MULTISPORT
Ready to
Tackle
Everest
The steep, winding Outeniqua
Pass, with George in the distance
The Outeniqua Everesting team, (back) JC Visser, Michael John
Pietersen and Juan Oosthuizen; (front) Craig Shillaw, Mauritz
Jansen Van Rensburg and Tim Toovey
Climbing the world’s highest mountain is something that only a select few can do, but climbing the equivalent height of
Everest is slightly more doable, and in August the Outeniqua Everesting team will set out to conquer their ‘Everest’ to raise
funds for a great cause. – BY ANEL OOSTHUIZEN
There are many epic adventure stories of
summiting the world’s highest peak, Mount
Everest, including the fabled 1924 expedition,
which still elicits great debate about whether
Englishmen George Mallory and Sandy Irvine actually
reached the summit before disappearing. More
commonly known is the story of the 1953 expedition
that saw New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa
Tenzing Norgay officially become the first two climbers
to step onto the summit at 8848m above sea level.
Years later, the conquest of Everest has led to a
new kind of challenge, known as ‘Everesting,’ where
cyclists pick a hill, mountain or pass, anywhere in
the world, and ascend and descend it multiple times
in a single activity until they have climbed 8,848m –
the equivalent height of Mt Everest. The first event
described as “Everesting” was by George Mallory,
grandson of the Mallory who disappeared on Everest.
The younger Mallory ascended Mount Donna Buang
in Australia in 1994, riding eight ‘laps’ of the 1069m
hill. Inspired by Mallory’s ride, the format and rules of
Everesting were cemented by Andy van Bergen, and
in the first official group effort he organised, 40 out of
65 riders finished the Everesting attempt. The event
has also been extended to include running.
Unsurprisingly, Everesting is described as “fiendishly
simple, yet brutally hard, the most difficult climbing
challenge in the world.” And that is what a group of six
cyclists from George will be doing when they tackle
the Outeniqua Everesting Challenge on 29 August to
raise funds for the SPCA George and the Outeniqua
MOTH Shellhole. They will cycle up the Outeniqua
Pass, on the N12 between George and Oudtshoorn,
in the Outeniqua Mountains of the Western Cape.
They will need to climb the pass 15 and a half times,
with a total distance of approximately 310km, in order
to climb the equivalent height of Mt Everest! We did
a quick Q&A with JC Visser, mastermind behind the
challenge, to find out more.
How did you come upon this idea?
JC: “The idea originated about 2am one morning.
Amongst all the COVID-19 pandemic crises the world
is experiencing, I thought, what can we do to relieve
the pressure on some local charities? The SPCA
George and the Outeniqua Shellhole are doing such
an amazing job in and around George, while being
under great financial pressure due to the COVID-19
outbreak.”
There are a lot of charities that need help in this
time, how did you decide on SPCA George?
JC: “Animals are very near and dear to our hearts,
and we feel that someone needs to be the voice for
the animals, seeing that they can’t talk for themselves,
and they are in as much of a crisis as we are at
the moment. We have also selected the Outeniqua
Shellhole to be our second beneficiary charity, and we
are very excited that they will also assist on the day
with nutrition, etc.”
How did you choose the team of riders?
JC: “I decided to invite some like-minded cyclist
friends, so I came up with a list of people to invite.
That list was obviously way too long to invite
everybody, seeing that we’re not allowed to ride in big
groups at the moment, but I was very pleased to see
that each person that was handed an invitation, gladly
accepted the challenge to support this great cause
with open arms. The average age of our six-man team
is 41, but there is almost a 30-year age gap between
the youngest and oldest riders.”
Has anyone ever attempted Everesting on
Outeniqua pass?
JC: “Yes, I know of two successful individual
attempts on the Outeniqua Pass.”
Tell us about the rules of Everesting.
JC: “There are quite a few rules, and Hells500 is the
company that verifies if the attempt was successful.
The first and most important rule is that you need to
ascend the vertical height of Mt Everest in one ride.
No sleeping is allowed during the ride. Also, you may
not change route, or ascend on a different route than
the one you are ‘climbing’ on. All the climbing must be
done on the same route.”
How long do you think it will take you guys?
JC: “About 16 hours of ride time. That is excluding
our ‘refuelling’ time, as we’ll have three brief stops for
breakfast, lunch and dinner. Should be a great day’s
riding!”
Any queries on ways to get involved or to
support the ride can be directed to the team’s
Facebook page: Outeniqua Everesting Event
for George SPCA
Images: Anel Oosthuizen, V Berger/Wikipedia & courtesy DEDs Photography
Fastest Known Time
The current record holder for Everesting is retired pro cyclist Alberto Contador. The Spaniard won the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia
twice each, and the Vuelta a España three times, and is one of only seven riders to have won all the Grand Tours of cycling, and one of
JC and Juan training
only two riders to have won all three more than once. He set the Everesting ‘fastest known time’ on 7 July this year, in Spain, when he
on 42the pass ISSUE 132 JULY 2020 / www.modernathlete.co.za
completed the challenge in 7:27:20.