My Project

It has been a dream of mine to climb Mt Everest as long as I can remember. From the very first book I read about it when I was 10 years old, to all the books and movies I’ve read and seen since. They have always kept my love affair with the mountains strong, even when I couldn’t be there. However, I didn’t want to be one of those people who shouldn’t be there, that don’t belong there or deserve to be there. I wanted to earn my place and know I had done my apprenticeship first.

My introduction to the mountains came from the age of 5 when I was first taken to Mt Hotham to learn to ski (an obsession that I still love today). My mother then introduced me to hiking and camping (as we could not afford fancy holidays) and my childhood was spent exploring the Grampians, Cathedral Ranges, Wilsons Prom and the Alpine. At 19 I did my first trip to Canada and discovered what real mountains looked like and fell in love with them even more. 5 years late I found myself living in Calgary Canada, and with the Rockies at my doorstep I enrolled in my first courses. Rock climbing, ice climbing, avalanche safety and rescue and anything that would help build the skills. I did a two week long mountaineering course in the Rockies and moved to Europe. There I worked a year in a mountaineering shop learning all about the equipment and continued climbing. Upon returning home I met a guy who was to become a good mate and was also on a similar course to me. We spent a month in New Zealand trying to hone and practice our skills and gain some experience on the Tasman Glacier and its surrounding peaks. As the years followed I continued to bush walk especially in South West Tasmania and Ski as often as I could. I spent many months in Canada, the US and even Japan skiing, including a three year stint in Whistler where i learnt the art of back country and ski mountaineering. I climbed rock, ice, mountains and skied as many lines as I could. I continued learning by doing more advanced courses in rescue and avalanche safety, worked for a guiding company and met lots of friends who I travelled deep into the mountains of Canada and the USA with.

A few years ago determined to make my Everest dream become a reality, I booked a month long trip to Nepal with a local Nepalese guiding company. With a guide and two porters we visited the Khumbu Valley including base camp and climbed several local 6000m peaks including Lobuche and Island Peak. I had my first experience with altitude and even though it is tough and the headaches hurt like hell, I could handle it. So the following year I pushed the boundary again and went for my first 8000m peak, Cho Oyu (8201m) in Tibet, the 6th highest mountain in the world. Summiting was an amazing experience but the journey was even better. I loved it.

With my first 8000m peak ticked i felt ready to give Everest a crack in 2014. Unfortunately, 6 weeks before I was suppose to leave, someone decided they needed my gear more than I did and broke into my place to alleviate it from me. Without most of my equipment and no time or money to replace it, I had to cancel my trip. In a weird way this turned out to be a blessing, because in 2014 a serac released from a hanging glacier above the Khumbu icefall killing 16 Sherpa, including from group I was suppose to go with and all guiding companies pulled out. 2015 was my next attempt, but my father died a couple of months before the season started and even though I felt very strong physically, mentally I wasn’t there, and I pulled the pin again. Of course in 2015 the earthquake hit Nepal with devastating results and the mountain was once again closed.

2016 I would of like to have gone but money and injuries have prevented me doing so and this brings me to why I’m do this little project I call “30peaksin30days”. With the disappointment of missing 3 seasons now and work taking over my life, I decided after 13 years since I started teaching, I needed a break, a change and some different challenges. So I have taken leave for 6 months to once again scare myself and get me out of my comfort zone and take my wife to Europe.

I originally thought of this little project as just away to stay fit and build my fitness up again after recovering from injury. I was just going to go to Bogong and Feathertop (hikes I have done many times), but as I started planning for these I started wondering what was the 3rd highest peak in Victoria? and the 4th and 5th, etc.  Before long I was looking up the highest peaks in Victoria and discovered that there was roughly 30 peaks above 1700m. So why not do them all? I now have the time. The more I researched it the more fun and challenging it sounded. The 30 days came about simply because I want to finish them before May and winter as then it becomes to hard to access some of the areas.

I don’t intend to drive as close as I can and ‘bag’ the peak, but instead from from the bottom, where I can and hike the peak proper. Some I can do in a day, others may take 3-5 days and might include several peaks on the way. So anyway here goes … I hope to blog and include photos, maps, reviews of the trips as I go and then who knows? Maybe someone might actually find this interesting, lol.