Exodus inspired me to the summit of the world

15th October 2007

On a daily basis I am asked why I climbed Everest. The answer to that is multi-dimensional, reflecting the many parts of me, my strengths and my sources of happiness that mountaineering plays to. For example, the rather contradictory enjoyments of being part of a brilliant team yet the desire for solitude and quietude are both satisfied in mountaineering. Importantly however, my overriding motive for climbing Everest. is that I absolutely adore mountains. This, surprisingly or not, is not a common motive on Everest.

Motives, desires and drives are varied in the quest to reach the highest point on earth and often have little to do with the astounding slopes, peaks, ridges and tear inducing sunsets and sunrises of our world’s highest mountain.

Everest or more appropriately, Sagarmatha (Nepalese) or Chomoloungma (Tibetan), is a beautiful mountain, yet how many times have you read that? Not many, if at all, I’m guessing. You’ve probably read about crowds, rubbish and climbers stepping over dying others. This is what sells papers and keeps the arm chair mountaineer justified in his uninformed rants, as well as firmly in his arm chair.

As a woman who has been to the top and back down again, I am privileged to be able to minimise the tabloid-isms and will be delighted to share with you her form, face and contours.

As with all mountains, if all a person is going to Everest. for is the summit, they are missing out on innumerable joys.

Summitting Mount Everest would be a wholly soulless experience without appreciation of her mesmerising kingdom, rich in colour, warmth and wisdom. Her people’s culture, with their unconditional kindness and trust, and their religions, lacking in judgement whilst over flowing with appreciation for the simplicities of life and human nature. All of this is set to the backdrop of bewitching scenery with its thunderous avalanches, the cooling chime of monasteries and the comforting clink of yak bells. Mount Everest is not mutually exclusive from all of this. She has been born of it and now, in turn, she feeds it.

The triumph may lie in a summit, yet the true magic exists in the journey there and back.

My journey to Everest has indeed been magical. It was never my initial goal. It has been a genuine and deep seated adoration of hills, vales, summits and views that has led me there. An entirely natural progression. I don’t mean to project climbing as a simple step up from trekking. The only thing that climbing and walking have in common is that we place one appendage in front of the other in order to move from A to B.

As an entirely more technical pastime, mountaineering requires vast experience, skill, judgement, immense strength and stamina of both mind and body, fortitude at altitude, in plummeting temperatures and jet stream winds. In depth knowledge of the human body’s vulnerabilities and risks at altitude and a thorough education in high altitude illnesses, their prevention and treatments, is also essential. It also requires an ability to be entirely at one with oneself, as there will be days, even weeks of actually being or feeling more lonely than you have ever been or felt before. Mountaineering is for a certain type of person.

My personal love affair with ‘all things mountainous’ began a long time ago. As a toddler, I was taken to the Lake District, North Wales, the Peak District and have wonderful memories of misty mountain tops and the log fire aftermath of wind, cold, snow and mud. An inherent seed was indeed fertilised.

Mountains and I were separated for years, through university and the post university throws of neon lit London life and work. However, one night, in a moment of stark lucidity, I was struck with the realisation that I had absolutely no desire for a two week sun soaked holiday that I’d had organised for six months.

Its limitations jarred with my desire for something far more fulfilling, inspiring and worthy of my hard earned money and precious time.

The night before my due departure, I cancelled my two week prospect of ‘not much, really’ and off I went, alone, to mountains. This was ten years ago and I have never looked back.

Ten years of astounding adventures have since worn down many boots, put holes in uncountable socks, stocked my shelves with maps, summit certificates and left my limbs with bruises and life long scars.

With each scar sits a unique experience and memory of another far flung place in the world, elation or fear and another life long friendship.

Six of my adventures (and none of my scars, I hasten to add!) have come of six very different trips with Exodus, each one has consolidated and enhanced my desire for ascents, descents and roaming scenery. Each is uniquely vivid in my mind.

Amy Beeton
One of only a few British women to ever summit Everest.
Copyright Amy Beeton October 2007 - visit Amy's website for more articles and images of her trips

View all our Everest trekking holidays

Picos de Europa

Blessed with 11 (out of 12) days of stunning weather, this trip took us through green pastures, over the limestone debris of an ever folding landscape and beneath the towering pinnacles of the high Picos mountains. Trekking combined with scrambling led us to ‘Jou Los Cabrones’ the most remote mountain hut in Europe.

Most poignant memories
Eating the famously aromatic, blue veined Cabrales cheese, served from a tiny, isolated Hansel and Gretel hut by a family, the members of which seemed far too numerous to fit into this tiny hillside dwelling. The distinctive potency of the cheese was undoubtedly enhanced by the presence of the cows that had generously produced our wonderful dairy, our soporific valley views and our most eccentric, grassy, gastronomic location.

Noticing true silence for the first time ever, a scramble away from Jou Los Cabrones. My ears rang with noiselessness and sent me to sleep beneath one of the richest blue skies I’ve ever experienced.

Pouring local Cidre with the traditional ‘over the shoulder’ method and bathing in a stream, glacial enough to cause a heart attack, before dinner in the beautiful village of Bulnes, then reachable only on foot.

On this trip I met one of my favourite people in the world, my great friend Caroline.

View all our trips to the Picos de Europa region.

Annapurna Adventure

Caroline and I went on this awe inspiring trekking and white water rafting adventure together.

This was my first taste of the Kingdom of Himalayan Giants and Goddesses. It was there, 9 years ago, that I first glimpsed the Goddess of them all, Mount Everest . As a trekker at the time, I had no conscious notion that I’d become a skilled mountaineer, yet I knew I’d be back.

Most poignant memories
A misty, early morning visit to a monastery in Kathmandu. The sharp morning air was rich with incense, as gold and deep maroon clad monks padded softly across a chilly square to join the gradual crescendo of sonorous chanting, with their gathering fellow Monks.

Awakening in a tea house at Chomro to a bright and crisp morning and the phenomenal sight of Machhapuchhare the revered ‘Fishtail mountain’ – the Matterhorn of the Himalayas.
The romantic and crumbling 19th century palace at Rani Ghat, on the banks of the raging Kali Gandaki, down which we were white water rafting for five days. This most opulent of places felt saddened with lengthy neglect. It longed for deserving residents and its former glory. I recall thinking that this incredible isolated structure and setting would magically stage tragedy or romance with equal affect.

Feeling ‘trivial’ (!) for the first time, as I felt the centredness of Buddhism around me. I recall our leader Kaji Sherpa and his calmness. It rubbed off on me from several metres away. Kaji has also just summitted Everest this year, from the Tibetan side.

View all our Annapurna trips.

Haute Route Zermatt to Verbier

Mountainous memories
I saw the Matterhorn for the first time. It was reminiscent of Machhapuchhare in Nepal. They are similarly uncompromising and represent the juxtaposing notions of magnetism and intimidation. I felt myself very impressed that people should climb its fabulous form.

I loved our very civilised picnic lunches with checked tablecloth, chopping boards, a cruet set. It was all very ‘Famous Five’ and full of hilarity.

Lakes of emerald green and sapphire blue astounded my retinas and I recall thinking that I’d entered utopia when, as I sat amidst Alpine flora, looking down upon a glacial lake, I simultaneously saw a Chamois, heard a Marmot and felt a butterfly flap by my ear. A lump of chocolate completed the picture and all of my senses were alight.

I learnt far more than ever before about mountain flora and fauna. The Marmot has become my climbing mascot and my stuffed version has just summitted Everest with me.

View our Haute Route trek.

Haute Pyrenees Trek

This 8 day adventure began and ended in La Feniere, Exodus’s hut in the French Pyrenees and handed us some pretty wild weather changes in between, often two or three in a day.

Mountainous Memories
A dramatic weather change on the Spanish-French border necessitated a hasty lesson in crampon technique and self-arrest from our guide, Mike. I loved it. The more challenging the weather, the more I enjoyed myself and this was when I discovered I had a penchant for snow, ice and cold. I decided that to become better skilled and self sufficient in these conditions was a worthy quest and so I sought more of this.

As the weather remained delightfully challenging, we were unfortunately unable to make an ascent of Pico de Aneto. Undeterred, I returned later to do this.

Returning to the warm glow of La Feniere http://www.exodus.co.uk/holidays/tep1.html was marvellous and my trip ended with an addictive Paraglide over Luchon.

View our Haute Pyrenees Trek.

Aconcagua Ascent

This was my first high altitude ascent during which I learnt many valuable lessons.

I found that I fared very well at altitude and carrying heavy loads. My discovery of a love for living with only what I needed to survive on for a lengthy period, whet my appetite for expedition and high altitude mountaineering.

Mountainous memories:
At Nido des Condores (Condors’ nest), our camp at 5,400 metres, the gathering clouds and rising wind of an impending storm filled the burnished orange sky with intensely angry, distended black clouds. This gave way to a ferocious storm. My two tents mates spent the night with their feet in the air, keeping our tent from collapsing, as I slept blissfully through. This ability to sleep through the crash of avalanches, appalling storms and at high altitude is extremely rare and a mixed blessing, yet has so far served me well!

I met Richard, a great friend to this day and fellow mountaineer.

Dolomites Via Ferrata

This 8 day tour of the elegant lime stone towers of the Dolomites was wonderful. The Via Ferrata were exhilarating, offering swift progression up and over the prickly limestone and affording stunning views over the landscape - mesmerising at sunrise and sunset. I developed a taste for rock climbing. I also made the essential discovery that having boots one size too big, gave me the feeling that my feet were suspended in nothing and as a result, I felt somewhat disconnected from the rock! I needed to work on my rock climbing skills to complement my improving snow and ice skills. When I bought a better fitting pair of boots, my relationship with rock improved instantly!

Most poignant memories:
A tiny mountain hut, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, serving superb cakes and cappuccini (with a heart shaped chocolate sprinkling). So bourgeois, yet so remote! It has to rank as one of the most welcome cappuccini I’ve ever had!

The sharpness of the young limestone, bearing sea shells and fossilized creatures of the ocean, the pink glow of sunset on the Rosengarten Mountains and the eccentric sense of humour of our guide, Wolfgang. I named my second mountain mascot, a frog, after Wolfgang. He has also just been to the top of Mount Everest. As I did have more life saving items to carry than stuffed toys, this one was carried by my guide. The most hardened of climbers are able to admit that they have a cuddly toy with them….

It was after this trip that I truly prioritised mountains above all else and my climbing took on new heights, greater risks and lower temperatures.

So…Exodus, Everest and I…

Exodus has certainly consolidated my love of mountains, exposed me to specific experiences and has undoubtedly inspired my climbing. Next: the trek to base camp, altitude and Everest.