2025 Nun Peak (7135m) expedition
How do you set off on a medium expedition trip like this? Well, there are two options; you organize it yourself, or you select an operator.
If you do it yourself, the planning needs to start a long time in advance, and not only do you need to find a team or arrange all the logistics yourself, but also need to take care of everything else, such as permits, equipment, risk management, leadership and so on. That is a story for another time, so I will not go into that here.
If you decide to buy a seat on a commercial expedition, it is essentially very similar to going on any vacation trip, like a holiday to the Canary Islands where you select a package trip and have somebody lese take care of the details.
So, in a similar manner, when deciding to go to the mountains you decide where you want to go, what level you want – is it 3-, 4- or 5-star, and then you buy a ticket. Simple as that 😁
With a mountaineering expedition, depending on your budget, you can go from the basics of having support only until Base Camp, all the way to having somebody else carry all your stuff, cook, fix ropes, and essentially baby sit and feed you cheese and red wine. Pretty much everything else except wiping your butt - I think....
Well, whatever option you choose, whatever level of support you decide to go for, you will most likely end up in the company of other people taking part in the same expedition.
An essential part of the success of an expedition - as everywhere else - is the team itself. If you buy a package trip, you rarely have an idea of who else will be on the team. I have had both really bad and really good experiences. Let's see what this expedition brings. I know at least the leader and another member from Pakistan in 2022!
To be honest, going on an expedition such as this is of course a bit more complicated than a holiday package to the Canary Islands because of all he preparation, training and risks involved. Normally you would reserve a seat at least a year beforehand as it requires quite a bit of preparation; physically, mentally, socially and financially.
Once you have said your goodbyes, and get on the plane, all worries evaporate at least for a while. Because you are super excited to finally be on the road, towards something you've dreamed of and prepared for! 🤟🏻
Acclimatizing
Beforehand, there is not really much you can do about that – especially if you live around sea level, which I do. And once you’re there, you need to pay close attention to what your body is telling you. For sure, there will be headaches and loss of appetite as we ascend, but that is all part of the acclimatisation process. As the expedition itself is only three weeks, we will need to pay extra attention. The schedule in the beginning is quite aggressive, as we already on day 3 will go up to 3350m, where we will then spend that and the two following days. Which actually should be just enough. Day 6 will be spent a a bit lower and then we go up to 3700m, and 4600m. The first 1-2 nights at base camp will for sure be the difficult ones. ON day 10 we start gradually going higher than 5000m.
Above ca 5000m the body is steadily deteriorating, while acclimatisation tries to compensate. But above ca 7900m, acclimatisation is essentially impossible. You can stave off the deterioration only for so long.
The body just steadily deteriorates. There is simply not enough oxygen for your tissues to regenerate. Your fingernails stop growing, wounds take forever to heal, and you need weeks to get over a cold. You should eat and drink, but you simply have no appetite. The body uses up its stored energy.
The acclimatisation process simply takes its time, there is not much you can do to speed it up nor do something about it beforehand… This time we are not going higher than 7135m, so not even extra oxygen needed.
However, what you can do something about in advance is getting in shape! Train as often as you need to, not as often as you can.
For me, all the preparation; planning, physical training, and getting the gear together are essential parts of the whole experience.
What about my own preparation? I have been pretty active sports wise during the last dozen or so years. First there were several years of triathlons, then moving over to crossfit (functional fitness) and high intensity interval workouts.
At the point of writing this, I have about 16 weeks to departure. My target is to do at least 1 hill or forest walk per week (with an increasingly heavier backpack), 1 run or bike ride a week, with some weight lifting in between. Hill walks and cycling are my favourites as they very closely emulate the same movement patterns we will be doing on the mountain. At least one of each is longer each week, and I will keep increasing the length up to departure. Not forgetting good recovery in between!
So overall, I believe I have a good and solid foundation and one of my targets is definitely to ensure that running out of steam will not be a reason for me for interrupting the trip!
As for mental preparation – well there is not so much that can be done apart from talking to friends who are experienced climbers, using Google, looking through photos, and reading what books I can find. I.e trying to get a feel for what we are up against, and setting your expectation level.
So that's that, a bit about general preparation as well as my own! 😁