Want to climb the world’s highest peak? You can, with just three years training, if you follow this straightforward plan.

by Mike Kessler

It used to be that serious mountaineers spent their entire careers working their way up to a Mount Everest summit bid.

But in recent years, climbing Everest has seemed like a dilettante’s pursuit: Any socialite with a Himalayan-size wallet can buy their way up the Big One, no matter if they endanger themselves, their teammates, or their guides. Today’s reality lies somewhere in between. Radically light new gear, flexible work schedules, and a glut of guiding services have made Everest’s 29,035-foot summit a much more attainable goal than it was even 15 or 20 years ago. But no matter how rich you are, you’ve still got to be prepared for the ordeal. Our three year training program explains how a rank amateur can make it to the top of the world – the right way.

MAY 2010-MAY 2013
Build a Base

You’ll need to create an exercise regimen that addresses three categories of fitness: cardiovascular health, strength, and balance. “You want to be in the best shape of your life,” says Dr. Luanne Freer, director of Everest Base Camp Medical Clinic. “And you’ll want to maintain that level of fitness throughout.”

CARDIO
Running, cycling, hiking, aerobics, or spinning classes, boxing, or jumping rope – whatever your exercise of choice, do it for a minimum of 45 minutes, three times a week. Stay between 65 and 85 percent of your max heart rate (the zone where you can feel your heart humming, but you aren’t gasping for breath). Cycling and trail running are especially good, and seek out hills whenever possible. By month six, you should be able to knock off a half-marathon or century bike ride without too much trouble.

STRENGTH TRAINING
You want to avoid bulking up; hauling extra weight up a mountain is no fun. That means lighter weights at higher reps. Down low, do calf raises, leg curls, leg extensions, and squats; up top, do pecs, biceps, triceps, and shoulder exercises, twice a week. “You’ll also need a strong core for carrying a pack,” says Peter Whittaker, co-owner of and a guide at Rainier Mountaineering Inc., “so it’s important to find a handful of abdominal and lower-back exercises.”

BALANCE
Hike off-trail, where loose rocks and scree move beneath your feet. At the gym, break out the Bosu balls (the halfballs with the flat bottoms) and try the Telemark Jump: Get into a lunge position, with one foot on each ball, then leap up and switch legs in midair. It’s not exactly like picking your way over a boulder fi eld at 17,000 feet, but it’s better than not practicing at all.

JULY 2010-OCTOBER 2010
Bag a 14er

Then another. Hiking 14,000-foot peaks, or even ones above 10,000 feet, is essential for developing leg strength, increasing lung capacity, learning to breathe calmly and slowly while moving sluggishly at elevation, and withstanding high winds and cold temperatures above the treeline. Start with day hikes, then work up to overnights, bagging two or more high peaks in a trip – and getting used to carrying a heavy pack. If you live far from the high country, fly to Denver and try Quandary Peak (14,265) in the Mosquito Range and Mount Bierstadt (14,060) in the Front Range, or head for Durango and the San Juans, which have 13 peaks over 14,000 feet. (New Hampshire’s famously nasty Mount Washington is also a good practice ground.) Three round-trips to Denver from New York or L.A.: ~$900

JUNE 2011
Climb Mount Rainier

Just because you’ve bagged a few peaks in the 12,000-14,000-foot range doesn’t mean you’re ready to march into the death zone (26,000 feet and higher). “You need to practice climbing on snow and ice,” says Whittaker. And 14,411-foot Rainier has plenty of it; in fact it’s the most glaciated peak in the lower 48. “It’s got everything: nasty weather, snow and ice, and high altitude,” says mountaineering god Ed Viesturs. On Rainier you’ll carry a 35-pound pack stuffed with a minus-20-degree sleeping bag, crampons, and climbing rope, to name just a few items. And you’ll log some serious vertical: 18,000 feet round-trip, over 30 to 36 hours. “You may sleep for two or three hours at the high camp at 10,000 feet,” says Whittaker, “but most climbers don’t.” This is your first real test piece for Everest. You’ll be dehydrated, nauseated, insufferably cold, irritable, terrified, and anxious. “Embrace suffering,” says Whittaker. “It only gets worse after Rainier.” Around $1,000 for a guided trip up Rainier, offered by a number of outfits

AUGUST 2011
Rainier 2.0

“You’ll need to get more mountaineering skills,” says Whittaker. “Taking a hero shot of yourself on Rainier to show friends and family back home is great, but you need additional experience.” That means learning how to kick-step with crampons, swing your ice ax like a pro, work your way up a fi xed line, drive anchors into seemingly impenetrable ice, rappel in single-digit temperatures with numb fingers, belay a buddy without killing him, and rescue said pal from a crevasse. Whittaker offers a six-day seminar on Rainier’s Kautz or Emmons glacier. “Be sure you go with someone who knows what he’s doing,” adds Viesturs. “It’s about more than just learning to climb; it’s about learning to be a team member, traveling with more than just two people.” Your second climb of Rainier should feel easier physically, which is a good barometer of how your training is progressing. $1,600; rmiguides.com

DECEMBER 2011
Break 19,000 Feet

Get down to Ecuador and scale 19,347-foot Cotopaxi; it’s not as technical as big glacier climbs, but it will get you acquainted with the notion that the higher you go, the worse you feel. “You need to get accustomed to those feelings in order to know the difference between ‘normal’ and ‘fixin’ to die,’ ” says Whittaker. You’ll also expose your system to such challenges of Third World travel as fever, diarrhea, and crowded public transit – probably some gruesome combination of all three. Two-thirds of travelers to Nepal get a gastrointestinal malady within two weeks of arrival. “The culture shock and potential bacterial challenges of traveling from Kathmandu to Everest base camp have ended many a climber’s trip before they even reached the mountain,” says Whittaker. $1,975;mountainmadness.com

APRIL 2012
Mount McKinley: the Mini-Everest

McKinley is a big-time commitment, and it’s the closest thing to a Himalayan expedition you’ll fi nd in North America. You get high altitude (20,320 feet at the summit), catastrophically bad weather, and major tent time. “You’re looking at three weeks of sleeping on ice, carrying a 60-pound pack, eating crappy food, and learning how to survive on the side of an inhospitable mountain,” says Whittaker, who also notes that the fixed lines from the camp at 14,000 feet up to McKinley’s west buttress (16,000 feet) will give you a taste for the miles of fixed lines on Everest. The altitude is serious, too. “Your body tries to stay warm, which of course requires oxygen that’s not readily available,” says Freer. “How you function under these conditions is a tell-all sign of how you’ll do in the Himalayas.” Expect to be stormed in for up to a week with odiferous tentmates who enjoy your company about as much as you enjoy eating MREs. But get to love your teammates. “You don’t go anywhere without being roped to partners,” says Whittaker. “And if you summit with a smile on your face, you’re set to tackle Everest.” from $4,850; mountaintrip.com

OCTOBER 2012
Join the Five-Mile-High Club

“Statistics show that climbers who have topped out on an 8,000-meter (26,000-foot) peak before trying Everest have a much better chance of being successful than those who have not,” says Whittaker. So if time and money allow, get over to the Himalayas and climb Cho-Oyu, the 26,906-footer that many Everest summiters have cut their teeth on. Climbing Cho, you’ll learn what it’s like to share a base camp with wily climbers from multiple countries and to climb with a supplemental oxygen device clinging to your face. You’ll taste the homesickness, depression, and physical ailments that plague mountaineers who venture to the higher reaches of the planet. And most important, you’ll experience the death zone, which begins at 26,000 feet. “It’s not some sexy term,” says Freer. “In the death zone you are literally dying. There’s not enough oxygen in the brain, so everything goes slower. Sometimes you can barely put a sentence together.” $13,750; mountainguides.com

MAY 2013
EVEREST

By now you will have chosen a good guide, spent two weeks at base camp to adjust to the altitude, and learned a few Tibetan prayers. If you’re not ready now, you never will be. The summit awaits. Good luck.

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TIPS FOR NAILING THE SUMMIT

CHILL OUT
Train for freezing temperatures by taking cold showers and swimming in cold lakes, pools, or oceans for as long as you can tolerate. Spend entire winter days — sunup to sundown — moving around in the cold on foot, snowshoes, skis, anything. “Also, know what layering systems work,” says Whittaker.

SLEEP LIKE A HOBO
Strange as it may seem, you’ll need to “train” yourself to sleep in uncomfortable places. Turn day hikes into overnights, or camp in your backyard on the nastiest patch of ground you can find — and leave the Therm-a-Rest in the house. These sleeping scenarios suck, but a bivouac at 20,000 feet is worse.

PERFECT YOUR AIM
One little-discussed but essential Everest skill is the ability to empty your bladder into a water bottle while shivering in a sleeping bag in zero-degree temperatures with a headache and stomach cramps. Also, says Viesturs, “Learn how to differentiate your pee bottle from your water bottle.”

PUT A SOCK IN IT
“My blisters hurt.” “I have a headache.” “How much longer till we eat?” Blah, blah, blah. Everyone else feels crappy too, and you’re only making things worse for everyone by complaining. It’s one thing to speak up if you’re in agony, it’s another thing to announce every hangnail or gas pain.

DO YOUR HOMEWORK
“Don’t show up in Asia without knowing your Messner from your Mallory,” says Whittaker. “Or your Geneva Spur from your Yellow Band, or your namaste from your nee how.” Start building your mountaineering library at climbalaska.org and longitudebooks.com.

FEND OFF THE COUGH
You want to avoid what Freer calls the Khumbu cough. “It’s called high altitude bronchitis,” says Freer. “It’s the most common reason climbers come visit us in the med tent.” Freer suggests using a thin face mask, which warms your exhaled air, creating moisture over your mouth.

LOVE THE WEB
There are hundreds of great mountaineering resources online. Abc-of-mountaineering.com is home to online forums where you can discuss everything from gear to the best way to bag Cotopaxi. For all the ugly details about altitude sickness, check out Freer’s website, everester.

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This article originally appeared in the May 2008 issue of Men’s Journal.