Man with no climbing experience hikes to Mount Everest and reveals why anyone can do it
Topics: Health, Travel, World News, Fitness
Poppy Bilderbeck
Featured Image Credit: X/@NeelBParekh
Topics: Health, Travel, World News, Fitness
A Mount Everest climber with 'no prior hiking experience' has argued why he believes 'anyone with average fitness' can take on the quest.
It's like saying anyone can run a marathon, but well, on a much higher and more altitude sickness-y scale. Desk jockey business owner Neel Parekh has taken to social media following his nine-day hike to Mount Everest to reveal why he believes 'anyone' can achieve the mission.
In a post to his X account on 28 May, Parekh shared a clip from his 'nine grueling day' trip to Mount Everest's Basecamp.
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He revealed he has 'no prior hiking experience' and 'only trained for three weeks' - doing three times a week HIIT boxing and twice-a-week hiking which consisted of 'walking up hills for two hours'.
Since completing the trek, he says he 'firmly' believes 'ANYONE with average fitness' can achieve it too, arguing the 'trek itself isn't too technical' despite it being, as you'd anticipate, 'long'. He said that the 'hard parts come from the unexpected'.
Parekh goes on to document his nine-day trip, including some of the most testing moments.
Day one proved 'dangerous' from the get-go, Parekh and his wife flying into 'Lukla Airport from Kathmandu' - 'the most dangerous airstrip in the world' because of its 'tiny 500 meter runway [that] looks like its made for ants'.
He then embarks on the first part of the journey, a four-hour trek, which is reviews as 'easy' - day one completed with 'no issues'.
However, by day two, he quickly realises 'this s**t was, indeed, not easy'.
Day two consisted of 'seven hours of trekking' at an elevation of 11,290 ft, across 'uneven terrain' and 'suspension bridges'.
"I quickly start realizing that trudging uphill, with a pack, in thin air, is crazy hard," he adds, noting he was 'huffing and puffing' a lot, subdued slightly by the 'un-freakin-real' landscape.
Day three at 13,000 ft elevation sees Parekh wake up 'freezing' his 'butt off,' but he feels more 'acclimated to the high altitude'.
However, a four-hour hike sees Parekh's lungs 'gasping for oxygen' as he makes it 'higher and higher'.
Day four is 'one of the hardest days' with an eight-hour trek 'uphill and downhill'.
"The trekking, and even the rain, is manageable by itself," he continues. "But multiple days of bad sleep, freezing at night, tough accommodations, and fatigue is starting compounding around this time."
Day five is a 'pretty easy six-hour hike at 14,468 ft elevation, however, day six sees Parekh's head 'THROBBING' and he can 'barely focus' due to the altitude sickness at 15,100 ft elevation, left feeling like 'a shell' and he has to 'chug' water and have a 'liquid IV' on day seven.
The 'final stretch' on day eight is 'hard' and Parekh is 'winded,' needing to stop 'every few min during the last two hours' but he and his wife make it.
Despite the difficulties he faced during the mission, Parekh says he was 'fine physically' and it was mainly the altitude exhaustion which impacted him, arguing 'there isn't too much "training" you can do for that'.
While Parekh may believe 'anyone with average fitness' can attempt the feat, over 300 people are known to have died on the mountain according to CNN.
Not only do you have to consider your own physical health and fitness and the altitude, but if you're thinking about it you also need to beware of the freezing temperatures, the threat of avalanches and falling on rocks and ice.