Mitch Hutchcraft: 12,000 km Adventure Of A Lifetime (Project Limitless)

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In this episode of Adventure Diaries, Chris Watson interviews Mitch Hutchcraft, an adventurer on an awe-inspiring mission called Project Limitless. Mitch plans to journey from Dover to Everest’s summit, breaking boundaries by swimming the English Channel, cycling across Europe and Asia, and finally trekking to the top of the world. He shares the personal experiences that inspired this ambitious journey, from his early solo climb of Kilimanjaro at 16, to rowing the Atlantic and serving with the Royal Marines. Mitch dives into his intense training, mental resilience, and commitment to conservation, making this episode a must-listen for anyone ready to push their limits. 

Topics Covered in This Episode

• Project Limitless: Mitch’s 12,000 km journey from Dover to Everest, combining cycling, swimming, trekking, and climbing.
• The Call to Adventure: How climbing Kilimanjaro at 16 ignited Mitch’s passion for extreme exploration.
• Endurance Challenges: Mitch’s Atlantic row and cross-America cycle as preparation for Project Limitless.
• Training and Preparation: Inside Mitch’s endurance workouts, including open-water swimming and long-distance cycling.
• The Marine Mindset: Lessons from the Royal Marines that built Mitch’s resilience.
• Mental Fortitude: Mitch’s techniques for breaking down complex challenges to stay focused.
• Adventure for a Cause: Partnering with SAVSIM to support wildlife conservation and veteran mental health.
• Cultural Exploration: Mitch’s anticipation of meeting people across Iran, Pakistan, and Nepal.
• Logistics of a World-First Expedition: The intricate planning required for this unsupported journey.
• Inspiring Others: Mitch’s goal to show others how to push their own boundaries.

Key Quotes

• "Adventure isn’t about the finish line; it’s about the countless steps and people you meet."
• "The Marines taught me to be cheerful in the face of adversity; that’s crucial for Limitless."
• "Focus on why you’re doing it when things get tough—my dad, the cause, the people."
• "Project Limitless is my personal Everest, a test of physical and mental endurance across continents."

What You’ll Learn

• Mitch’s plan to reach Everest’s summit by swimming, cycling, and trekking.
• Mental techniques for maintaining focus through complex, long-term goals.
• How adventure can support mental health and foster personal resilience.
• The importance of connecting with diverse cultures and landscapes.
• Mitch’s insights on building purpose, adaptability, and endurance.

Adventure Recommendations: Mitch encourages listeners to em

Chapters

• 0:00 Mitch's Early Adventures
• 0:32 Introduction to the Adventure Diaries Podcast
• 0:53 Meet Mitch Hutchcraft
• 1:15 Project Limitless: The Ultimate Challenge
• 1:37 Training and Preparation
• 3:03 Mitch's Formative Years
• 5:05 Joining the Royal Marines
• 7:04 Rowing Across the Atlantic
• 9:05 Cycling Across the USA
• 10:23 The Vision for Project Limitless
• 13:01 Logistics and Support
• 15:30 Navigating Through Different Geographies
• 18:29 The Importance of Team and Support
• 19:52 Channel Swimming Regulations
• 21:36 Training for the Channel Swim
• 22:47 Cycling Preparation and Equipment
• 23:23 Nutrition and Endurance Planning
• 25:33 Trekking from India to Nepal
• 28:18 Mental Preparation and Compartmentalization
• 31:45 Supporting Wildlife Conservation with SAVSIM
• 35:33 Final Thoughts and Call to Adventure

Transcript

 And the first we adventure was I just saved up for two years when I was like 14 and then flew to Africa on my own to climb Kilimanjaro, just me and my guide and one porter. And then in November, December, we were in the Canary Islands ready to grow 3000  miles across the Atlantic. And that's where. The seed of my, the big dream of Limitless kind of setting.

Obviously, 12 hours of rowing a day, every day for seven weeks, across 3, 000 miles of open oceans, a lot of time to think. A lot of podcasts to give you inspiration along the way with some legends. So, uh, yeah, so the kind of seed was set. 

Welcome to the Adventure Diaries podcast, where we share tales of adventure, connection, and exploration.

From the smallest of creators to the larger than life adventurers, we hope their stories inspire you to go create your own extraordinary adventures. And now your host, Chris Watson.  

Welcome to another episode of the Adventure Diaries.  Today I'm joined by Mitch Hutchcraft, a former Royal Marine Commando turned full time adventurer.

And Mitch's adventures have seen him climb Kilimanjaro at age 16, row 3, 000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, and cycle across the USA. But his next big adventure is one of the most ambitious adventures to date,  and it's called Project Limitless.  This journey will see Mitch swim, cycle, trek and climb  over 12, 000 kilometers from England to the summit of Mount Everest, which is a whole new test of human endurance.

We recorded this while Mitch was still in his training phase and I'm thrilled to say that at the time of this going live he's well underway and has actually smashed his first big hurdle, an epic swim across the English Channel and he's now cycling across Europe. And he's joined on the journey with man's best friend, his dog Buddy. 

What a commitment and adventure this is. In Mitch's efforts, we'll see him support the amazing SavSim organisation. A cause that blends mental health, veteran support and wildlife conservation. So please give Mitch a follow and support his journey. And you'll find all the details at the end of this podcast. 

So settle in and enjoy this fantastic conversation with Mitch Hutchcraft, Mitch Hutchcraft, welcome to the adventure diaries. How are you? Fantastic.  And buzzing for this. This is, this is such an epic, epic expedition that's coming up. So to frame this up, the topic of conversation  Project Limitless, your expedition from England to the top of the world's longest climb or ascent of Everest. 

Swim, cycle, trek and climb. And you're in Croatia at the moment, aren't you Mitch? Doing some training for that? Yeah, right now in the hotel 

room.  

Excellent. And I know you've got a training session right after this. So That is the topic of conversation today, but I think I want to kind of roll back a little bit and just frame up who Mitch is, you know, a bit of your formative experiences before we get into this, this epic expedition.

So where did it kind of start from you, Mitch? Where are you from and what were your formative adventures like? I 

always started 

at a 

young age, really. I'm from the flattest part of the UK, so, like, East Anglia, so. I think that's why I've always been so obsessed with mountains and stuff. But I, uh, also spent a few years growing up in Cyprus, so.

When I was there, the first, 15, 16, so, where it all began, the first real adventure was I just saved up for two years when I was like 14 and then flew to Africa on my own to climb Kilimanjaro. Just me and my guide and one porter. It was great and that's kind of where the itch began and it's just amazing.

What an adventure and yeah, just rolled on from there. Everest Base Camp a couple of years later at 18. And just trying to get into the flow of it. Lots of other little small stuff. Just really giving me the bug for it really. And, uh, yeah, so that's where it, that's kind of where it all began. 

Yeah, and so were you quite into the outdoors then?

Is that, cause, I mean, getting to kill him and Jarl at 16 is quite a feat. So were you quite active then when you were younger? 

Uh, yeah, yeah, definitely. Um, always been, like, classically sporty and adventurous. And yeah, that, for some reason, just seemed to me, even back then, it was like a stepping stone, obviously, which it is to um, to Everest and the bigger mountains.

So back then, you know, ever since like dreaming of Everest, I was like, right, first step, well, may have skipped a step, but the first mountain I'll do will be, will try Kili, and to give us a bit of experience. Yeah, it just turned into one of the most amazing little trips ever. Yeah, there's a few more years gap after that before anything else, but because of time in the military and tragedies in the family but it was, uh, yeah, it was amazing.

Yeah, and you touched on that there, so I think, you know, 16 Kilimanjaro, 18 Everest Base Camp. Did you have the, was Everest always in the plans then? 

Yeah, oh 100%. It was like just another wee stepping stone, you know, wanting just to get set eyes on it for the first time and get a feel for that and all that, and then, yes, that's kind of where.

The little path that I sketched out in my head. 

Yeah, and then joining the Marines, what, you must have been 

quite young then, when you joined the Marines? Yeah, so after base camp I then moved to Australia, I spent a year and a half, well a year there, not really knowing what was next, but then the Marines and the military just came around after.

When I was 21, just turned 21, unfortunately, my dad died. So I flew back from Australia, kind of was in just a bit of a, like a shit, what do we do now? You know, and basically just sat there in the office. Cause I was working in the gym at the time. And I just, it was just a dream that I always had in the back of my head, like equal with Everest, you know, that I always wanted to tick off.

But, I just had a total knee reconstruction done in Australia. Um, which was a bit of a interesting one because it's a complete bar of entry to the military if you have that. So, I remember coming back and everyone was just like, like, well, you've got no chance of joining because they won't let you in. So,  basically, I turned up, told them that I'd had surgery.

Just left out that key word of ACL because there's only one way to know if you're going to pass the test. Hardest infantry training in, you know, one of the hardest in the world and I was just very, very lucky with a great bunch of people. And yeah, so I came back, always spoke about it with my father as a dream, so I thought now I'm just going to try it.

So yeah, 21, I was very lucky enough to go in and get through in one go. And yeah, five and a half years later, had some great times in the Marines. 

Yeah. So what kind of experiences did you have in the Marines that are kind of setting you up for Limitless? So 

much just practically. Mostly, as anyone will tell you, just from the training, you know, hones in on the mindset kind of required for this type of thing.

And, you know, it might sound cheesy, but the, you know, the key thing being cheerfulness and face adversity, you know, when things are absolutely crap and you've not slept for days and you feel like you're broken, you know, that's just your mind, not your body. And, uh, kind of the body, but, uh, yeah, it's just kind of hones in and all that.

But then great, amazing experiences with guys there. Everything from mountain training to. Arctic to lots of little things, which little adventures whilst in there, which, yeah, which really helped hone it in. 

So what point did, before we touch on Limitless, I know you've rowed the Atlantic cycles across the US.

So when did you, in what order was that? Did you row, did you do the cycle before the row or was it the other way around? The 

row first, because that's where the whole dream set in. So after five and a half years in the Marines. I left in 21, I left three years ago, 2021, because I had this itch for adventure.

So much more that I needed to do. And just, it wasn't obviously the climate at the time. There was no, no like operations. There was nothing going on massively. Same thing year in, year out and just ready for a new challenge. But it was amazing. I wouldn't change it for a second because it literally gave me pretty much all the opportunities.

Well, the Atlantic, which then moved on to the next one. So as soon as I left in 2021, I immediately like within a couple of months. A friend that I was working with just randomly said, like, how do you feel about rowing across an ocean? So I was like Absolutely. That sounds incredible. So next thing you know, within six months, kind of very lucky to get onto a team through a few circumstances, ended up on a, yeah, on a team.

So two and two with a few amazing guys. So yeah, I left in April, 2021.  And then in November, December, we were in the Canary Islands ready to row 3, 000 miles across the Atlantic. And that's where the seed of my, the big dream of Limitless kind of set in. Obviously 12 hours of rowing a day, every day for seven weeks across 3, 000 miles of open oceans.

A lot of time to think, a lot of podcasts to give you inspiration along the way with some legends. So the kind of seed was set. You know, I'd always wanted to do Everest. So I was thinking, ah, okay, after this, what can we do? I always wanted to do Everest from sea level to the top. So from zero to eight, eight, four, eight, you know, just for the purity of it.

And, uh, it's just be amazing. And I've always loved the idea of the channel, you know, being a dream as well. So, so yeah, so whilst rowing the Atlantic, I just linked the middle bit together in my head and I thought, oh, wow, we should do a 10, 000 K cycle. Then that kind of makes it a triathlon and then, yeah.

And it's just an amazing adventure. And like, yeah. So then. After returning from the road 22 in February 22. I thought a great way of training. So that was purely train. I thought a great way to train for for limitless will be obviously a really long distance cycle tour, which I'd never ever done before either.

So I bought a bike. Flew to Croatia, cycled the Croatian coastline as a bit of a tester. Actually finished pretty much where I am now, which is quite a weird coincidence. So from Dubrovnik in the south, 700k to Ljubljana. And then, yeah, and then a month later, I was on a plane. This is Christmas 2022.  Jumped on a plane with my bike in the box to Florida.

And yeah, Atlantic to Pacific, four and a half, 5000k later. Yeah, so I finished in San Diego. Yeah, across eight states, six weeks. Just amazing. And that was purely mostly as training for Limitless, as half the distance, basically half the distance of what the cycle leg will be. So now I kind of know where I'm at with the cycle and obviously it's all about piecing the parts together.

So yeah, that's how it all kind of came about. 

Fantastic Mitch, because you think about the legs that are in Limitless, that obviously they swim, which you're training for now, the cycle and the trick. You've done it at Amadablam as well, didn't you? 

Yeah, so Amadablam a few months ago, that was unbelievable and a great time ticking the box towards Everest. 

Absolutely incredible. So yeah, it's kind of just doing as much as I can, you know, obviously all of the elements basically. 

Yeah. So talk us through getting on your limit list then. So what is it? 12, 000? Yeah. From Dover to Everest. 

So obviously stage one, which is what, what I'm here for training for stage one, which is also the part I'm most concerned, not concerned, obviously everyone has nerves, but anything, but obviously the channel, it might be the shortest leg, but it's the leg which has the most unpredictability, you know, tides, currents.

Chips, the cold, it's all very much like this is day one. However, it's kind of a very, you know, a very tough, one of the biggest challenges in the world. So I'm more worried about that than four and a half months of cycling to be honest, one day.  So yeah, so the start line will literally, is literally Dover, touch woods, swim the channel, and then obviously reset a few days, and then from Calais, across Europe, all the way to India.

So a small town near Calcutta. So it's across Europe and then to Turkey from Turkey for Iran, Iran, Pakistan, India, all the way to sea level in India, kind of the closest sea to Everest. So that's just under 10, 000 K from Calais to this town in India, where the cycle leg will finish. And then it's 1, 300 K on foot, a run slash speed march to Kathmandu.

So it's 900 K from there. Okay. And then from Kathmandu, again reset, and it's a 350k trek from Kathmandu through the foothills of the Himalayas all the way to, to Lukla, Everest Base Camp, and then to arrive at Everest for the climbing season, this exact time next year, so, yeah, six or seven months non stop.

From the start line in Dover, obviously the timing's quite, when I worked it out in my head, it obviously was a good timeline with a little, quite a bit of wiggle room for contingencies, obviously in case of injury, any incidents, you know, because it's not a time trial. This is just as much about the purity of the adventure for me.

I absolutely love it. I 300k a day and missing everything, you know, so it's very much about, and it's obviously not a time trial. It's the longest climb of Everest in history. So I want to just enjoy every second, the people and the cultures and food maybe and just everything. So that's pretty much it in a nutshell.

Yeah. From start to finish.  

So what is it start to finish then roughly that you're planning? Is it like six months? Yeah, six to seven months 

total. So September the 10th to 15th is my swim window. So say mid September,  October, November, December, January, February, Arriving in Nepal in March, April time for the clan.

So, it could be ten and a half months, maybe eight potentially, depending on various 

different things. And what about your team then, Mitch? Who's supporting you with this throughout the legs? Have you, have you got a team backing you up? Can they help you with nutrition, planning and stuff? 

Most of the logistics haven't been kind of ironed out until recently.

Like with America, the whole, um, like 5, 000k across there. 5, 000 K. That was just completely unsupported. Me with my bags, sleeping, wild camping on the side of the road, under the bridges, in the motels, 50 50 between motels really as well. So that's kind of in my head, but Europe is obviously even more accessible.

So the first part was quite easy. It was a case of staying where I can along the route, working it out, and then all the way to the Iranian border with Turkey, at which point an escort and support vehicle, uh, came along. It has to be provided anyway. So there's a support vehicle. You have to go through an Iranian company to obtain a visa to even get a visa for Iran.

So it's literally met on the border while the visa is still in process. So we're obviously praying for that visa, which is the big one at the moment. So if that happens, it will be done. Two and a half thousand K, 24 days in Iran every day. You have to stay at a hotel there. You're not allowed to camp.

You're not allowed to do anything, obviously, because of the government and then Pakistan, India, Iran, luckily, logistics again, sort of behind out, but all the support there is being provided by by NIMSDAI and Elite Expeditions, his company, you know, to help everyone from there, which is amazing, which was the game changer, which kind of gave me the green light to go ahead and start doing this really.

Um, but yeah, but just in the last week or so. Just got an amazing team of producers, documentary makers, cameramen who want to essentially have a van to document and that, which will make things a lot easier. So now touch wood, the plan is. To, yeah, to drive to, obviously, I'm still going to be pretty much unsupported.

Well, not unsupported, but I'm still going to carry my stuff because that's kind of what I want to do. But it would be nice, yeah, every night rather than having to find accommodation. Hopefully we have a camper van, you know, behind.  Uh, that would be, but again, a lot of the kind of finding logistics are still, you know, Out because obviously still desperate, looking for good sponsors and anyone, you know, we don't, we don't know where we're at until we actually know, have a number to know what we can have and things like that.

But yeah, very much the last few details will be kind of figured out within the last month or two. Yeah,  

I think for me your cycle through some of those geographies looks incredible. I think there'll be some.  Interesting experiences. I think along some of those routes, you know, particularly going through like Turkey, Iran and Pakistan and stuff like that.

So it'll  

be incredible. I'm just really praying that Iran comes through the visa because it's probably the country I'm looking forward to the most. You know, people I've spoken to that have gone across. It's one of the most beautiful countries in terms of, you know, the people being hospitable, the landscape, the culture, the history.

So I just, yeah, just really hoping for that. 

I spoke to Charlie Walker recently, I'm not sure if you're aware of Charlie, and he did a, he cycled across the world and he cycled through Iran as well, and he talks really, really highly of it and some of the cultural experience he had there. Exactly, exactly, yeah.

Amazing, amazing. What about, uh, so are you planning to kind of campervan  or wild camp across this route as well? So, 

again, 

that 

just depends, I was planning on half wild camp, half motels, you know, hotels, but that will depend on, now we have this amazing team, the same team behind The Hardest Geezer and Project Africa are now on board.

Excellent. So, they, they, um, essentially, hopefully, Making Limitless hopefully in a similar way with a support vehicle, you know, um, which is amazing, exciting. They're all amazing people. And obviously Russ himself is an absolute inspiration, so that whole  team and like what they've learned would be invaluable.

But yeah, so now obviously we still have to iron in and iron out, but in an ideal world, one or two camper vans vehicles on route all the way to the border with Iran. Obviously, at which point you have the vehicle, you have the Iranian guide escorting you. from there and that's the hotels and then from the border in Pakistan, India.

Nepal is where elite expeditions are. Hopefully they're going to help us out with support there in terms of vehicles and then similar situation. Hopefully, you know, even if it's not a camper van, it'll be a vehicle, hopefully a vehicle with a team in and accommodation through them. Or again, through camper van style accommodation.

But again, these final details will be ironed out.  

You don't really want to iron it all out anyway, do you? You want to keep a little bit of room for it? No, obviously, this 

is, yeah, the logistics behind this does, like, massively beat anything I've ever done. So it's, there's a lot of stuff I've had to think about.

Visas, Iran, the kind of more precarious areas, but very much as well, like the kind of, not winging it by any means, but obviously, like with America, you can't plan necessarily too far ahead. I landed on the Atlantic, and  I wouldn't know where I was sleeping 48 hours later, because you don't know whether you're going to get a puncture, whether you're going to get injured.

You can't plan and pay for accommodation, for example. So it's a case of you bring what you can, and you plan and you adapt, and improvise, adapt to overcome on the ground as best as you can. You know, you look at where you are, and you know whether or not you'll be sleeping that night in a tent, or whether you'll be sleeping in a motel.

You do a map study, you look at the route that you're taking, and you go from there.  The one thing that is reassuring with this one, obviously, because it's such a massive operation, is I do have much more support now. I have support in this, obviously, which you need to pull off some of the scale. And I'm looking forward to being, you know, I'm a people person, you know, being in a team is just incredible.

You know, it was quite lonely at some points across the US, you know, apart from the amazing people. And I always like to have people with me.  Because the other half of the whole reason for Limitless is to, is to basically make it as much of an inclusive adventure as possible to inspire as many people.

That's why it's called Limitless. So, hopefully having dozens of people along the way. Anyone, please, it's like join me in Europe for like two or three days cycling, whatever you like to do. The Base Camp Trek, you know, if I had a hundred people making it like Forrest Gump, that's amazing. It would be amazing to have as many people involved on any part of the journey as possible.

Obviously, for most people, kind of the start of the cycle would probably be the first bit, so 

I can imagine a few people won't want to join you on the channel, Swim, but I can imagine No, absolutely 

not. No, absolutely not. That would be, that would be, yeah, it's gone. And the rules, and as you know, probably know, all the rules and regulations, even the logistics behind this, behind Swim, the channel, is just  A nightmare. 

So, um, yeah, I'm very happy that that's all in place now. 

So, is that part of, so that channel swim at the start then, Mitch, is that part of an official, like, race? Are there other people swimming that at the same time? No, so it's 

part of an official race that the pilot can come with yourself, so it's all kind of done legitimately through the channel swimming.

As with anyone who swims the channel, you have to go through, register and pay thousands of pounds through the channel swimming association. book a boat, a pilot vessel to accompany you. So essentially you're literally swimming on your own next to a boat for the entire 34k from England to France. So, you know, the kind of regulations are so strict, you know, you can't touch the boat, you can't put your foot down anywhere, it's just non stop from when you're in the water to when you get out of France.

So how long would that take then, broadly? Anything between 10 and 20 hours. Jesus.  Yeah. Uh, obviously it completely depends like the guy, I mean, I'm, I'm an okay swimmer, but the guys in this camp are, are incredible. And half of the people here I'm with have swum the channel once, twice, as well as others.

And you know, you have people that are amazing that do it in 10, 11, 12 hours, but you have people that are amazing that 15 because it's, again, that's why, you what is worrying in a way because it's completely down to the day. It's completely down to the day. You can obviously, the failure rate is so high, not necessarily because of yourself, it's because of the conditions, it's because of the tides, because of the swells, because of everything.

So, um, it kind of just purely depends on your luck on the day, especially with the tides and the currents. 

And the way, I mean, you're coming into the end of summer, really? Yeah. Fall starting to come through, so the temperature is going to be dropping a lot. The only 

advantage of that is. You know, it's kind of the water is warm compared to end of June, start of July,  even though the rest of July, the water is warmer in September than it is in kind of July time.

So, um, that's interesting. Yeah. Yeah. But, uh, but still it's regardless, it's a. 

Yeah, 

absolute mammoth of a task. 

So how much open what? Because I've seen you've been doing quite a lot of training in the water recently and I've seen that in the pool, but how much open water swimming have you been doing?  

A little bit at home, not as much as I'd like to, but obviously I'm following advice from amazing guys here, company I'm with, Red Top Swim.

The coaches are just incredible. Kind of following their kind of advice and programs, lots of, you'd be surprised, lots, it's more like sprint training and kind of thing as opposed to long distance swimming. And obviously every day here it's been hours and hours and hours of open water swimming in 15 degrees, including the six hour swim the other day.

When I get home in the last June, July, August, we'll be doing lots, a heck of a lot more open water in preparation.  

Fantastic. And once you get over into France, are you taking a break before you start the cycle or? 

Yeah, I mean, it will be a few days just to get the bike sorted, regroup because obviously I will be in a state  as anyone is because not many people finish the chalice swimming in cycle 10, 000k.

You want a glass of wine. Yeah, it won't 

be weeks at all. It will be a case of hopefully just a few days, three to five days, get yourself sorted, get the team ready, obviously get logistics ready, hopefully the van and then head off course to Europe. 

And in terms of the bike and the equipment you've got, tell us about that.

Is it the same equipment that you used in the U. S. or are you? At the moment, 

yes, at the moment it's just a great touring slash gravel bike, you know, that I used in the U. S. from Alpkit Santiago. So it's a touring bike, uh, not stupidly expensive, but really good and sturdy. But I'm hoping before then, I'm reaching, I'm obviously hoping before then that two sponsors that come in, um, will be able to get a new bike and hopefully have that as a spare in case obviously anything goes wrong, but yeah, worst case scenario, I've got the bike obviously completely reconditioned that I use across to cycle 

across the United States.

And in terms of like your nutrition and stuff, are you thinking that through as well in terms of how, because I know you're saying it's not a time trial and stuff, but you know, in terms of like the calorific intake and the endurance side of it as well, you kind of planning that out and have you got, you set yourself targets with that or what?

Yeah, well, it's just a case of, because I'm working closely with Loughborough University, who are fully back in the expedition, which is amazing. So they're nutritionists and things. It's hard to measure because obviously nothing like this has ever been done, all these different elements, but all we do know, obviously is.

We need to, I need to put on as much weight as possible kind of thing, not so much that it becomes counterproductive, but as much weight as possible, especially, well, A for the swim, insulation and things like that. But also the key is that the, obviously the way, the best way to explain is obviously I need to arrive in the pool.

Uh, weight, which is healthy, you know, arrive and hopefully in a state where I'm going to be fit to actually climb, you know, if I leave at 85 at 90 at 75, you know, so I just start losing at least 10 kilos, obviously, guess from my previous expeditions, it's just a guessing game, you know, Lost about five kilos on the Atlantic, similar for in the United States.

So yeah, it's a case of kind of putting on what you can, so I arrive at a healthy weight to reduce the chances of things going wrong on Everest. So across Europe and across as much as I can, it will be a case of just eating as much as I can. First stage will be quite easy to eat more because of, you know, passing through cafes and restaurants, places where I can really fuel up, but then yeah, we're working with closely with hopefully some other sponsors coming forward now with more.

On the road kind of military style ration food with good nutrition as well as like hopefully lots of fuel and things like that. So, yeah, it's just a case of getting as many calories in as possible. Hopefully keeping yourself out of a deficit as much as you can.  

And was after your cycle, then you still get that trick, haven't you?

So you've probably got natural junctions and checkpoints across the way. Haven't you? Where you can maybe check in on your body and see how you're feeling before you make any sort of decisions on nutrition and things. 

Yeah, exactly. There'll be a lot of stages, you know, where we'll finish the stage and we'll assess what he's doing.

I've got a doctor on call, you know, a really great guy as well. Yeah. Lots of different things. 

And then, that trek, I mean the trek alone, what is that from India to Nepal is about 300 and something. It's a small town 

on the coast of Bay of Bengal called Digha.  D I G H A A little town, just not far from Calcutta.

So yeah, that is, that's 900 K to Kathmandu. So that will be with, uh, me carrying most of my stuff in my pack. So kind of speed march, jog, run pace. So obviously it won't be like a running pace, but it's not a walk either. You know, it'll be, it'll be quite a pace.  

Yeah. And you're going to different weather patterns, aren't you?

Cause if you start in September, by the time you get there, you're probably like November, December, possibly. 

Yeah. I mean, January, I mean, yeah, again, the scale is very much fluctuant, but arriving in around the beginning of November. So talking January, February time for.  India and obviously February, March time for for Nepal.

So yeah, it's very much Obviously passing through lots of different ecosystems, lots of different climates. So it would just be a case of Dealing with it as it comes. 

Yeah, so how are you planning, see on your treks and stuff, like, uh, food and water and stuff, are you going to have to have support systems bringing, are you planning to carry all your food and rations with you on that final trek until you get into Nepal?

How are you planning, I think? 

Well, a lot of that I say is going to be, the logistics and that will be helped by Elite Expeditions. I will be, as I say, in terms of it, even if Dry pack, um, you know, dehydrated meals and that kind of thing. I'll be carrying all my food per day, at least, if that makes sense, and all that kind of stuff.

And, uh, a good thing about this is, as much as it is, obviously, we're passing through a lot of places, we're never going, it's not as if we're in the middle of a desert. We're never in a completely uninhabitable zone for such a long time. So the resupply points, the resupply points are never going to be stupidly far apart, if that makes sense.

Especially if and when we have a support vehicle, kind of. on the tail. It'll make things, it'll make them, them little worries, it will alleviate them little worries a bit more. 

And can we expect like updates in terms of like your socials and you touched on, you know, like Russ Cook and the Hardest Geezer, what those guys and that team were doing.

Are you planning to do something similar? That'd be exciting. Absolutely, 

the plan will hopefully be something similar. So, yeah. Daily updates on social media, hopefully, which will be the main platform. There's also a website as well, but yeah, 99 percent that way to follow will be on there. Obviously, um, with just amazing stuff, the highs, the lows, everything will be done by just an amazing, hopefully by absolutely amazing set of team.

Yeah, 

and I was excited for this  because I was following Russ's journey as well. It was brilliant. And yeah, I was doing that as well. I mean, this is epic. You just, just thinking through like,  you know, breaking it down into all these different phases. There's just so much. That's going to happen through this is how are you preparing mentally for it?

Much are you breaking it? Because if you think about it end to end, this is probably the biggest expedition. 

Yeah. 

It's the same as anything. 

And like kind of one of the other messages interlines with one of the messages of the whole expedition is no matter what I'll be dealing with it the same way. You should do anyone dealing with any issue should be don't think about the big picture because then it just becomes massively overwhelming.

You compartmentalize when you learn to compartmentalize your journey, whether it be this or whether it be, it doesn't matter if it's a 10K or 5K run, it doesn't matter. It's all proportionate. Everyone's their own person. Never compare yourself to anyone else. It's a case of no matter what you do compartmentalize.

So I will not be thinking of, I will not even the thought of the bike will not cross my mind for the whole build up or To stop all the swim. It is, I am swimming.  And then once I've done that right, okay, now I am cycling. Once I've done that right, now I am this. You know, it's, and not even that, like with the road across the Atlantic, you break it down into days.

I get through day one, right, I've done a day. I get through day two, I've done, I've done two days. Next thing you know, you've nearly done a week. And the next thing you know, you're nearly halfway. So it's, yeah, you don't think, like anything in life, don't think of the big picture. It becomes very overwhelming. 

Break things down into manageable chunks, and then suddenly you've achieved stuff you never thought was possible. 

That's incredible. What are you most looking forward to in all of this? You know, forgetting like the finish line and conquering this. What part are you excited and what part are you scared about?

I 

mean, the whole journey I'm absolutely buzzing about, to be honest. There's no like, I can't think of a single part which is like, yeah, but the kind of like the, the kind of Indian Nepal, the kind of trek foothills of the Himalayas, which is kind of never been, you know, never done generally, you know, not saying never done, but obviously people don't walk from Kathmandu to Everest.

So trek, so kind of the culture is just mostly looking forward to meeting people basically along the way and stories and experiences and working with an amazing team.  Looking forward to the challenges as well. But yeah, and as I said before, it's just in terms of what, not scared, but obviously what my main focus on at the moment and kind of not concerned is, will be getting the channel swim done.

Because it being the, the most uncontrollable part of the entire, apart from Everest, apart from obviously, so the channel swim and the actual climb is the two parts where, you know, failure and success is not in my hands. And obviously when failure and success is not in your control,  But then again, you have to think of it as If it's out of your control, and as I've come to learn, you can't worry about anything that's out of your control, 

you know.

It's a good mindset to have, you know, if you can't control it, and it's, 

it's easier said than done a lot of the time, but it is true. Yeah, absolutely. In my mind, like, obviously, as you can tell, I've most likely got very bad ADHD, so trying to switch it off is, trying to switch off the head is, and sometimes if your head  clicks over at a thousand miles an hour, that's the worst thing in the world, because you just keep thinking all these thoughts, but um, Yeah.

It's all about just Clicking in, channeling in to all these different channels. that you have, everyone's individual, you know, for me, for example, it's like why I'm doing it, the cause, my dad, you, when things get really bad, all you do is just shut your mind off, focus in on why you're doing it and click through the channels and that helps and that gets you through anything.

What would you think your dad would say about it, Max? 

Uh, he'd probably say you're a bloody idiot.  Most likely, I don't, but I know he'd support me, so that's all that matters. 

Yeah, it's fantastic. And you talked about some of the causes. So the cause, you've been linked with SavSym, aren't you? And I know you are kind of a wildlife lover as well.

You studied a little bit of zoology, I believe. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, yeah. 

So it's all, obviously, it did. It's all for staffs in this amazing non profit organization, quite new as well. Same people I cycled across the U. S. for came across them by accident, but yeah, just incredible. Perfectly combining mental health and veterans with wildlife conservation and anti poaching.

So they've made a mental health course using animals and nature. So with Whipsnade  Zoo and London Zoo. So at the moment just twice a year, but.  Created a mental health course using animals and nature for a week long, a week long course helping those suffering, but also the other half of that is they utilize skills of veterans that transition into civilian life.

They utilize the skills of these veterans by, uh, sending them to Africa to help train rangers and in anti poaching projects across, not just Africa, but at the moment that kind of area. For example, they just returned from the dehorning program in Africa, in South Africa, saving the white rhinos. So that kind of thing.

So it's just a perfect combination. Yeah. Cause I worked before the Marines, I worked in a few zoos. I studied zoology. So yeah, wildlife has always been, well, animal conservation is a massive passion. So again, why it's so nice is because a lot of people obviously. A lot of people care about one of the aspects of this charity and this cause, whether it be wildlife, mental health, it's a great, it's a great, it's a great cause, great, yeah, it's a great place, great organisation to support.

That is wonderful. I'm sure you're going to have some wildlife encounters along your trek as well. Yeah. Hope so, absolutely.  Excited for you for it. It's amazing. Oh, excellent. I can see your passion for it. It's brilliant. And I'm buzzing to see this launch later this 

year. Appreciate it, mate. 

Conscious of time.

And I know you've got kind of training and stuff to get back to. Ah, so good. Yeah. Actually, a question I didn't ask, who are you climbing with at the end when you get to Everest? Is anyone climbing with you from NIMS days, late expeditions or any of your friends? It 

will be 

with 

the late expeditions, obviously, exact details.

Who yet as I'm determined to be with the same guides and same shared friends as I'm a dablam a few months ago. Yeah. But yeah, there's some amazing guys with me in the group. You know, I know of one guy that's actually going to be with me most likely in my group is an amazing lad called Reese from Wales is the first to be the first person to climb Everest and fireman's outfit, fireman's uniform.

Really? Wow. I've got some like minded legends with me, but no, in terms of the actual group, obviously we don't know yet. But two of the guys that I climbed Amadablam with in November are right now on like camp three on Everest climbing it. So I'll be hopefully touch wood being in their position, in exact position, exactly 12 months. 

How was Amadablam? Was it harder than you thought? Absolutely incredible. Like when they first told me, yeah, we've got one space left on the team, you know, you're on it. You should go, you should do it. I was like, oh God, because obviously Marines, Marines and other stuff before that I've done some technical climbing, but.

nothing like that. And it's no, it's, but it's one of the most beautiful, amazing mountains in the world. And in terms of beauty and challenge, it's definitely even more so than Everest. So it was just, it's incredible. Yeah. It's technical and it's just beautiful. I mean, it was tough. I had a throat infection and yeah, standard as you do, uh, completely like. 

my throat. I mean, every time I had a bite of food for 10 days leading up to the climb, it was excruciating. Projectile vomiting, obviously all the standards. Projectile vomiting at camp one and camp two on the way up. So it was interesting to say the least,  but we just paddled through and got there in the end.

And yeah, it was just worth every second of it. The pain just makes the Just makes the end sweeter. 

Yeah, cheerful in the face of adversity. Exactly. Awesome, right, so, two closing traditions on the show, one of which is a pay it forward, in other words a call to adventure so the pay it forward, a suggestion for you to raise awareness for any worthy charities, causes, or organisations.

I can probably suggest  expect what this would be, but what would you say is a pay it forward?  

I mean, as the, as the  It will completely depend on each person, I would just say to anyone, whatever you're passionate about, find someone, find an organisation, find like minded people, and  within no time, no matter what it is, you'll find something close to your heart that you can really, we can really make a difference with.

Excellent. And then the last thing is finally is that a call to adventure. So a recommendation for someone to go and do something adventurous or exciting outdoors or something. It doesn't need to be a project limitless because I don't think anybody else will ever do that over and above Mitch Hutchcraft.

But what would you say is a call to adventure for listeners and listeners?  

Adventure is just perspective. As long as you take anything that takes you slightly out of your comfort zone that you love doing. So, as people have probably said, just go out, find any national park near you, go and have a lovely walk.

If you can do, take a tent and do some wild camping. That's a great place to start. If you like the water, get on a kayak, do some water. If you've never swam in cold water before,  just get out to a lake, get out somewhere, take somebody. Get in for 10 seconds and get out before you spend longer and longer and it will become something that just changes your life positively.

So, yeah, any of them things. 

Excellent. Wonderful. Wholeheartedly agree. Brilliant.  So where can people find out all about Limitless and Mitch Hutchcraft? 

So the best place, just all centralised now really, is just on the socials. So on Instagram, uh, Mitch underscore Limitless. Easy to remember. Now I'll change it from my name, which is a long old surname, so just Mitch Limitless.

On there is the link to AV Sims, the link to the GoFundMe page, all the details and how to follow along. There is a website, it says www.twelvethousandkmtoeverest.com, which will kind of explains it in more detail. Better so just 12,000 k into everest.com. But just Mitch Limitless on Instagram and especially now moving forward will be the the best way to keep track.

Yeah, and I encourage everyone listening and watching to go and have a look at that. It's a wonderful reading. It really brings the scale and the enormity of this adventure to life. So I would encourage, I'll get that listed and encourage everyone to go and check it out. Mitch, this has been wonderful.

Thank you very much for giving us your time today. It's been a wee while in the making, but thanks. 

Thanks for having me, Chris. I appreciate it. 

We hope to have inspired you to take action and plan your next adventure, big or small, because sometimes we all need a little adventure to cleanse that bitter taste of life from the soul. Until next time, have fun and keep paying it forward.