Everesting end of February...

[Mick F]

PS:
What about Mauna Kea?
Much taller than Everest when you measure it from its base. Tallest mountain on Earth.

Where and at what height is the base of Everest?

[thirdcrank]

PS:
What about Mauna Kea?
Much taller than Everest when you measure it from its base. Tallest mountain on Earth.

Where and at what height is the base of Everest?

This is a good point. I cannot imagine that many, if any, people who climb Everest start from sea level. The big challenges are towards the summit and involve rarefied atmosphere and extremely harsh weather. I remember well the news breaking of the first ascent in 1953 but it's achieved more frequently now.

So, while climbing the equivalent of Everest - on a bike, going up your own bedroom stairs, whatever is a big achievement, probably made greater by the less time taken, it's somehow theoretical. And one of the biggest achievements on a bike is finding somewhere amenable to completing the feat.

Hats off to all who do.

[mxg01]

I think the 1953 expedition started at the road head in Jiri which is about 2,000m above sea level. The 1924 expedition started from Darjeeling.

If you fly in to Lukla, you start at about 2,850m above sea level.

If you do it from the Tibetan side, I think you drive to about 5,000m. I've done over 3,500m climbing this year so I'm nearly there from that side. That wasn't all one ride though.

[thirdcrank]

And I bet you didn't have a posse of Sherpas doing the heavy lifting like the late Edmund Hillary did.

[mxg01]

It's not easy you know, sitting on the rack whilst the Sherpa peddles me up hill. Quite a balancing act, especially with social distancing.

Here is someone who did it properly - https://www.rei.com/blog/climb/sea-leve ... igin-story

[thirdcrank]

... I cannot imagine that many, if any, people who climb Everest start from sea level. ...

Here is someone who did it properly - https://www.rei.com/blog/climb/sea-leve ... igin-story

A fascinating account and I'm always happy to be put right.

[Mike Sales]

Here is someone who did it properly - https://www.rei.com/blog/climb/sea-leve ... igin-story

Goran Kropp cycled from his home in Katmandu, carrying all his gear, and climbed Everest unsupported. He then rode home to Sweden.
In a very minor way I managed a thoroughgoing ascent of a couple of minor Alpine summits. I rode from home in England all the way and back. I cheated a little by posting my climbing gear to and from Chamonix.
"Everesting" is more about setting a memorable cycle-climbing challenge than ascending to 8000 m.
If somebody takes it into their head to outdo it by riding up the height of Mauna Kea from its submarine base, could they be criticised for not setting out in a diving suit?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6ran_Kropp

I appreciate that the Wikipedia account varies from mine. I got my information initially from Jim Curran's book The Middle Aged Mountaineer, which is about his ride from Unst to the Lizard, with some rock climbing on the way.

[Mick F]

Phenomenal.
Sea level to the peak of Everest.
Doffing my cap.

Now, what about Mauna Kea?
33,500ft in total with 20,000ft of it underwater.

[thirdcrank]

Going back to a geography lesson in the late 1950s, I remember some clever clogs (not me) being shot down when Bob Stokes, our affable geography teacher pointed out that a mountain was defined as "rising over 1000 feet above sea level" so anything under the sea was excluded. Beyond that, if you came off the summit of Everest and carried on beyond sea level down to the ocean floor, that would add to its theoretical height.

[Mick F]

Yes, true TC.

However, in Mauna Kea's defence, it's a "stand alone" mountain, whereas Everest is the highest peak in a whole vast range.

[thirdcrank]

We- or rather somebody - could try extreme Everesting ie climbing underwater mountains on a bike in a diving suit. Before long, somebody would be trying to do it without oxygen.

[Mike Sales]

However, in Mauna Kea's defence, it's a "stand alone" mountain, whereas Everest is the highest peak in a whole vast range.

Isn't Mauna Kea and Hawaii one of a chain of islands, produced by the movement of a plate past a weakness in the crust?
My atlas shows the Hawaiian Ridge, which adjoins the Mid Pacific Range.
I suppose it is not made by the same sort of plate collision as the Himalaya, and is a different type of mountain.
Another measure of height is distance from the planet's centre. By this criterium the highest is Denali, by reason of the shape of the globe.

[Mick F]

Excellent stuff guys.
Pedanticness personified.

Any road up, my point still stands (IMHO) ......... that to climb Everest isn't climbing from zero to 29,000ft.
Half that maybe.

[geocycle]

What about adding a degree of difficulty to represent altitude sickness. Everesting Kirkstone pass with a pint each time at the pub on the top might work?

[Mick F]

Highest pub in UK?
Tan Hill Inn I think.

Ride up there, drink a pint, back down, back up there, another pint etc etc etc