Gabriel Middleton — The Youngest Brit to Summit Everest

In episode 12 of Rise To Your Everest, Adam sits down with Gabriel Middleton, at just 17 years old, the youngest British person in history to summit Mount Everest.

But this isn't just a story about a mountain. This is a story about a 13 year old with a dream, a father who backed him every step of the way, and a family that went all in together.

Gabriel opens up about the years of preparation it took to get Everest-ready, what summit day actually felt like, and the moment he discovered that on the other side of real pain and suffering, there can be extraordinary elation.

We talk about his father Ant Middleton, former SBS operator and one of the UK's most recognisable faces, and what it meant to watch him lead by example at 8,848 metres. We talk about family values, about resilience, about what it takes to keep moving when everything in your body is telling you to stop.

We also sit down together at Millfield School — where Gabriel is a current pupil and where Adam himself was a student twenty years ago — making this one of the most personally meaningful episodes of the podcast.

Gabriel is 17. He is humble, grounded, and quietly extraordinary. And his story is only just beginning.

If you're a parent, an athlete, or anyone with a big dream and a mountain of your own to climb — this episode is for you.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

In this episode of Rise to Your Everest, Adam sits down with Gabriel Middleton, at just 17 years old, the youngest British person to ever summon Mount Everest. For an incredibly inspiring conversation about ambition, family, and what it really takes to push through pain and reach the top. Gabriel shares his journey from a 13-year-old with a dream to standing on the roof of the world alongside his father Ant Middleton, and what that experience taught him about resilience, belief, and the power of having the right people in your corner. We talk about the years of preparation, the moment the stomach became real, and why the record was never really the point. If you're a parent, an athlete, or anyone who needs reminding that big dreams are worth chasing, this episode is for you. Let's get into it.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

Thank you very much. So before we get into this and get into the mountain story and what you've just achieved, which is incredible, I actually want to start here, Milfield School. We're in B block. I don't think I've ever stepped foot in here my time at Millfield. But let's get into kind of Milfield and your time here. You wore the Milfield badge on your summit too, so you took this place with you to the top of the world. Yes. I left this school in 2006, and I can honestly say this place will hold so many special memories with me and kind of what it did for me leaving school. Friendships have laughed for a lifetime, and generally wearing that Milfield badge on the rugby field, we've probably and the red, green, the blue, you know, running out onto the Jubilee pitch or the Jubilee anymore. Gath Edwards, yeah. So and they're the biggest highlights of my rugby career. Um seeing you at 8,848 metres with the Milford badge on your suit, this place must mean something to you. So talk me through that. What does Milfield mean to you?

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Yeah, for sure. It's since I've come to boarding school here, which I joined this year, everyone's been so welcoming, all the teachers, Mr. Stokes, my housemaster. It's just been a place that I can refuge and really show myself and have a good group of mates with the rugby pitch. And I spent most of my training for Everest here. So it was a big part of my journey with all the teachers supporting me, all my friends supporting me when I left, all uh saying, I hope you do well, I hope you get to the top, let me know how you do. It's just been a second home for me because I'm an international student as well. So, since being here, it's been it's been the best year. Yeah, amazing.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

It does have that, doesn't it? Because we when I was here, we get so many international students coming across, and and and it is it just has such a welcoming, homely feeling to it as well. I know it's school and we have to do education, but it's um yeah, certainly a very special place, and uh you can see that with the way you carry yourself and and taking that badge up to the top of the top of Everest. Um so since getting back, you've you've climbed Everest, and we'll get onto that. But if you come back onto campus after just climbing to the top of the biggest peak in the world, the youngest brick to ever do it. You know, I I thought I was you know the big dog on campus when I got my neighbour on the first hip or a new haircut or something. You just climbed everything. So how did that feel? Yeah, coming back several foot back onto campus.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Yeah, when I came back, I sort of felt like a little mini celebrity sort of sort of in school. Yes. Everyone was asking me how it was, asking about my stories. Mr. Stokes called me in for a chat and was asking about it, and it was just mental just coming from such a massive extreme, summiting the highest mountain on the world, to coming back to school and not seeing my friends for ten weeks and then seeing them again after life-changing experiences. It was really wholesome. It was sick, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

And did it take you a bit of time to kind of climatise, get used to back into that routine and that structure and lessons and opening up a workbook?

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Yeah, 100%. The first sort of two weeks, I've been back for three weeks now. The first two weeks were were a bit tricky for me, just in terms of concentration, focus, and thinking about the experiences that I've I'd just had. And now I'm sort of getting back into the routine, the gym, getting some weight back on. So yeah, it's it's it's been hard, but it's been nice.

SPEAKER_02 4:13

And was it 15 kilograms?

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Yeah, 15 kilos, yeah. Weight loss while you're on your expedition. Yeah, that's a huge amount of weight. Yeah, it was it was it was mental. I think it was mainly just the nutrition side of it, yeah. Not getting enough protein into your muscles, because a lot of it was muscle loss, because I didn't have much fat on me anyway. Yeah. So when I lost all that weight, I was came back and I was just super weak. My energy levels were so down, and when I went back to the gym, I was just felt like I just started out just being in the gym. But yeah, 15 kilos definitely took a toll on my expedition.

SPEAKER_02 4:46

How did you cope with that? Because when I was a 17, 18-year-old kid, I was I was obsessed with my size to be honest. Trying to play firsty rugby, trying to put on size for the whole time. Yeah, did it have a little impact on you mentally, do you think?

SPEAKER_01 4:58

Or yeah, definitely, because coming back down, I see all the lads in the gym getting bigger, getting bigger, and I've just come back and I look like I've just deflated almost. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just look like I'd shrunk, and all the lads going to me, oh, you look tiny, you look tiny, like laughing at the weight that I'm doing in the gym. And definitely took a toll on my mindset in terms of rugby as well, because I want to get into that first team and seeing all the lads progressing and progressing at such a high speed, and me having to come back into it slowly. Definitely uh you have just summoned Everest so mate.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

Yeah, it's gonna be easy to be. Exactly, yeah. That's something you know, not many people can say they've done. So you you told your dad at 13 you wanted to climb Everest. Correct. Let's go back to that conversation. So, what did you actually say to him?

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Like, how how did that come about? Yeah, because he summited in 2018, and when I was 13, I was sort of asking him lots of questions about his expedition, and he told me that he'd been caught in a storm and he went snow blind, and when he came down, he told me everything. Yeah, and I just remember sitting there just like fascinated, like yeah, just fascinated, listening to the story and saying to him, I want to do that when I'm older. And then when I first told him, it was sort of just like, yeah, we'll speak about it when you're older. And then he brought out his documentary, Extreme Everest, and I watched that, and I said to I said to him, Dad, I really want to do this. This is something that I'm passionate about and I want to do it with you. And then in January this year, he got me the permit, and I was at school and he gave me a phone call, and he told me that he got me the permit, and I was like, Wow, I was buzzing, I was like, Well, what do I need to do? When do I start training?

SPEAKER_02 6:34

And yeah, yeah, it's my inspiration was my dad. Incredible, and yeah, I watched that documentary as well, and it's quite scary, like he he nearly lost his life, yeah. But that still gave you the want to do it, the desire to do it, did it see what your dad went through?

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Yeah, definitely, just that extreme challenge just really invites me in. I don't I don't know why, it's just pulls me into it in the blood. Yeah, exactly. And being able to do it with my dad as well sort of gave me that reassurance.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

Yeah, and so so you've to you that idea, you watched the documentary, you're 13 years old, you've climbed it now at 17. Were you persistently on to him throughout the kind of last four years? Yeah, I want to do it that way. Where are we going?

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Every every year I was like, Dad, I want to do it. Dad, I want to do it. He did K2, and I was like, Dad, I want to do Everest. Yeah, and then he never really saw my my passion for it until he brought out his cream Everest, and then he was like, right, we can do it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

And does that persistence does that run in over in other areas of your life? And like you said, like with your um mentality around rugby and you're so dedicated, yeah. Is that from your dad, do you think, or is that just in you?

SPEAKER_01 7:42

Yeah, definitely. I think the routine and it's in it's in my mindset. My dad's been drilling that into me ever since I was young, and my mum's been helping as well, just getting into that routine and going up with my mates, they're like saying, Right, don't drink too much, don't go out all every weekend, get into that routine. And my dad's been very big on always having a goal and always working towards something because the moment that you don't, he tells me it's when you start to lose and you start to get bored and you start to get in trouble. So yeah, it's been sort of trying to keep me focused so I can stay out of trouble and then ever since it's been in my mindset.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

Good, and you know, I think having a goal and having that purpose is so important, isn't it? Yeah. So you you know you had that the permit was granted, you've worked hard towards that. Um, do you have any other goals now that that you're kind of looking towards?

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Yeah, next year I want to focus on rugby, make it into the first team for 15s. Because I got into the first team for sevens, but this year I want to be on a first team pitch uh representing Millfield and I'll be working at that over summer.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

So yeah. Good man. So I mean you get back to that 13-year-old. I mean, most 13-year-olds they want to you know be a YouTuber or a footballer or something. Yeah, but it's amazing that you know, at 13 years old, you've had a dream to climb Everest and now you've done it. Yeah, uh that just must be you know fair pay to you. It's uh it's an incredible kind of um achievement that you've done. So let's go back, you've got the per. What does the preparation look like from when you had that phone call to when you need to get to Everest?

SPEAKER_01 9:13

So, first of all, I was just absolutely stoked. And then since January, Dad was like, you need to start training now. And I said to my dad, how what do I train? How do I train? And what aspects of my body do I need to train the most? And he said, just focus on your cardio. And I did a 12-week block of just before school, 5:30 a.m. just do like an hour of rowing, or the next day an hour of cycling, and after school go on like a long run, and also that's the seven season as well. So I had a lot of sevens rugby fitness, and it all just sort of tied in together nicely. And then I remember asking my dad, I was like, how do I prepare for this mentally? Because I've I've never done anything to this scale whatsoever, and he just said that's for the mountain to do, and I was like, okay. So I just prepared as much as I could with my cardio and yeah and went, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:07

So you're getting up at 5 30, the whole boarding house is probably still asleep. Yeah, you out, you you hitting the road on your own and the gym on your own.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Yeah, I remember 5 30s, pitch black, yeah, headlight on, message to Mr. Stokes, I'm going on a run, and then when I'm back, I'm back. Yeah. I just remember those cold like mornings, just January as well. Yeah, miserable, just miserable. Headlight on, running in the rain and cycling, getting out my bed was just the hardest part for me. Just getting out of my bed, the alarm going off, and I remember saying, like thinking to myself, you should just get up. Like that's the first goal just to get up, and I know everything else will follow along. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

Were you ever kind of questioning your decision when you were doing those 5:30 runs in the dark and wet, it was miserable? What was going through your mind?

SPEAKER_01 10:55

Yeah, definitely. For the first two weeks I was quite consistent with my training, and then towards week three and four, I was getting really tired with the early mornings, the school, and the rugby. And there was a few weeks where I was not sticking to my training plan, just pressing snooze on my alarm. And I I remember calling dad and saying, Is this normal? Am I I'm missing weeks, I'm missing training sessions, and he's just saying don't stress yourself out. Like just relax, do what you're listening to your body, do what your body feels, and definitely times that I questioned why I was doing this even before people saying to me, Oh, you're not gonna sum it, you're not gonna sum it, why are you up so early in the morning? And I just remember thinking about getting to the top and being there with my dad. So and that that was your why, was it? 100%, and my mum allowing me to do it as well because the whole experience was extremely hard for my mum. So I remember thinking my parents have put in so much effort for me to be able to get to this mountain, yeah. And I'm not gonna let them down, I'm gonna return the effort and some of it. So, yeah, that was my why.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

I guess I guess a lot of people have come together to make this possible. So, your parent, your parents, your family, the school giving you that ability to do it, yeah, the training. Um, so I guess yeah, in those dark times when we get when we have to do those Ross training sessions, you just dig into that and that that takes you through. Yeah, definitely. I mean the lessons you must have learned about the resilience and and that kind of mental fitness is I don't know if you're gonna have a harder test.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Yeah, when I was on the mountain, it was mentally dark most of the time. Never experienced anything like it, and it was totally not what I thought it was going to be. And most of it was just mental, mental, mental. Yeah, and the physical wasn't really an issue. It's just digging in, having that grit and getting through it, and it taught me a lot, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

Yeah, and we'll come on to that. So preparation. Did you ever in that kind of do you said 12-week block? Yeah, did you ever feel ready? Were you like, dad, I'm ready, let's go, or was it yeah?

SPEAKER_01 13:05

There was times of that I was feeling really motivated, and I was like, dad, I can't wait, I'm I'm feeling good, and then the next week I'd be on the seventh pitch and I'd be huffing and blowing and I'd be like, I'm climbing Everest in a few weeks. I need to get my stuff together. So it was sort of tons of highs and lows that built up that 12-week block. Yeah, but there was definitely times I was like, yeah, let's go, I'm ready.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

And did that um, I guess being having that cardio and that fitness, that must have really helped the sevens tournament seventh season, did it?

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Yeah. So when I started off the seventh season, I was in the second team for Oslin Park. Yeah. And me getting up in those early mornings and focusing on my nutrition and doing that fitness helped me, and I managed to progress into the first team for for rugby sevens, and it all tied in nicely.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

Amazing. So yeah. So that it shows you know hard work can sometimes outplay talent, and yeah, definitely. Um and that's what I found when I was at school. You know, I uh in the GCC level I was in the B team, kind of just breaking through to the A team, yeah, and then uh and then when I was in what was it, what was it we call it, fifth year, but it's not that now, it's year nine, year eleven, I think it is. Um and then I've yeah, just worked hard, trained so hard because I never naturally talented, yeah. And then I got into the first team for one game. Um, and actually, it's quite a funny story, it was against Landovery College, yeah, and I was uh I was in fifth year, so year 11, um playing two years above, and I was it was minutes silence before the game, so I was my brother was in upper six, so I was arm in arm with a brother. First team um kind of yeah, debut um Landovery College in the first ruck, Alan Wynne Jones, the British Lion, second row was playing for Landovery College, need me straight in the head, I'm good as the first way, first minute. Welcome to the first two months. Yeah, exactly. So um, but no, but it just but going back to kind of working hard does sometimes outplay uh talents, and you've shown that, you've proven that. Um so fair place. Let's go to that. Your family's had huge involvement in this. Um you checked the base camp together.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

Yeah, we did. Yeah, how was that? It was it was really like heartwarming for me, yeah, knowing that my family not only put in the effort for me to get to the mountain, but also climb halfway up the mountain with me, and it really showed the effort and the love that I get from my family, and that 10-day trek, especially for my mum, because she'd never done any sort of altitude training before. No, wow, it really showed her love and effort for me. Yeah, and I thought the whole way up the mountain, I need to repay this. And even my little brother and sister, yeah, seeing their faces on the base camp trek, loving it, enjoying the views, it was it was really good. It was it was one of the best experiences for sure. Amazing.

SPEAKER_02 15:52

Yeah, so you've all you've all reached how long you get to base camp.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

So it took us 10 days in total. Okay, yeah. So we started from Looklaw, which is at 2,100 metres, yeah, and then to base camp, which is 5,300. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

Yeah. So 10 days kind of staying at little huts and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Yeah, nice little tea houses, card games at night. Really? Yeah, it was good. A real nice bonding time with the family, I guess. Yeah, 100%. And my sit my big sister, she hates these sort of hikes and tracks. She's more just staying at home and do her makeup, so yeah, even having her there and just having quality time with my big sister as well. It was it was lovely. And did she enjoy it? Yeah, she did towards the end. There were times where she was like, wow I'm here. A lot of these, I hate it, why am I here? And then when we got there, she she took pictures and was smiling and was like, Yes, I made it. Oh amazing. Yeah, getting there with my family was nice. And when we got there, I showed them where I'd be staying for the next six weeks. Yeah, showed them my tent, showed them the base camp, and said goodbye to them. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Wow, so then okay, so you had to say goodbye to them at that point. How did that feel? Saying goodbye to your mum and your your sisters.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

Yeah, it was it was really emotional for me. Especially watching my dad's documentary beforehand and knowing the extreme challenge of this night. Yeah. And when my mum sort was saying goodbye to me, getting on the helicopter, she said to me, I'm with you every step of the way. Yeah, wow. And at that point I just had tears coming down my eyes, and knowing that this might be one of the last times I I see my family was really, really hard for me. Yeah. And my little brother as well, he was looking so happy to get on the helicopter, and he would say, Oh, can you can you send me videos from the top? Can you send me videos along the way? And just saying goodbye to everyone was was really, really emotional, but gave me motivation for sure.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

Did it? Yeah. And is that that that kind of gave you saying goodbye, that gave you the the additional spur you might have needed to sum it? Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

You weren't, you won't get on that helicopter, you weren't turning around. No, I was not. And for me it was more of a mentality of getting to the top or die trying almost. Wow, because that's that's intense. Yeah, because my my dad was like, We're getting to the top, yeah, and I I wasn't in my mind turning around wasn't an option because my mum was constantly emotionally next to me. Yeah, and I just remember her saying I'm with you every step of the way, every step I took, I was saying to myself, this is to my family, to my mum. Yeah, yeah. So there wasn't there were times that I wanted to turn around, but my dad was there and helping me get to the top as well.

SPEAKER_02 18:39

Um okay, so your base camp family have now gone. You've got them you've got over that kind of emotional goodbye, I guess. Six weeks at base camp for training. Yeah. What happens? Tell us through that. What happens there?

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Yeah, it was just long. So there's because the ice fall was shut, because there was a massive hanging ice glacier over the route that they usually go over. Yeah. So they couldn't, they couldn't find a way through because they didn't want to go over this sarak. It's like the the size of an apartment building. Danger of it coming down. Just danger of it coming down. So the expedition expedition team we were with went into the ice with themselves and found a route around it. Wow. And during that time we were training, hiking, training, hiking, training, hiking. And I felt like I needed that for sure. Just to gain my confidence in the ice school, and training days would be starting at 10am, going down into these ice walls and training until like 3 p.m. Yeah. And then the next day going for a hike, coming back down. So just long, long days. Long days training hard. Yeah, learning all about my carabinas, my harness, yeah, how to come down a wall backwards. Did you do anything? No. So the first year. The first mountain that I did was Kilimanjaro. Yeah, that was just a trek. There was no technical aspect to that whatsoever. It's just a walk, no rock climbing. Nothing. Yeah, you get altitude, which is good. And then after that was Kilimanjar was uh Everest. Yeah. So straight to the deep end. Yeah, never been on these ice walls or before nothing. So I needed those weeks of training for sure.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

Yeah, so maybe that was kind of a bit of a blessing that you got delayed so you could learn the technical elements of climbing. Yeah, definitely. And was that a lot to learn? Was it a lot to take in? Was it a bit overwhelming at times?

SPEAKER_01 20:42

Yeah, the first time I went down into the ice fall was really nerve-wracking because I was with a few climbers that had climbed it before as well. Because we were meant to go from the north side, but China cancelled it that year. So the people who had that permit got changed to this side. So I was with a lot of people who had climbed it before. And seeing them just finding their way around those ropes and going up the walls and coming back down, I was I was really nervous. I spoke to a guy, his name was Alex, and he was saying to me, I remember my first time coming into the ice, just take your time and really learn your way around the stuff because it's life-changing. So when I went down there, just getting to my carabiners, my harness, and all my safety equipment was was crucial for me for sure.

SPEAKER_02 21:27

Amazing. You've done your six weeks like pre-season camp.

SPEAKER_03 21:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

And then you've given been given your clear. Do you found another route through?

SPEAKER_01 21:35

Yeah, so my expedition team found the route through. Yeah. And that opened up for the whole mountain. Oh, amazing. And then they said So these guys are risking their lives to go find the Yeah, for sure. And they're amazing. They're climbed summit to the mountain, some of them 18 times. Wow. So these guys really know their stuff. They're called the Ice Fall Doctors. Okay. Yeah. And they opened it up for everyone, and my dad was like, it's time for First rotation. What does that mean with your first rotation? So the first rotation, to get used to the oxygen levels. So you go from base camp to camp 1, to camp 2, to camp 3, all the way back down to base camp.

SPEAKER_03 22:13

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

So that's your first rotation. Yeah. And that's just to get used to the oxygen up there, because at base camp it's 70%, camp 1, camp 2, and then at camp 3 it's 30%. Okay. So as you're getting higher, your decision making, your clarity, and your muscles are just using less and less oxygen. So if you go all the way to the top straight away, it's impossible. It's too dangerous. And you can get hate, which is high altitude pulmonary edema. Okay. Where you start getting hallucinations, you start seeing stuff, and people lose their minds on the mountain, literally. Wow. So yeah, so how long did that first rotation take? Took us a week. Okay. So from base camp to camp one throughout the night, you set off at 11 pm, and then you stay the night at camp one. The next day, camp one to camp two, and then camp, stay there for two days, then camp two to camp three.

unknown 23:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

And then back down on the same day. And one rotation. Yeah. So some companies do two. Yeah. But the company we were with do one. So some companies do one to two, then to base camp, then one to two to three, then to base camp. Okay. But we just did one straight to three and back down to base camp. So you've done the first rotation. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

Feel good at this point?

SPEAKER_01 23:34

For me it was everything was new. Okay. So from camp one, from base camp to camp one, it was the Kumba Ice Wall. And this is just like that, like that. Wow. Just 70 degrees, massive ice walls like 20 meters high. Yeah. Putting your crampons into the ice and then going up and jumping over these massive crevasses. Really? Like 60, 70 metres deep.

unknown 24:01

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

And you go physically demanding as well. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And the first time going from base camp to camp 1 took us eight hours. And every step you're like trying to catch your breath, you're out of breath the whole time. And going during the night was scary because you can't see anything. You just got your head torched and you're just looking at the steps in front of you. And during the night you're just hearing these avalanches coming down like and you can't see them, you can't hear them. While you're walking, while you're walking, yeah. So you're just praying that they don't come down and hit you at these points. And that was a few points that we had to unclip and jump over crevasses. Okay. So if if you fall down there, then it's getting over. Yeah, for sure. So that was one of the scariest parts for me, especially because that was my introduction to the climbing part. That that first camp is that was very hard for me to get to, and then we sat the night at camp one. Yeah. And that was super windy, tent like shaking the whole night, a few soups, a few coffees, and yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

And was there any point around that kind of like first rotation? You're back into camp one. Were you thinking at that point about turning back?

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Like was there any those dark moments going to Hellgok doing this? There was for me it wasn't like for the first rotation, it wasn't necessarily turning back, it was just why am I here? Yeah. Why have I decided to do this? Why have I decided to come out at 11 pm and start going to camp 1 at 11pm and in the dark? Our first rotation was hell. Was it? Yeah. Yeah. Going from going to camp 1, wind the whole night. Wind just crashing us the whole night. Couldn't see very far in front of you. And my dad said. Yeah, he said that compared to his first rotation that he did last time he climbed it, this was the hardest one he's done. Really? And I had my gloves, I had a thin layer of gloves, and then my big heated gloves on full max, and I still couldn't feel my fingers. It was awful. And then I was thinking, why am I here? Why why do why do this to myself?

SPEAKER_02 26:22

Why put yourself through that? Yeah. And then after you dig into your why and you keep going. Exactly. You don't give it too much thought, right?

SPEAKER_03 26:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

And then we see camp one. I just remember thinking, thank god. I can get my sleeping back, I can chill, yeah. And then waking up the next morning, we go to camp two. Yeah. And that is quite flat. It's 300 metres an incline. So it's quite a I say a nice day. Yeah, yeah. One of the nicer days for sure. How long does that take you? That took us four hours. Yeah, okay. To get to camp two then. Yeah. But camp one to camp two, you're in a you're in a valley of of between these two mountains, just everything white. When the sun comes out, you just get burnt. Because the white of the snow is reflecting the sun and heating it up and you're just sizzling. Really? And going across the flatness, either side is known for like the crevasse. This is where the crevasses are. Um there was a Sherper a few days before us who needed the loot and unclipped from the from the rope on the line. Went five metres that way and fell into a crevasse and and yeah, game over. So going to camp two, you really had to be careful with your footing, yeah, and just making sure that you're following the line and following the rope.

SPEAKER_02 27:45

Just a reminder of how how dangerous it is. Yeah, for sure. You know, these mountains, they're there's a whole different world, aren't they?

SPEAKER_03 27:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

Um, and the little experience I have, but even climbing how well in the leg district, even that's you've got to be you've got to be on your money. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. I mean, so you've reached camp two, tough day, four or five hours. Yeah. How's that you got there? You're in camp, nice coffee, a bit of soup, is there?

SPEAKER_01 28:16

Yeah, so camp two is more dis distinguished and set up because it's more on a flat surface. Yeah. So they call it the second base camp. So that you get more resources there because you can fly in from a helicopter, bit more comfortable, bit more comfortable, yeah, if it can be. Yeah, exactly. Still sleeping bags and tents, but more choice of food and more drinks and stuff like that, but still very avalanche prone. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:42

So you still got that in the back of your mind all the time. Yeah. Um, pushing on to camp three, how was that climb?

SPEAKER_01 28:49

For me, on our first rotation, that was probably my second highest day of the whole trip. Yeah. So a lot of people go on oxygen from camp two. And because it's just so at this point you're at 6,400 metres and you're struggling to breathe, your chest hurts, everything hurts. And a lot of people go on oxygen from from camp two. But me and my dad, we wanted to do it the way that Edmund Hillary did it, the first climber to scale Everest. So we went on oxygen. We didn't go on oxygen from camp two, we went on it from camp three. So camp two to camp three without oxygen was a challenge. Wow. Because you took the same route as him as well, didn't you? Yeah, yeah, same route. And I remember the walk to the Lotse face. So from camp two to camp three, you scale the Lotsi face. Okay. And that's a 70-degree ice wall. Wow. All the way to camp three. Blue ice slipping, crampons digging in. And the walk to the wall alone is three hours. Yeah. And then up the wall is another four. And I remember the whole way just letting out these groans and grunts of just pain and suffering. Before I even get to the ice wall. And I get to the ice wall and the first part of it 90 degrees. And I'm going up this 90 degree part. And I get up there and I'm like, and I literally cannot breathe. And my dad comes up behind me and he's like, relax. Just really relax. Your mindset coming up to the wall. I was saying, moaning, saying, Oh, it's so long, I can't do it. Yeah. Like, when are we there? And he said to me, You need to change that mindset. Otherwise, this mountain's gonna get the better of you. And I remember that flipping point of my mindset being from when are we there? Oh, I can't wait to get there, how much longer, to looking around me and seeing and remembering where I am and going back to my why and saying, Why am I doing this? Who am I doing it for? I remember just gritting my teeth and and really digging in and getting up that ice wall. And going up the ice wall, a few times I was just in tears, just just crying, just in pain, and so emotional my attitude as well. It pulls on your emotions. And we got there to camp three, and I remember bursting out crying with my dad at the top, making this massive milestone without oxygen with my dad at camp three, just crying on his shoulder, and he was like, You've made it to camp three, and now we can we can go back down. This is one of your hardest days. Wow. Oh, so that so you're you're you're on your rotation at that point. Yeah, still on that rotation. Wow, so you know you're gonna do all that again. Yeah, and that was mentally hard for me as well, thinking I've got to do this again. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:50

And because you're at that point, surely you just want to stay there in control.

SPEAKER_01 31:54

Yeah, exactly. I was thinking to myself, why can't we just get the oxygen tanks on and go up? And then I remembered we're on our first rotation and we have to go back down and got to do it all again. So back down to base camp.

SPEAKER_02 32:09

Yeah. Wow. So you've done so you've so you now you're you've done that rotation, you've climbed back up to uh camp three, did the same kind of no oxygen.

SPEAKER_01 32:19

Yeah, no oxygen, yeah. And going back up, sorry, the second time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, we've had it. Even the water. But um going back up the second time, my dad, I was at base camp and I was like, dad, that was that was hard, yeah. That was that was challenging.

SPEAKER_02 32:38

And that's the time to turn around.

SPEAKER_01 32:40

Yeah, at base camp, yeah, exactly. Yeah, I could have just got a helicopter there and said, Yeah, expedition over, yeah, which I definitely thought about a few times, yeah. And my I remember my dad uh talking to me in our tent and we had a base camp, saying, Trust me, the second time you go up is uh is a lot easier. Yeah, you know what you're doing, you had a lot of more experience with your crampons and your kit, and you're acclimatised to that altitude. So your body's used to that oxygen at camp three, which is 7,100 metres. So when you go back up the second time, your body will be used to the oxygen and you'll go a lot faster and you you'll climb a lot harder. So was it was it easier? Yeah, for sure, 100%. Because for your summit rotation, you go from base camp, skip camp one, and you go straight to camp two. Okay. So we had to we had to do like a took us eight hours to get from base camp to camp two. Straight to camp two, yeah. Which the first on our first rotation it took us that time to get to camp one. So we go you go a lot faster, a lot quicker. And I remember getting to camp one and thinking mentally I was I was thinking, I'm at I'm out of camp, I'm gonna relax. But we still had to go to camp two. And I sat down at camp one on our summer rotation, and I fell asleep on my backpack. And I remember my dad waking me up saying, We have to go to camp two, otherwise the sun's gonna come out and it's it's gonna be hot. And I remember getting up and and starting walking to camp two and throwing up, just every ten steps, throwing up, every ten steps, throwing up. And I said, This was a time I said to my dad, I want I want to go back. I want I want to turn around, I'm throwing up, I'm dizzy, I'm walking one foot in front of the other in this freezing cold snow, and dad's like, you cannot go back, and that's not an option. Sit down, recoup, get your mindset together, one step in front of the other. And that was the thing that stuck with me a lot to the top as well. Just one more step, just one more step, and those one steps was something in my mind that I was always thinking about just that one extra step, and if I can do that, I can do another one. And when I was throwing up was definitely one of the hardest times for me going up to the summit for sure. Yeah. So that was so where so what part was that that was from? That was from camp one to camp two, and that was at the very start of it as well. So we still had another two, three hours to go. Yeah, and the sun came out and was baking us every 30 steps. I remember counting in my head, 28, 29, 30, right, I could take a break, sit down my backpack, get back up, do a 30 steps and sit back down.

SPEAKER_02 35:30

Must have been very challenging for your for your dad to see you in pain like that, yeah, and not turn you around and not take you back. Because that's the easiest. Yeah, yeah, definitely. If any one of my children was thrown up and in pain and they didn't want to go home, you know, it's easy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:46

Because my dad posted a video of me on his Instagram after I'd come down from the summit. And I remember seeing in the caption, it's really hard for me to see my son like this. But I remember how I felt on Everest and I know that he's gonna be alright. And I he he never let me know that he was worried about me, even on the mountain when we were there. Because otherwise he knew that would have played with my mind. So he he was always that role model for me, looking at my dad, thinking he's fine, he's pushing through, he's working hard, and I'm gonna be the same. Yeah. So the whole way up the mountain, I was I was looking at my dad and thinking he's a strong role model for me. Amazing. Yeah. I think having that strong male figure in in my life as well, is very important just for someone to look up to and someone to replicate and made me the one of the one of the man I am today.

SPEAKER_02 36:41

You are exactly, yeah. So it's huge testament to testament to to kind of what you achieved and your dad, I guess, is kind of to where you are now. So it's been amazing to see, and and what an amazing thing to do to climb everything together. Yeah, um, it's incredible. So talk us through, you've you've powered on Europe camp three, yeah, you got to camp four now, what was that one like?

SPEAKER_01 37:02

Yeah. So getting to camp three, sleeping the night there with without oxygen, and camp three is on a slope like that. So we've had to like sort of dig into the snow to set up our tent, slept there the night without oxygen. And I remember having a dream at camp three. Well, it was a nightmare, and I remember in the dream I was next to an oxygen bottle and it exploded. And in my dream, I I was like, I was dead. Wow. And I and I and I woke up, sat bolt upright, and I was like, swearing, I was like, shit, shit, shit. And my dad was like, what's wrong, what's wrong? And I was like, oh my god, like deep breathing, couldn't catch my breath, and I was panicking. And my dad was like, You think you've had a bad dream, relax. Because when we were at camp two, one of the shopers left the oxygen bottle in the sun, and when it goes in the sun, it explodes. I was asleep on the floor in the dining tent when it exploded, and I remember thinking I've just been hit by an avalanche. Really? Because I was asleep- the noise of it. Because I was asleep, but the boom of it, you could hear it from camp 4. Yeah, it was it was it it was mental, like it was so loud, and I remember waking up in such a panic, and yeah, so that must have triggered that that dream in camp three. Yeah, the climb to act to camp four was hard. Was it? But going on oxygen from from camp three, you you felt good. You felt the difference in the massive difference, yeah. Your clarity in your head, your decision making, even your muscles are working harder, yeah, more efficient. But it's a longer day. So it took us how many how many hours is that one? 12. 12 hours. So it took us 12 hours from camp three to camp four. Yeah. So we start by going up these ice walls and around some ice walls, and then we went up the yellow band, and that's a big line of just yellow boulders and rocks that you have to climb over. And I remember that getting to that bit being very technical. Yeah. And getting over those rocks and rock climbing with these massive spikes in the bottom of your boots was just exhausting. And then we got up and around to Lotse Camp 4, and I was thinking, oh, this is Camp 4, like, cool, we're here. My dad was like, no, this is Lotse Camp 4. And I was like, you have to think. Yeah, exactly. So I get there, and at this point, I'm I'm digging deep. I'm thinking emotionally, my mum's with me, next to me, and her saying in my head, I'm with you every step of the way, repeating, repeating. And I almost sort of visualize my mum being next to me and and climbing with me, and it just helped my mind soothe and just relax me fully and gave me motivation to to keep pushing on. And that was really really inspiring for me, just having my mum emotionally with me and and my dad behind me, it really, really pushed me on. That's what got you there, was it? Yeah. Wow. And then just before camp four, there was a really steep bit, it's like on a on a ridge like that, and you you walk across, and it's all rocks just falling down, falling down. And I remember the sun coming out and my goggles steaming up, and I just started panicking. I was like, panic mode, fully, like, what do I do? My goggles, I can't see anything, yeah, like anything. And when they steam up, they start to freeze because of the moisture. I was like, right, I need to sort this out quick. And there's no way that my dad could come round either side to help me. Yeah, so I was like, I'm on my own here. This is the brutality of every man for himself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I remember taking my glasses off, panicking, trying to wipe them, keep steaming up, trying to wipe them, keep steaming up. And then I saw like a spat on my fingers and started rubbing it in, and then they didn't steam up. And my dad could see that I was flapping, and he just put his hand on my shoulder, and it sort of his hand coming on my shoulder just made me realise everything that he said said to me before. Yeah. Saying, mindset, mindset, don't let the mountain get the better of you. Relax. Everything that he said just rushed through me. It was it was it was unreal. And from there on I relaxed and just even that slight touch just gave me that tingle, yeah. Exactly, yeah. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 41:59

Just reminded you of kind of the techniques that he's taught you on the way up there and in life, like since you were since you were born. Exactly. Um incredible. Did you did you focus most on your breath work when you're in those kind of those moments of a bit panic, a bit kind of yeah, you're flapping a little bit? Did you then just have to go into a bit of breath work or anything?

SPEAKER_01 42:19

Yeah, for sure. I think breathing is one of the most underrated things that people talk about on the mountain. Everything that you're doing is about your breathing and about keeping your breath and getting enough oxygen in you to be able to keep going. And in those moments of panic, you really just have to suck in as much oxygen as you can to help you calm down, to help you get some mental clarity. So, yeah, I was just deep breathing, yeah, and turn up your oxygen tank a little bit to get some more oxygen in there, and yeah, definitely. And on the harder parts, you turn up your oxygen tank to make maybe level four just to really flow it and calm yourself down.

SPEAKER_02 43:02

Amazing. Yeah. So we're almost there, we're near we're nearly at summit now. We're getting into camp four now.

SPEAKER_01 43:09

Yeah, so the day you get to camp four is also the day you go on summit. Okay, so you so you haven't got long at camp four? No. So the quicker you get to camp four, the longer the rest you have for the summit. And I remember we got into camp four at I think it was around 11am. And wind. The wind was unbelievable. I'd never seen wind stronger than this. Like we got to the camp, no tent, all the tents are blown away. The shefers are running up the tents, like trying to set them up for us. It was mental. Yeah. But the state of camp 4 as well is is quite it's quite sad. Just rubbish everywhere, frozen into the ice. It's like a mini like wasteland almost. Yeah, it's it's crazy because it's really hard to bring stuff down. From camp four. It just gets kind of messy. People just dump it and leave it there. And yeah, it was quite it was quite sad to see just going up all this all this way, seeing the beautiful views and everything like that, and then getting into camp four and seeing this mess where the where the human and the climbers have just left all their stuff was was yeah, just a bit anti anti-climactic a bit.

SPEAKER_02 44:26

Yeah, and as you know, for it's uh for you to recognise that is is an attestment in itself, really, as a 17-year-old lad climbing up there concerned about the the state of of what we're doing to that surrounding it essentially, it can't fall. Yeah, um and yeah, like you said, I don't think there is a way of kind of bringing it down. No, no, is it it's a constant battle.

SPEAKER_01 44:49

Because the tents get blown away and then they get stuck into the ice, so you there's there's not really much you can do to unless you keep all your stuff not obviously blown away and off the mountain, but just together, yeah, and then you take it back down, but it's it's very hard. And then when we got there, we set up our tent, and then we get in the tent and we're just thinking about getting sleep, getting some water, getting some food in us, and then our Sherpers, we share a tent with our Sherpers, so it was me, my dad, my shepherd, and his Sherpa in the tent, and they they were great guys, they they were so good, yeah. They had all their little cooking equipment, their pots, their pans, giving us soup and water, and that they were great, yeah. Exactly. Didn't have much English, but they were very happy and energetic and signaling to us with their hands and communication was good, and then we're getting ready to set off.

SPEAKER_02 45:44

And I'm thinking so if you rested at all, did you manage to get much rest?

SPEAKER_01 45:48

Yeah, so we we got I got about three hours' sleep, and the rest I was just thinking the summit's there, the summit's there. So as you get to camp four, you can see the route up to the to the summit. And when we set off the winds were 75 to 80 kilometers an hour. Wow, and it was in a complete blizzard, you couldn't see anything. So we so we set off with our Sherpas. I'm super nervous, super pumped, super every emotion is just flowing through me at this point. And I remember in the storm that we were in, I remember watching my dad's documentary and thinking this is the bit where things went wrong. And that for me was was nerve-wracking. That was playing on your mind a lot. Playing on my mind a lot for sure. And because of the blizzard, all the ropes were buried, so we couldn't find any ropes. So we're scaling this blue ice and this snow going up towards the summit, not clipped in, no safety ropes, nothing, just following a Sherpa and just clipped to each other, just yeah, yeah, yeah. We shortlined to each other and and just thinking, yeah. But by this point, I wasn't shortlined to anyone. And I was me and my dad were just walking, not clipped to nothing, just on our own harnesses. And this big gust of wind came in and blew me off my feet. And I slid around three, four metres down the ice, and I managed to stop myself from my crampons. And at that point, when on the floor when I stopped, was when I thought my expedition was possibly over. At that point, you were always there. At that point, I'm I'm panicking, I'm scared, I'm worried, I want dad, I want to get off the mountain, I want to see my family. And that was the point where for me it was either you keep you keep going or you go home and you never see the summit. And my dad picked me up and said to me, You've been on this mountain for almost five weeks now. You cannot not summit. And I was thinking to myself, all the hard work that I put in to get here, the camp three twice without oxygen, yeah, coming up to camp four, going over that false summit, and for a lot say camp four and coming here and then going up, I have to make it. And in that point, all the messages and all the people that had said good luck and hope you make it, can't wait to see you at the top, but I'm with you every step of the way, just flooded my head, and I was like, I have to make it to the top. So I stood up and my legs were shaking uncontrollably. Like I I couldn't I couldn't keep them still. My dad could-adren't rush, yeah. Because I was when I got blown over, I thought I was gonna slide down the mountain and and possibly not not see another day. And then my dad's going through your mind, yeah. That's definitely that's a big factor. And I remember my dad and the chef was saying, we can't summon tonight, the weather's too bad. So we turned around, we were only 20 minutes off from camp anyway. So we turned around, went back to camp 4, slept another night, and tried to wait for the weather to subside. And the next day, weather was all through, really, really bad, super windy, and then all of a sudden it just stopped, and we were like, right, this is our this is our weather window that we need to hit. And that first 20 minutes of me going to where I fell over, and my dad having that talk with me was was the hardest. Just thinking this is where things went wrong before, and I need to get to the top. And by this point, all our resources, because you're only meant to stay at camp for one night, and so you're meant to get to camp for eight hours, summit, back down. But we went to camp for stayed an extra night that we were meant to. So all our resources, all our food, all our water, everything, gone off.

SPEAKER_02 50:12

Did you have anything with you?

SPEAKER_01 50:13

Nothing. No food, no water, and limited oxygen. So we had to turn our oxygen down to not the normal level, just slightly below to preserve it. And then we started. And thinking to myself the whole time that I'm gonna sum it in the next eight hours, just excited me so much. I was just thinking to myself, this is it. Yeah, this is when I'm gonna make history with my dad, and I'm gonna succeed for this four-year goal that I've been working towards and dreaming about for these last four or five years. And when we got up, there was a few queues, but a week before there was another summit window, and everyone rushed up. 250 people tried to summit on the 20th. Wow. And there were six hour queues, eight hour queues, people getting frostbite, people not making it off the mountain, and we waited an extra week because we knew that that window was going to be flooded. And when we went up, there was no one. It was us and a few other expedition groups, so it was really nice. And then going up in the pitch black again, just step after step, was scary. And then we passed Nims, who is my dad's good friend, crazy mountaineer, one of my biggest inspirations for sure. And we passed him because he was doing it without oxygen with one of his clients, he's had a private client. And I remember seeing him, and I did my first mountain with him, and he was there when I was born, and with my dad through the special forces, and he was the one that made this expedition possible. And I remember walking past him and him saying, You got this son, because his English is not the best, and he just said, You got this son, and I remember thinking, I'm gonna I'm gonna see Nims at the top, I'm gonna make it. Yeah, yeah, and then from there on I was digging deep mentally, physically, and we got to the balcony after five hours, so it's like that for five hours, and then you get to like a sort of flap it, yeah, and then we sat down, recouped, hydrated with what we could. We had to ask uh another expedition group for some resources because we'd run out. Are they forthgiving with handing out resources at that point at that point? I reckon I reckon I had like 20 millilitres of a zip, and now we're like, right, give it back. Yeah, and then we go onto this small path, and I reckon it's about this this wide. Massive drop either side, and you've only got a rope that you're holding on to. And I remember thinking to myself, just don't look at the drop. Do not look at the drop, just look at the next step in front of you, because particularly it's quite ironic, I'm not good with heights. Like high, high jumping off high bridges with my mates into lakes and stuff like that. I'm not very good with like heights, so I especially with like massive drops. So when I saw it, I was like, whoa, I need to not look at I need to not look at that, I need to not focus on that. So we've got past that bit and then it opens up again, and then you're on the way to your to the to the south summit. So the south summit is 8,700 metres, and that's the sort of bit that you get to and you think you summit, and then you look and you're like, alright, another hour I'd say. Okay. So then we make it to the south summit, and I remember thinking from that the sun was coming up, my dad saying, look at look at the look at the sunrise. Yeah, and it was the best view I've ever had in my whole life. The oranges, the pinks, the yellows, the rolling mountains of the Himalayas. Yeah. You could see the curve of the earth, like from there. And I remember sharing at the moment with my dad, and it was super emotional just seeing at the summit, and I'm not even at the summit. And then we get to the south summit, and with that view, take it in for a bit, and then dad's saying to me, This is the final push to the summit, about another hour. So we get down to South Summit, you go and you go down a little bit, and then you go round. So I remember just passing the South Summit, and the next biggest challenge I'd say of the whole climb is the Hillary step. So this is the bit where most of the climbers die on the way back down and the way up. This is where we saw the most dead bodies. And for me, this part was was the scariest for sure. So my dad was like, Gabe, you're gonna go first into the Hillary steppe. Because the Hillary step is on a slant like that, and you've got these like plates of rocks that just crumble under your crampons, and it's so thin that you've got to communicate with the people coming down, saying, like, right, I'm gonna go, right now you're gonna go. And if you fall off on the Hillary step, no one can save you. It's you're all on your own, and that's why there's so many people just hanging on the ropes off the Hillary step, just laying there frozen in the snow. Because the risk of saving your life for someone else, you're risking your whole team, you're risking other people's lives, and it's every man for themselves up there. So one small step and yeah, one small slit, one small step, and if you get it wrong, then that's it. That's it. And they can't pull the rope up either because the rocks are so fragile, so you can't even put that weight. So if you fall they just put another rope.

SPEAKER_03 56:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 56:06

And I remember going across those crumbly rocks and being on that rope and looking at those bodies and thinking they were a lot more experienced climbers than me at a lot older age. I might lie here. I was like, this is the point where I could slip and never see people again. And for me that was the the hardest part of the time. Seeing those people and having to go across this hillary step. So I I managed to get across it, and I was looking at my dad coming across it, and my heart was was pumping was watching your dad do it. Just watching my dad do it, because even him, like you can everyone slips a little bit and stuff, and every time his boot slipped a tiny bit, I was like, Of course, like it was it was hard, and we both made it past the Hillary step. Once you get past there, you know you've made it 15 minutes to the top, and you know that you made it. So we're walking to the top, and I see the summit, and we make it there, and I just fell to my knees. I was so exhausted, so dehydrated, so malnourished. Yeah. Got there, fell to my knees, and just started crying, bawling my eyes out. I was like, I've made it, I'm at the top of the world. And that that feeling for me was that sense of achievement and and self-gratitude was was the best feeling ever. It was it was crazy. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 57:46

So it and was it like overwhelming like all these emotions, was it what you expected, or had you not really thought about what that would feel like at the summit at the summit?

SPEAKER_01 57:56

Yeah, I'm what not what I expected at all. No, I didn't expect to be tearing myself down to the raw bone and seeing all these emotions and seeing everything, and yeah, it was just not what I expected. And to do that with your dad as well. Yeah, exactly. When my dad got to the top with me, we were both super emotional. Yeah. My dad had had a little tear in his and then we went in. Yeah. And then we took our pictures, got the Millfield badge, got one with me pointing to it. And then we spent 15 minutes there, but when we got there, the wind started picking up again, and we couldn't see the view because the snow with the blizzard comes in quick. It was coming in quick, the weather just changes like that. It's I've never seen weather quite change so quick in an environment. And then we spent 15 minutes there, and then it was getting windy. And I said to Dad, we need to get back down. And Dad said to me, Yeah, we do. And after the climb, I said to Dad, I asked him, I said, When the wind was coming, and I said we need to get back down, what were you thinking there? Because I was I was quite worried. And he said, I didn't I didn't want to tell you at the time, but it gave me flashbacks to when I was coming down from the summit in 2018 when the wind started coming in, and he said that he just wanted to get down as quick as possible. So we spent 15 minutes at the top, and we had to face the Hillary step again, coming back down. And coming back down is mostly where people crumble of exhaustion, not enough oxygen, giving up, slipping. Because on the way up you've got a Duma, and you can pull it up and it won't come down the rope. Like it's impossible, and you can sort of lean on it, hang on it. But coming down, you've only got your carabinas on the safety rope, and you have to wrap your hand around the rope and sort of abseil down. And going down the Hillary step like that for me was just petrifying. So my dad went first going down, and the Hillary step goes like that, yeah, and then to the South Summit. Um my dad had gone over that bit of the hill and he couldn't see me anymore, and I couldn't see him. I spent 20 minutes just trying to get over that hill. My dad said that he was super worried about me. Couldn't be 20 minutes of his life, yeah. He was just sat there staring at that bit, waiting for my head to pop up, and every climber that wasn't me, he was like, where's gay? Where's gay? I'm getting I'm getting scared. And then I came over and he said that he just had that massive just relief and coming back down was another mindset shift. Yeah, I had a lot of mindset shifts throughout the throughout the climb, especially so my main ones were at camp three, camp four when we had that where I've got blown down the mountain, yeah, and then coming back down, and coming back down, I was thinking to myself, I've done it, I've done it, um, um, I've got to the top, but I was only halfway, I had I still had to come all the way down, and my dad was saying to me, This is where most people have fatalities and and and don't make it. So this is the part where you're most exhausted, most mentally drained, most physically drained that you have to really focus. So it took us 12 hours to the top. We summited at 9am, 9 30am. We made back down, took us six hours, and we got back down to camp four, and I remember NIMS opening up our tent 30 minutes after we just got in, saying you need to get back down to camp three.

unknown 1:01:59

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:59

Because of the weather? Because of the weather and you don't have enough oxygen to stay here. Because as soon as you get past the death zone, yeah, which is 8,000 metres, you're on a clock for your oxygen, for the weather, everything.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:11

Did you manage to get hold of any food or drink at this point?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:14

Still nothing. Wow. It's still bare. Yeah. And then we made that down, we made it back down to camp three, and then that took us eight hours, and by the time it was 11 pm, they closed camp three because we were so close to the end of the season. The season closed on the 29th, we summit in on the 27th. So we had to get back down quick. Yeah. So we got to camp three and closed it all off. We found like a row of tents that had just been left there, like by pure chance. Yeah. Like some someone left those tents there, and we were just thankful they were there. Yeah. So we slept in those for the night until first sun. Yeah. And then we made it back down to camp 2 and back down the oxy face, which is another really, really hard part, just abselling all the way down using the friction on a blue ice like that. And one of the shoppers actually not in our team, but died doing that bit. Really?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:15

Because he came off here. Incredible. So you're on your way down. I need you to relocate this moment and we have a drink to read a quote out from this is from you. Yeah. I never knew that through such depths of pain and suffering there could be so much elation on the other end. Yeah. It was as if the pain just vanished and turned into instant joy once the task was complete. So where were you at the summit when you said that? Base camp. You were at base camp.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:42

Yeah. So I just got down from so we went from camp three to base camp in the all in the same day.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:48

And when I got to base camp.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:51

So you you've got you got into those tents that weren't yours. Yeah. And you slept there.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:55

Yeah, camp three to base camp. Camp 3, camp 2 to base camp. Yeah. And from camp 2 to base camp coming back down the Kumbo Ice Wall, for me was another challenging, challenging time. Coming down those ice walls, coming down the crevasses, and being so tired and so exhausted. And at camp 2 we had food and water. So we didn't have food and water for a total of two days. Wow. And we were ripping icicles off just to eat them. Survive, just to eat them. Just to survive. And then coming back down the ice fall, my feet full of blisters, toenails coming off. I could feel them lifting up my boobs, calves cramping, shin splints, everything, exhausted, having lost 15 kilos at this point. And I remember my dad saying to me, Who do you want to make friends with? And I went, Dad, what are you on about? What are you talking about? Yeah, what do you mean? And he went, right now, you are at your this is you right now. You're at your raw skin and bone. This mountain has stripped everything off of you. And in these moments, right now, this is you. And I said, Yeah, but what do you mean who do you want to make friends with? And he went, Who do you want to be? Do you want to be that guy that is negative, gives up, fails, and doesn't go anywhere? Or do you want to be friends with that guy who pushes through, knows he can do anything, mentally strong? And I remember in that point, I was just thinking to myself, I want to be the guy who's who's mentally strong, pushing through challenges and and learning these lessons of that I'm going to carry through for the rest of my life. And him talking to me behind me throughout the whole way back to base camp saying, Who do you want to be friends with? Do you want to be friends with this version of yourself or that version of yourself? Don't give up, you're gonna make it. It's the last stretch. Think about all the people that. I've invested into this and believed in you and I made it back to base camp and just burst out crying.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:07

Wow. So he was just he knew what he was doing. It was a mindset thing to get you back to base camp. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:13

And I just remember thinking to myself at Base Camp all the all that pain. Yeah. Gone. And I I I'd done it. I was finally safe and I'd done it. And the joy and that experience of my dad, just having known that I'd done it, getting the messages through from my mum, saying, Oh, I've been so worried, I I can't believe it, I can't wait to see you. Just all that pain and suffering that I've just been through. It was almost like magic, it just gone. And it was amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:49

Just instant, instant joy.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:51

Yeah, literally.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:52

You've done it, the emotions are raw, you've done it with your dad. It's a it's a it's a the British um youngest guy to ever summit every yeah, it's a world's first, yeah. Um it's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:04

Yeah, and that moment when my dad said to me, son, you've just fucking thought I'd Everest. And I was like, Yeah, I have, and we were like super happy, and then I was super emotional and back at base camp, and everything was just flowing, and my dad saying, Yeah, you're you're the youngest Brit, yeah, you've done it, now we can get the helicopter and go back to to normal, safe life. And it didn't feel real. Has it sunk in yet? Not for not fully, but definitely that more 100%. But at Base Camp I was like, How have I just pushed myself that far? How have I just put myself in those situations and and really succeeded? And I go back to thinking a lot of people doubted me. People texted me online, some of my mates saying, Oh, do you really think you're gonna make it? Are you are you sure you're gonna make it? What happens if you die? And I was like, that's not the mindset I'm gonna have up there. And all those people that said, Are you gonna make it? are some people even said to me, I hope you don't make it. Just people just being really negative. And I remember getting down and thinking, I did just fucking do that. Okay, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:22

Yeah, amazing, yeah. Incredible, and you know, unfortunately, in this world we live in, we do get a few critics and haters, but you proved everyone wrong. Well the or not everyone, but the people who did potentially doubt your um what you just went in the gym. Yeah. You said um you said watching my father lead by example made me realise it was possible. So what is there anything in particular he did on the mountain that you've never seen him do before? Or anything he said?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:48

Yeah, for sure. There was times when we were going from camp two to camp three at oxygen that he was in front of me, like going like grunting and saying like, oh this is this is this is difficult, like out of breath and physically weak. And I'd never seen my dad at at a weak point, really, yeah, prior to this. I've never seen him at a struggle vulnerable as well. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And getting stripped down to our bare personalities and our mindsets together and rebuilding it back after we'd summited was one of the most valuable things that I've had in my life. Just my dad helping me, the mountain, and just really made made me look at things in a different perspective almost. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:38

Yeah, it's amazing, you know. We always say that going through shared shared challenges like that, shared hardship, does bring you closer together, and it's easy to do it together. And um you and your dad sound like you're incredibly close, but this maybe it brought you even closer. Yeah, this experience.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:53

100%. I've always bit been a bit of a mummy's boy. So uh when I asked my mum to do this with dad, at first she was like, no way, no way, and then we managed to convince her. Amazing. Yeah, did that take a little convincing? Yeah, definitely. Because she'd watched my dad's documentary as well. Yeah, and after that, she was like, No, my my boy's not going up there, no way. And then my dad uh managed to convince her, but especially for my mum, we didn't have communication with her for four days when we were meant to sum it, and she was calling everyone, ringing everyone, texting everyone, she was telling me she went through her own little Everest then, yeah, sleepless nights. And you talk about a lot of climbing your own Everest, and this was her own Everest. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Me and Dad being on the mountain, and her having to look after my siblings and and make sure that their lives don't get impacted or they're worrying that me and dad are climbing, and she was just so strong throughout the whole thing. That's a shout out to your mum, yeah, exactly. Legend. Yeah, shout out to the mum.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:58

Yeah, exactly. That's good, I love that. So, Gabe, you're 17, you've done the thing most people put on a bucket list for a life. What do you do now? Well, you're a serious for every pair, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:11

So, yeah, is that kind of the next for sure. Yeah, I mean, right now I'm I've missed a lot of school and I just trying to focus on getting up to speed, obviously. But in terms of big challenges, I I want to really focus on my rugby and try and get into a a club for a contract. And yeah, just I don't know, maybe other mountains in the future. This summer I'm climbing Kilimanjaro with my little brother. Amazing. So we got really well, we wouldn't. And your dad as well on that one? Yeah, my dad as well. And then yeah, just going through just going through the stages of life. I haven't really got a another big, big mountain. I don't know where you go after everyone. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:55

Normally people build up to that. Um straight in.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:59

Um but yeah, just life out, I think, yeah. Well, good, and you should just enjoy life for what it is right now. You're 17, enjoy, enjoy the school you're at. Yeah. Um what would you say to a third a 13-year-old sitting in this school right now who has their own version of a big dream and no idea if it's possible or not?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:16

Yeah. I'd say don't put any limit on yourself. The moment that you start capping yourself and and getting into that mindset that this might not be possible, is it's things that people tell you to do because they don't want you to succeed. I think be as ambitious as possible and think about the biggest dreams you can, and and especially a young person, you young people can do as much as older people, and proven that. Yeah, don't put a doubt and a limit on your capabilities, and you'll get very far. And going back to what you said earlier, just one step at a time.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:55

One step at a time, exactly. So, this podcast game is called Rise through Everest. Most people I interview, Everest is a metaphor. The hardest thing in their life, the thing that they're trying to overcome, and you've literally just done Everest.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:08

So, my final question to you what is your Everest right now?

SPEAKER_01 1:13:14

My Everest right now? That's a good question. Take your time. Probably just making sure that I can be the best version of myself possible. Not thinking that I've just done Everest, I'm I'm this, I'm that, but being the best brother I can be, being the best son I can be, being the best friend I can be, just being the best version of myself, and that's getting that 1% every day, then I'll do that, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:42

You certainly sound like you're doing that, and um this has been enjoyable. Like I wish I could reverse some time and come back and be part of your rugby team. I'd have to share a few of you. Unfortunately, um yeah, 20 years down the line. Yeah. But no, genuinely one of the most enjoyable um podcasts I've done. So, Gabe, thank you very much for coming on, appreciate you. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:01

It was a very good conversation and love being here. Thank you. Cheers.