Vitamin A(wesome): Kathleen & Mt. Everest

It’s time for the first installment of Vitamin A(wesome) and I’m so excited to introduce you to Kathleen. I stumbled upon her blog a couple months ago and after about two posts I was absolutely smitten with her design style, her adorable house and that head of crazy blond curls.

In 2009 Kathleen and her husband, Jeremy, took a trip to Nepal and trekked to the top of Mt. Everest. When this series started brewing in my brain she was the first person I thought about. If climbing a mountain isn’t inspiring, well then I just can’t help ya ;)

So without further ado, here’s your first dose of Vitamin A(wesome)…

What sparked your passion for Everest and trekking?

It started when I watched a documentary on the Discovery Channel called Everest: Beyond the Limit. It’s like… I knew that to summit Mt. Everest was a big deal but I didn’t really understand what a feat it really was. From there I started watching every Everest documentary I could get my hands on and read books on the subject. It became a little bit of an obsession.

It was scary not knowing what to expect. I was especially anxious about the flight from Kathmandu into Lukla (the most dangerous airport in the world). I’m not afraid of flying (I’ve even been skydiving!) but there are fatal crashes in Lukla almost yearly. It also seems really silly now but I was super concerned with not knowing what the bathroom situation was going to be like.

Perspective. Traveling to the other side of the world and spending hours a day just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other and breathing awakened something in me – I don’t think I’ve ever felt more present. And the world all of a sudden seemed much smaller than I had made it out to be. 

It was really cloudy & foggy out for the first part of our trek. We didn’t really get majestic views of the Himalayas. But then one evening, after dinner, as I was playing cards with my trek mates in a tea lodge our guide Buddhi ran in to tell us that the clouds had cleared. We went out and saw the most amazing mountain in the moonlight. I will never forget that view.

Find a trekking company or buy a guide book if you want to go it alone. I used The Mountain Company and would highly recommend them. From there buy a ticket to Kathmandu. It’s as simple as that. I would definitely recommend getting in shape. Build up your leg muscles so they don’t fail you when you’re struggling to put one foot in front of the other at altitude.

Three tips for trekking:
1. Break in your hiking boots in advance.
2. Drink lots of water.
3. Be present. Focus. Put one foot in front of the other. Breathe.

Thanks for sharing your story Kathleen!
If you’d like you read about the entire trek and see all her spectacular photos hop on over to her blog!

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