By: Hannah Brauchle - 29029 Everesting and IronHike Everest Finisher
Fall 2022, scrolling the gram and I am immediately sucked into a video about hiking Everest. I had been hiking quite a bit up in the Adirondacks in my free time and was immediately hooked. I followed the page and did the research. Que sign up day, 3 computers open ready to click that buy button on a $5000+ charge to my poor little credit card. Welp I got in! Stratton Mountain VT October 2023. The year came and went, I trained, mentally prepared and showed up that weekend ready to battle the mountain and myself.
Jump to 6am Friday morning, 17 laps up, 17 COLD gondola rides down and about 19 and a half hours of POURING rain....21 Hours later I am successful red hat owner, the feeling was incredible.
Sunday evening sitting in my Air BnB and I'm kinda sad. Yea I am proud of myself, that was a cool thing to complete but I cant help but think, what now? What is next? How do you top Everest?
This is where Ironhike and the amazing founders come in. Again scrolling the gram and I keep seeing a new challenge. Everest, the hard way, up AND down. And not to mention they have gone one further and developed Olympus Mons the highest summit in the galaxy. Now that is something just crazy enough that I need to be apart of it. So I signed up, no frilly hotels or glamping tents, no gondola rides, and no huge price tag. Just you, the mountain, and your new tribe.
October came fast, I trained and tried to mentally wrap my head around 122 laps over 72,000 feet of elevation. My husband and I travelled from central New York towing our tiny teardrop trailer. We arrived on Saturday morning to the mountain and I gathered my packet with all the other athletes. Everyone was smiling and the energy was buzzing, all those pre race jitters were really starting to come out.
As start time approached we all moved to the starting line the founders had a few words, there were tips from past participants, the anthem, and then it was "hikers away" and my 84 hours began. The mountain terrain was great, slow to start which meant time to make friends then a final steep push to the summit and finally the trek back down to catch my breath and meet more of the people I would be spending 3 days with. And so the day went up and down, snacks and hugs in between. This was now my world for the next 80+ hours.
Quickly I began to realize what a challenge I had taken on. Don't let the shorter distance per lap fool you it is still an effort every lap and I quickly learned why they said "Everest, the hard way." I soon fell off my pace and by early Saturday morning I realized that I would not be making Olympus Mons. I was so disappointed in myself, I let myself down and was so frustrated. I started to get into my own head, crushed that I had already failed not 36 hours in, but I kept moving. I kept talking to other hikers, kept making friends, kept getting "you got this" and "keep goings" so I did. I kept moving one foot in front of the other.
I remember in the dark of my trailer one night at one of my lower points my husband turning to me and saying "I know you cant see the end, but can you see your next step? then just take that." Around 11am Monday Morning I grabbed my orange hat and hiked up one more lap, 49 for Everest within the 72 hour time limit. I came back down and there was Scott with a cookie and a hug. Again I had this incredible feeling of accomplishment, no I did not make Olympus Mons, but I did Everest, again. And this time I had a new family there with me the whole way, through the highs and lows. People who started as strangers checking in on me and my progress, words of encouragement, offers for a run to the store for burgers or breakfast sandwiches, the all night campfire that was a beacon of hope after the sun went down and the laps got colder and colder, and Cliff strumming the guitar and keeping a smile on everyone's face.
I sat down next to the fire cookie and breakfast sandwich in hand and watched my new tribe continue to hike. As I was sitting and enjoying my moment and the first real food I had managed to keep down in 3 days I thought, I am not done.
I grabbed my poles and started back up the mountain, one of the staff who had been following my progress that whole time yelled "arn't you done?" and I just said "I have friends to hike with". I finished out 12 more laps with my new tribe, not because I had to, I had the hat, the medal, the cookie. But because I wanted to. I wanted to hike with these men and women and be there for them in the last laps the way they were there for me. This tribe had become my tribe and I wanted to be there for every second.
I hate the cliche like of this was life changing , but truly this weekend and this challenge taught me so much about myself, my limits, my strengths, and my weaknesses. But most of all it gave me a new tribe and lifelong memories.
I will be back, Olympus Mons is now an obsession and I cant wait to get back out there with my type of people and crush Mohawk Mountain!
Hannah