Introduction to Gavin Bate & Mt Everest

The first time I climbed Everest was on the south-east ridge in 2000 when I turned back at the South Summit, at 8748m just a 100 vertical metres from the top. That was part of my 7 Summits odyssey, to climb the highest peaks on the seven continents in one year for the Millennium.

The team used full Sherpa support and bottled oxygen and were the first to summit Everest in the year 2000. In all respects it was a successful expedition but one that personally left me with unfinished business.

On the plus side, the Seven Summits had been climbed inside one year (eventually achieved by friend Andrew Salter), and I had organised the expedition and raised £1 for every foot climbed for charity - a little over £140,000.00.

The second time I tackled Everest was by the Northeast Ridge in 2002 with Northern Irish friend Will Canning. This time no bottled oxygen or climbing support was used. We climbed successfully using only two camps above ABC.

It was a tough trip and we reached the height of the Second Step, at 8728m, when Will dislocated his knee in a freak accident. It took us three very difficult days to descend back to Advance Base Camp, much of it in the teeth of bad weather. Presumed dead, our descent was hailed as one of great courage and determination.

For my third expedition to climb Mount Everest in 2005 I returned to attempt the South East Ridge, alone and without bottled oxygen. I used the original 1953 Base Camp and put in only one camp at 21,350' (Camp 2).

I went to the top and back again in 32 hours without stopping but failed to touch the summit because of a queue! As the only person on the 30th May climbing without bottled oxygen, I decided that to wait would be dangerous.

In 2007 I attempted to traverse the mountain, from Tibet to Nepal over the top of the world alone and without bottled oxygen, except for Pasang Tendi Sherpa who would follow me on summit day with a bag of oxygen. I reached a height of 8650m and suffered a major pulmonary oedema which caused me to collapse, and start asphyxiating. I also fell victim to hypothermia.

Accepting, with considerable anger, the end of my days at the top of the world, I forgot about Pasang who appeared after a short time and provided the life-giving oxygen to enable me for the emergency descent. After a non-stop climb from Advanced Base Camp to the Second Step in 21 hours, I descended back again in just thirteen. I was then well looked after by Russell Brice and his medical team, and survived to tell the tale.

The expeditions all have an ulterior purpose, to raise funds for a charity I started called Moving Mountains which improves the lives of many hundreds of people in Nepal and Kenya.

I have been exploring and running expeditions all my life now, and have seen some remarkable things along the way. But time and again I return to the people I have met in the slums of Kenya and in the rural villages of Nepal, whose lives and friendships have so deeply affected my own.

If my expeditions to climb Everest can make these projects happen with the Moving Mountains Trust then all my efforts will have been worth it. For me, as far as personal achievement is always going to be a major motivation, far more powerful is the desire to use this expedition for a more worthwhile purpose.

My company, Adventure Alternative, runs treks and trips around the world and financially underwrites the cost of running Moving Mountains.

Trekking holidays, expeditions and safaris

You can go on a trekking holiday or climbing expedition with Adventure Alternative to places like  - Tanzania to climb Mt Kilimanjaro, Kenya to go on a Safari or climb Mt Kenya, Russia to climb Mount Elbrus, Argentina to climb Aconcagua and perhaps other more diverse destinations like Borneo and of course trekking to Everest Base Camp in Nepal!