Up Where I Belong

By Alli Sinclair

I took this photo in 1994 at Base Camp on Mera Peak in Nepal. It was my first-ever climbing expedition and this trip awakened a passion for mountain climbing and travel that has never left me (and I doubt it ever will).

At a height of 6,476 metres (21,247 feet), Mera Peak isn’t for those wanting a Sunday stroll. I took this photo the day before we arrived at the summit and my life changed forever. Standing on the top of Mera Peak, overlooking the 8,000 metre peaks of Mount Everest, Lhotse, Cho Oyu, Makalu, and Kanchenjunga, I discovered my ability to push myself beyond the physical pain and mental torment of climbing at high altitude. This awareness changed my whole philosophy on life, and at the age of 24, I realised the only limits are the ones we place on ourselves and once we smash those down, we can achieve almost anything we set our heart and mind to. Eighteen years later, and I still believe this is so.

How about you? Have you ever had a life-changing moment while traveling?

Top Of The World

Alli on the summit of Mera Peak

By Alli Sinclair

In my late teens and early twenties, my vacations involved beaches, palm trees, and many hours reading books or playing water sports. At the ripe old age of twenty-four I decided to fulfill a dream I’d had since I was twelve—to travel through India. As I thumbed through guidebooks, Nepal, India’s neighbor, wouldn’t quit calling my name. Nepal is a quick flight from India, so I looked into adding a short trek in Nepal to my backpacking trip in India. This innocent thought changed everything. My ten-day Nepal trek morphed into a six-week mountaineering trip in the Himalayas and got me hooked on the one sport I’ve never lost passion for.

I’ll be honest and say I bit off more than I could chew. Up until that trip the longest I’d slept in a tent had been four days—this mountaineering expedition meant six weeks of camping, including at least two weeks sleeping on snow. In my head, I had the confidence needed to undertake such a journey but when I told family and friends about my plans there were more than a couple of raised eyebrows and exclamations of “Are you sure you want to do this? Didn’t you want to lie on the beach at Goa?”

After 18 months of rigorous training in Australia (where our highest mountain is one third the height of my Nepalese goal) I travelled to Nepal, determined to prove my silent critics wrong. I’d only been in Kathmandu two days when I sprained my ankle in a pothole and it looked like the trip had finished before it began. A few tears, icepacks and lots of drugs later, I made the eight hour trip to Jiri, our starting point for the trek.  The first few days were a blur of painkiller-induced delirium, but it go me through the discomfort and I hobbled up and down valleys with my awesome expedition team.

Mera Peak photo taken from two valleys away

For weeks we acclimatized to our new home—the Himalayas—and met amazing locals along the way. We travelled far off the beaten track, away from the usual trekking routes, and met school kids in remote villages who hadn’t seen foreigners before. Farmers with yaks in tow smiled as we passed by, women washing clothes in the freezing glacial rivers waved, and my notion of what makes a wonderful vacation changed forever.

We endured heat, cold, tiredness, sunburn, storms, boredom, blisters, and homesickness—yet our band of intrepid climbers stuck it out. Many, many times I questioned why I wasn’t laying in a beach sipping piña coladas and chatting up the pool boy, but I remembered why I undertook such a journey—to prove to myself I could take the easy with the hard and not ever give up.

When summit day finally arrived, we left High Camp at 2 am. Even though we were swaddled in the super-dooper technologically enhanced climbing gear, our fingers and toes remained numb. We traipsed through the dark, a line of head torches bobbed up the side of Mera Peak, the mountain we desperately wanted to summit. At a height of 6,476 meters (21, 247 feet), it’s not a skip through a meadow of daisies. Climbing at this altitude is serious business and one false move could mean your death, or that of your team members.

The sun rose and we traipsed onwards and upwards. The summit was in sight, yet it was still hours away. All I wanted to do was sit down on the freezing snow and sleep, but my ego and pride wouldn’t let me. The thin air at altitude meant breathing was a struggle, and near the summit we were taking one step to every two breaths.

High Camp on Mera Peak

After eight hours we finally made it to the summit of Mera Peak and I will never forget that moment. The weather cooperated and the cloud had lifted for us to view the 8,000 metre peaks around us: Sagarmatha (Mount Everest), Lhotse, Cho Oyu, Makalu, and Kanchenjunga. Bright blue sky formed the backdrop and in that moment, standing on the summit of my dreams, I was in awe of the beauty of the world before me.

The sun danced across my face, warming my skin and the air I inhaled was the freshest I’d ever experienced. Silence wrapped around us. This, I discovered, was my ideal vacation from the craziness of the world.

After summitting, it took a couple of weeks to return to Kathmandu. The mayhem of the traffic, the pollution, and the busyness of life took over and I clung to that moment on the summit. Even now, nearly twenty years later, I can close my eyes and remember the feeling of pure bliss standing, literally, on top of the world.

Less than a year after Nepal I traveled to South America to climb Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in the Americas. That’s a whole other post, though.

Sure, I love my beach vacations but for me, the most memorable vacations are the ones where I have climbed peaks around the world. I loved it so much I ditched my job as a graphic artist to work in the adventure travel industry and take my own clients on expeditions.

Humans as tiny dots near the summit of Mera Peak

The innocent trip to Nepal started me on a lifelong journey of appreciation and respect for mountain climbing and Mother Nature. As many expeditions leaders have told me, “the mountain will only be climbed if it wishes.” After witnessing a handful of accidents and getting involved in rescues on the mountains, I know this saying to be true.

Now I’m older, nowhere near as fit, and a mother of two young kids, nicking off to climb a mountain for a couple of months is a big ask. But I have my memories and stories, and the kids love to hear about my adventures and look at my photos. Perhaps I’ll inspire them to follow their dreams and find their own adventures. I certainly hope so.

It’s A Long Way To The Top – Sir Edmund Hillary

Sir Edmund Hillary 2004 - Photo by Mariusz Kubik

I’ve always been interested in firsts when it comes to history – the first person to discover an uninhabited land, first person to cross the Antarctic, the list could go on. Milestones are reached everyday; sometimes the achievements are our own, while others go on to obtain milestones that will go down in the annals of history. For me, Edmund Hillary, mountain climber and philanthropist extraordinaire, is someone who never stopped achieving milestones – both personal and professional.

My bookshelves bow from the weight of mountaineering and adventure books I’ve collected over the years, and I’m very proud of my extensive Edmund Hillary collection. As a kid, I read about adventures in far off lands where humans battled extreme elements and their own psyche in order to obtain their dreams. Tenacity and undying passion are what pushed these amazing adventurers along, and Edmund Hillary was no different.

Born in New Zealand in 1919, Edmund Hillary finished primary school two years early and moved on to high school. He didn’t fit in very well, so turned to books and at the age of 16, undertook a school trip to Mount Ruapehu. His passion for climbing was awakened and a few years later, he climbed another mountain in New Zealand, Mount Ollivier, with his brother, Rex. Their desire to climb every winter meant they needed a well-paying summer job, so they entered the bee keeping business.

Over the next few years, Hillary undertook other climbs in New Zealand and in 1951, managed to gain a place on an expedition to Everest, led by Eric Shipton, a renowned Himalayan climber. After a failed attempt in 1952 to reach the summit of Cho Oyu, a mountain that borders Nepal and Tibet, Hillary joined the 1953 Everest Expedition led once again by Shipton.

At this time, the Tibetan route up Everest had been closed by the Chinese, and Nepal only allowed one group of climbers per year up the mountain from their side. The expedition involved 4,000 people, including 362 porters, 20 Sherpa guides and 10,000 pounds of equipment.

In March, the climbers set up base camp and slowly worked their way up the mountain, setting up camps intermittently. The expedition rock stars, Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans, were slated for the first attempt at the summit but turned back when Evans’s oxygen system failed. They were only 300 vertical feet (91 metres) from the summit. Hillary was paired up with a successful Nepalese climber, Tenzing Norgay, and the men quickly formed a strong team.

Tenzing and Norgay were next in line for the summit bid and on 28 May they headed up the mountain. When Hillary woke the next day he found his boots had frozen solid, and he spent two hours warming them before they started their ascent. With climbing, every minute counts, and late starts can make all the difference between success and failure and, literally, life or death.

Mount Everest - Photo by Pavel Novak

Just below the summit, the pair came across a rock face that is now known as the “Hillary Step”. The men successfully scaled the difficult section and a short time after, they made history. Both Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the highest point on earth – 29,028 feet (8,848 metres).

After years of planning and training, the men spent only 15 minutes on the summit. They took the obligatory photos, but as Tenzing had never used a camera before, the photo didn’t turn out. Hillary left a cross he’d been gifted and Tenzing left chocolates on the summit in respect for his gods. Hillary took additional photos to prove they’d made it to the top and just achieved one of the most amazing milestones in history.

Fame followed and not long after that, controversy. Many people, especially the media, said Tenzing made it to the top first, but Hillary always maintained they stepped on the summit together. Although Tenzing, in his biography, The Dream Comes True, said Hillary had taken the first step.

Both men participated in other expeditions and Hillary documented many of them in his books, including an adventure along the Ganges river, From Ocean To Sky. After hitting such a monumental achievement in Nepal, Hillary devoted much of his time to helping the Nepalese through the Himalayan Trust – an organization devoted to improving the lives of people living in the Himalayas. The trust has built a hospital in Kunde, undertaken a forestry program in various parts of Nepal, and also built a school in Khumjung. Hillary was also an Honorary President of the American Himalayan Foundations, as well as Mountain Wilderness, a company dedicated to protecting mountains around the world.

With all the wonderful milestones Hillary has reached, his private life has not been devoid of tragedy. In 1975, Hillary’s wife, Louise, and his daughter, Belinda, were en route to meet Hillary and help build a hospital. But the plane carrying his wife and daughter crashed near Kathmandu shortly after take-off. Hillary remarried many years later.

Hillary’s son, Peter, followed in his father’s footsteps and became a climber, summiting Everest on the 50^th anniversary celebration. And to top things off, so to speak, Norgay’s son, Jamling Tenzing Norgay, was also part of the expedition. In 1990, Peter and Edmund Hillary became the first father and son duo to ascend Mount Everest successfully.

Edmund Hillary passed away in 2008, and the outpouring of love and respect for the man was felt throughout the world. A true adventurer, Hillary touched the lives of many. He used his milestones and engaging public persona to raise funds for communities that desperately needed assistance.

The legacy this adventurer has left behind is legendary. His charity work still lives on, increasing awareness of the plight of poor communities in the countries he travelled to, as well as inspiring climbers of the past, present, and future. Edmund Hillary showed the world that a young, gangly boy with a big dream can achieve monumental milestones. All it takes is determination and passion.

Statue of Edmund Hillary overlooking Mount Cook, NZ. Photo by Johnathon Keelty

What if? The Story Of Joe Simpson And Simon Yates

West Face of Siula Grande -- Photo by J. Bryndell

A lot of great ideas for memorable stories start with “what if?” What if a young farm boy is destined to save the galaxy and his job is to kill his enemy, who happens to be his father? What if a robot is sent from the future to kill the mother of a future resistance leader? What if a couple of climbing buddies have an accident and one of them has to make the decision – cut the rope and save himself or stay with his friend and they both perish? They’re all interesting premises for stories, right? But what if I tell you the latter happened in real life? What would you do if you had to make this choice? 
 
Touching the Void is Joe Simpson’s account of the ordeal he and Simon Yates endured in 1985. Determined to be the first team ever to summit the west face of Siula Grande, a mountain in Peru, Simpson and Yates set out on an adventure that ultimately changed their lives. After summiting successfully, they descended via the north ridge, and that’s when the trouble began. Simpson slipped down an ice cliff and broke his tibia and knee joint. As their expedition had taken longer than expected due to bad weather in the days prior, they were dangerously close to running out of fuel for their stove, which meant they couldn’t melt ice to water, a necessity for keeping hydrated at high altitude.

 

Dark skies announced another bout of stormy weather and daylight started to fade, along with their hopes of surviving another night on the mountain. They needed to descend 3,000 feet to a glacier below, but Simpson’s injuries made it a very difficult, and dangerous, task. The quickest way was for Yates to belay Simpson down, so they decided to tie two 150 feet ropes together. When the knot on the rope refused to feed through the belay plate, their problems increased ten-fold. Darkness surrounded the men, and the increasing winds whipped up ice particles, obscuring their vision. Yates found a way to continue lowering Simpson, but it took a while before they realised Simpson was dangling over a massive cliff face. Simpson tried to work his way back up the rope but because of badly frost-bitten hands, he couldn’t tie the knots needed to successfully ascend. During his attempts, Simpson accidentally dropped one of the cords needed to get back up the rope.

With stormy conditions, his climbing partner hanging over a cliff, and equipment not working properly, Yates had a myriad of obstacles to overcome. The pair remained in the same position for some time, but snow gathered around Yates’s belay, and it became obvious his strength and equipment were about to give out. Yates had to make a decision – cut the rope and save himself, or stay tied to Simpson and both of them be pulled to their deaths.

Yates cut the rope.

Simpson plummeted in the dark and landed in a deep crevasse. Yates dug a snow cave, survived the stormy night, and descended the mountain the following morning. He found the crevasse Simpson had fallen into, called out numerous times for his friend, but didn’t receive a reply. Assuming Simpson had died, Yates continued on to base camp.

Unbeknownst to Yates, Simpson had very much survived. He’d landed on a small ledge 150 feet down in the crevasse but had lost consciousness, which is why he hadn’t heard Yates. After he’d come to, he realised Yates would have presumed him dead and moved on. The only way for him to make it out alive was to abseil to a thin ice roof further down the crevasse and traverse along the glacier. The five mile journey took three days and without food and virtually no water, Simpson crawled and hopped to base camp. He reached camp a few hours before Yates had intended to leave for civilisation.

In Touching The Void, Simpson takes the reader a traumatic journey that blows the mind of most people, including climbers. His captivating writing helps us understand his emotional and physical challenges and why he doesn’t blame Simon Yates for cutting the rope. Simpson has said in many interviews that had he been in Yates’s position, he would have done exactly the same.

During many of my own climbing expeditions, someone has inevitably brought up the, “What if you had to cut the rope?” question. The debate would rage on for hours with some fellow climbers saying they had no qualms about slicing the rope if they had to. Hearing this the night before I was due to rope up and climb a mountain with them left me a little nervous, to say the least.


When I first stepped into the world of mountaineering, I learnt very quickly that this sport is undertaken by nature lovers, risk-takers, and people with wills of steel. Spending weeks, and sometimes months, in the wilderness with a small band of people creates a camaraderie I’ve not experienced in any other situation. The friendships that are made are deep, in the moment, and will continue on long after the climbing gear is packed away. With the elements working against us a lot of the time, there’s nothing to do but rely on a fellow climber and at times, put your life in their hands. Even now, after numerous expeditions, I find it extremely difficult to imagine what Joe Simpson and Simon Yates went through.

Since Touching The Void, Joe Simpson has written the sequel, This Game of Ghost. In Ghosts, Simpson bares his soul and tries to analyse what pushes himself, and others, to the limits, and why he takes the risks he does. Simpson has a tendency to get into all sorts of strife while climbing, and he’s had many more close calls since his fateful trip in Peru, but none of this has slowed him down and lucky for us, he documents his adventures beautifully in fascinating books. His other titles include The Beckoning of Silence, Dark Shadows Falling, and Storms of Silence. They all follow Simpson’s amazing life and delve into his deepest thoughts and emotions. Reading about Simpson’s adventures makes one wonder at how resilient the human spirit is.

You don’t need to be a mountaineer or to have camped in a tent to be enchanted by Joe Simpson and his stories. I can guarantee once you’ve read Touching The Void, you’ll be hunting down more of his books. Who knows, you may be inspired to undertake your own adventure. His books are addictive, and the ease with which he weaves a story will leave you emotionally exhausted and playing your own game of what if? 

I have to ask. If you had to make a choice between saving your friend and living, or both of you perishing, what would you do?