It would be difficult fitting the SOTA single bonus season to the Himalaya, with both the winter season (December - February) and the monsoon (June - September) providing hostile conditions.
1 Like
Great books. Bonnington has so many great stories - definitely good reading. I also suggest reading about their climb via the west ridge. Additionally, I recommend reading about hornbein and unsoeld who have done some legendary climbing there. The second climb this fall by Jim Morrison and Jimmy Chin (and their sherpa) was on the North side. In fact, my sherpa was with that Nat Geo team and it was his second summit of the year after going up to the top with me earlier in the year - marking it his 17th lifetime summit.
Which books? I just did Wasatch 100 this year and I’ve done several other 100s and Tahoe 200…
Thanks, it’s a life-changing climb. Even after so many months, it has not sunk in!
2 Likes
It sure is! I can’t tell if I like him or not. If you like to read, there’s a dozen books about the K2 tragedy in 2008.
2 Likes
Listed above in my previous post. I’ve read a few others e.g. Ultramarathon Man by Dean Kanazares, Eat & Run by Scott Jurek, Feet In The Clouds by Richard Askwith, The Ultramarathon Mindset by i forget(!) and more.
Running Your First Ultra by Krissy Moehl was the book I used for my first ultra (oddly enough!) in 2021 where I ran 59km from Sneem to Killarney on the Kerry Way.
I ran the Waterville 130km Ultra earlier this year but DNF’ed when I fell about 5 hours in, just after summiting Eagle’s Hill (the highest point on the Kerry Way and absolutely spectacular at sunset). Missed another 30km race in Wicklow in August through illness, then finished this year with a 46km Ultra (anything over 42.2 is an ultra!) at the Eco Trail in Wicklow.
Fellow ultra and trail, iron-distance triathlon and general endurance sports madman here. I’m no good at any of them, I just work hard, train and try my best. Trails beat road running every day if the week in my book!
4 Likes
Sorry I missed it 
My brain looked at only the mountaineering ones.
Bummer about the Waterville ultra. I know the feeling - sometimes the mind gives up and sometimes the body My success rate in 100 milers is about 60% ha!
2 Likes
That’s pretty good going! Waterville was my first race at 100km (and beyond). Before that it’s more 50km and Ironman 70.3 stuff, plus the usual road marathons, halfs etc. It was a big leap up but a valuable learning experience.
I don’t think I will go to the 100km mark again in 2026, rather row back to a more sensible 50km, maybe the Eco Trail 80km course at a push. Other than that just trail half marathons, tens and fives. Try and build that base and then look again at a 100km for 2027 and maybe even a 100 mile race in 2028. UTMB Snowdonia is one such race I have my eye on, or a multi-day event like Dragons Back perhaps. Not sure yet, it takes a LOT of training time even for a 50km trail run and it is difficult to squeeze in around family, life etc. Hence a ‘quieter’ 2026 for me!
3 Likes
It can get pretty crowded if the weather window is short because everyone wants a shot at the summit in the limited window. I pre-acclimatized at home (I was doing a rapid ascent program) and was lucky with the first window right after the ropes were fixed. While we had some traffic, it was not too bad. Door to door in 27 days.
2 Likes
Ian,
When you get through that lot try anything by or about Tim Macartney-Snape. His adventures especially in the Himalayers are astounding.
73
Ron
VK3AFW.
4 Likes
As others have stated, there is a defined process by which these border summits are allocated to a single country and thereby given an appropriate summit reference code. Basically it is to examine the effective activation zone and assess which country or state has the majority of the zone. So it isn’t a case of excluding the summit, it’s a process by which the summit is “awarded” to a specific country, or in the case of internal borders, which call area etc.
73 Andrew vk1da
1 Like
When living in Brunei from 88-91 I visited the nearby Malaysian state of Sabah, which contains the mountain Kinabalu. 4095m. There is an annual race from a nominated starting point at the power station. At the time the record set for the climb up and back was in the region of 2H42. It took me 5 hours on the first day and 2 hours on the next, just to get to the summit from the power station at about 5000 ft. I wasn’t in the race. I’m not a runner or a mountain climber!
2 Likes
Thanks for the heads up. I’ve heard his name before but couldn’t place where. He shall be added to my reading pile at some point! Got loads to devour at the minute, I try to to do a book a week or a chonker every 2 weeks.
1 Like
Hey Saurabh!
I know how one can get a license in Nepal, or at least I may be able to connect one to someone who can help. I am not quite sure whether they have a reciprocity agreement for amateur radio licenses, though. In order to get a licence, the only catch is that you have to be a citizen, unfortunately! 
Anywho… Congratulations on activating Mt. Everest! The summit of the Mt. Everest was radioactive! Hey… that’s an activation! 
-Eliza
2 Likes
And not the first, the various expeditions used radios, probably unofficially, and so do the sherpas.
1 Like
Thank you Eliza!
VHF is so common in all the expeditions I’ve been on; it’s great. (Majority of it is unlicensed operators).
2 Likes
I went to Kendal Mountain Festival this morning with the hope of meeting Kenton Cool. It was a bit surreal as I ended up chatting with Kenton about SOTA for 20 minutes!
Kenton is hoping to summit Everest next spring, which will be his 20th time.
3 Likes
