a long way off, there have been fewer athletic achievements for us to highlight on the site. This past weekend, which is Memorial Day long weekend in the United States, Rebecca Rusch rallied to get hundreds of riders to attempt a gruelling physical climbing challenge with her #GiddyUpForGood Everest Challenge. While not all of the climbing challenges below are strict Everesting challenges with repeats of the same hill, the vertical elevation numbers from all are beyond impressive.
Payson McElveen 30,188 ft over 137.13 miles in 14.5 hours off-road
Tom Bradshaw 9639m over 190km in 24.5 hours off-road on North Vancouver's Mount Fromme
Katie Hall - 29,029 ft in 10:01 - New World Record!
Micayla Gatto - 15,760 ft. / 4,804m over 155kms
Rebecca Rusch - 29,029ft
Matt Meredith - 29386 ft. in 29 hours and 14 min on foot (2 weeks after cycling Everest)
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Katerina Nash - 10,500 ft
Andreane Lanthier Nadeau, Emily Slaco & Zanny Venner - 4442m off road
Katie Holden - 13,233+ 3765 ft
Lael Wilcox - 225 miles and 29,541’ of climbing
Karsten Mad - 29,029ft over 247km in 11 hours 30mins
Kate Courtney - 15,000 ft in 5 hours
Anka Martin - 5223m over 82.7km in 10 hours
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Personally I have to admit that my ride planning, feelings of accomplishment as well as sense of imagining what I’m capable of have certainly been affected by the ride data era.
That said, the biggest of big days are a great experience even if (and perhaps especially so) your device craps out or -you rarified puritan saint- you never had one with you in the first place.
– Rides can be of any length, on any hill, mountain, driveway or bridge. Essentially anything that has a vertical gain can be used to complete an Everesting.
– Rides must only focus on one hill or mountain per ride (e.g. you can’t base yourself in one location and ride multiple hills). You cannot ride different routes on the same mountain. If there are 4 routes, that means there are 4 possible ‘everestings’ (think of it like the North and South face of Everest).
– Rides cannot be loops. The descent must be via the same road unless you are prevented from doing so (e.g. one-way street or one-way trail). This is to prevent kinetic gain sometimes afforded by a loop, or an ‘easier’ descent.
– Rides must be full ascents each time (Strava segments or the accepted ‘traditional’ climbing route will generally be the best guide for this. You can’t commit to a combination of full and half laps). Acceptable is a shorter segment of a climb if it is recognised in its own right. If in doubt, ask.
– The exception to full repeats of the same section/segment of hill is once you hit 8,848m you can abandon that repeat (although we highly recommend bagging ‘just a few’ extra metres.. just in case!)
– Each repeat must be ridden up and down (i.e. you can’t get driven down each time). You also need to keep your device recording the whole time.
You are only allowed to use a trail or road once in either direction during the challenge.
You can request an exception to have it counted. The main thing is that you don't get free elevation gain. Also, if you don't care about the "official" listing, then you can do anything you want. I did 12,000 on Saturday for my pure enjoyment only, I didn't care if it counted to anything.
Anyone who has climbed 8.848 m / 29,029 ft using their own power in one ride has everested... FFS...