To my readers,

Long-time followers know I seldom accept guest posts, but recently, through Summit Coach, my consultation service, I partnered with Uphill Athlete to broaden our offerings. I recently did a Podcast with Steve House, Uphill’s founder and owner, and he offered to write this essay on training for Everest.

Reinhold Messner called Steve “the best high-altitude climber in the world.” For 21 years, Steve was a professional climber, and in 1999, he became the ninth American to achieve IFMGA certification. Steve’s most famous ascent may be the Central Pillar of the Rupal Face with Vince Anderson. He has compiled an impressive list of first ascents and new routes in Alaska, the Canadian Rockies, the Alps, and the Karakoram. Steve was an athlete-ambassador for Patagonia, Grivel, La Sportiva, Zeal Optics, and Coros Watches. He retired from professional climbing at the end of 2020 to dedicate himself to family and Uphill Athlete.

Thanks, Steve!

Alan

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Training for a Mount Everest expedition demands a meticulous blend of physical, mental, and technical preparation. While our book, Training for the New Alpinism, delves deeply into these topics, this guide provides concise, actionable advice underpinned by essential theories to help you understand the “why” behind an effective mountaineering training plan. Let’s embark on the journey of preparing you for the highest peak on Earth.

The Everest Mountaineer as Athlete

Mount Everest challenges climbers with extreme physical and mental stress. Unlike other athletic endeavors, there’s no option to quit mid-ascent. Success and safety on Everest depend on rigorous training and preparation, not just for the ascent but equally for the descent.

When to Start Training

To ensure you are adequately prepared for a Mount Everest expedition’s physical and mental demands, it is crucial to begin your training at least six months before the expedition starts. Ideally, starting 8-9 months in advance will provide a better opportunity to progressively build the necessary endurance, strength, and technical skills. This extended training period allows for a more gradual increase in training intensity and volume, reducing the risk of injury and ensuring peak fitness by the time you embark on your climb.

Here is a longer-form article for a deeper understanding of this topic.

Endurance physiology is universal.

The correct blend of aerobic training and climbing-specific strength exercises is crucial. Our decades of experience in mountain sports have enabled us to devise the best methods to prepare you for Everest’s unique challenges.

“Fatigue makes cowards of us all.”

Fatigue is the biggest controllable limitation in mountaineering, particularly on Everest. Speed translates to safety; the faster you ascend and descend, the lower your risk from storms and extreme temperatures and the less time you spend in the ‘death zone’ of extreme altitude. Technical competence and endurance are paramount. Develop your climbing technique through practice on increasingly challenging routes and mountains, ideally under the guidance of skilled mentors.

Read: What enables endurance?

Fitness Fundamentals for Everest

To prepare for Everest, focus on these key fitness components:

1. Aerobic Capacity: Essential for sustaining long hours of climbing without excessive fatigue. Avoid calling it “cardio”; it’s about building endurance. Building the capacity to go uphill for many hours, whether on trails or a treadmill, is BY FAR the most determining aspect that will help you to prepare for Everest.
2. Strength Training: In mountaineering, speed is strength. From core stability to leg power, every aspect counts.
3. Muscular Endurance: The ability of your legs to perform thousands of repetitive movements is vital.
4. Form/Technique: Efficient movement over rugged terrain conserves energy and reduces fatigue. This skill is honed only on similar terrain.
5. Acclimatization: You will spend many hours at high/extreme altitudes. Everest Base Camp stands at 5300m, one of the highest base camps in the greater ranges. It is relatively comfortable, but this altitude won’t allow your body to recover well between rotations. How your body deals with hypoxia will determine your safety and success.
6. Hypoxic conditioning. The science and practice have consolidated in favor of using normobaric hypoxia via a mask and/or sleeping tent. While the adaptations are not identical to ‘real’ hypobaric hypoxia, they allow for shorter expedition durations, faster and safer logistics, and a stronger ability to resist illnesses and infections that often hinder your performance on Everest. You need to factor in about 8-12 weeks of HC for Everest. In the final 6-8 weeks, you’ll sleep at such high altitudes that your physical training will be compromised. This means you must start your physical training as soon as possible.

Uphill Athlete coaches have prepared far more climbers for Everest than all the other coaching services combined. Their training plans progress from simple, general training to complex, specific workouts and allow for hypoxic conditioning as your expedition date approaches.

CTA: Training groups

The Cardinal Principles of Endurance Training

1. Consistency: Train regularly without long breaks. This is the most important. You must be fit enough to train six days a week.
2. Gradual Progression: Increase training loads gradually to continue gaining fitness. You have to start training early. Specific preparation for Everest physically needs at least six months, and 12 months is better. Three years is ideal. Building fitness takes time. We’ve heard from the long-time Everest outfitters that climbers’ fitness has declined significantly over the last decade. Don’t leave this to chance.
3. Modulation: Balance hard and easy weeks to allow recovery and growth. A professional coach who uses modern training tracking tools and software to monitor your workouts and recovery is best.
4. Individualization. An individualized approach is necessary to assess and address your physical weaknesses and strengths, and we all have them. Metabolic fitness precedes musculoskeletal (structural) adaptations. Therefore, it is crucial to continuously assess an athlete’s status and set realistic expectations about how much training you can do and how much endurance you can build with the time you have. And the golden question is always: Will it be enough to climb Everest?! The sooner you start to train, the better!

Aerobic Conditioning

Everest climbing is mostly aerobic, relying on the body’s ability to use oxygen efficiently over extended periods. Get a professional coach to assess your aerobic fitness and tailor your training intensity zones using methods like heart rate monitoring. This is a small investment compared to the time and expense of an Everest expedition, but it will have an outsized impact on your success.

Strength Training

Developing strength is critical for carrying heavy loads for extended periods. Focus on functional, climbing-specific strength without adding unnecessary bulk. A good strength plan is very general for 8-12 weeks, then switches to low-reps and high-load max strength building and transitions into at least eight weeks of hard but very effective muscular endurance training. Periodization of strength training works, and you will want to have a professional guide your training.

Read more about Strength training for mountaineers.

Workout Distribution and Timing

Engage in at least four weekly aerobic workouts, supplemented by strength training. Gradually increase the duration and intensity as you progress. Our coaches use weekly training volume (time at intensity) or accumulated training stress per week to measure training load and progression.

Backpacks

Begin training without weight and gradually introduce a weighted backpack only after building a base fitness level. Increase the weight progressively, never exceeding 20-25% of your body weight for aerobic base training. The two most common mistakes people make are 1) starting training too late and 2) adding weight too quickly and causing injury.

Rest Days and Easy Weeks

Incorporate rest days and periodic easy weeks to allow your body to recover and adapt. Typically, every third or fourth week should be a lighter training week. A professional coach will use sophisticated software like TrainingPeaks.com to monitor and plan your training and recovery.

Muscular Endurance Training

You can think of your training as getting you in shape for Muscular Endurance training. Also, sometimes called strength endurance, this type of training is fun. The workouts are challenging but doable, and you get stronger every week. It’s the fun part of training. But if you don’t build up your fitness to earn your muscular endurance workout, doing heavy, steep, weighted carries will instead cause injury and could derail your expedition entirely. It would be best if you started as early as possible. The minimum time we’ve seen athletes build up to be functionally ready for this type of training is sixteen weeks. You’ll want to do no less than eight weeks. These workouts focus on vertical gain (treadmill, stairs, or a real hill), carrying weight that causes local muscular fatigue in your legs without taxing your cardiovascular system.

Do you think you’re fit enough for Everest right now? You should be able to do the first exercise easily during this workout progression. If that was hard, start training.

Hypoxic conditioning.

Current best practices dictate that you need to spend a minimum of 400 hours at normobaric hypoxia via a mask and/or sleeping tent, building up to sleeping elevations of 6,000 meters/18,000 feet. You need to factor in at least 12 weeks for this for Everest. And in the final eight weeks, you’ll be sleeping at such high altitudes that your physical training, sleep, and recovery will be compromised—meaning you’ll be starting your taper much sooner than the usual 10-14 days before your departure.

This means you must start your physical training as soon as possible

Tapering

In the final weeks before your climb, reduce your training volume to dissipate fatigue and consolidate fitness gains. Avoid last-minute cramming, which can lead to exhaustion and reduced performance. Traditionally, tapers are two weeks. But for Everest, you need to account for Hypoxic Conditioning, which requires 8-12 weeks. The coaches at Uphill Athlete have developed a system that adapts the taper period so you maintain your fitness while sleeping at ever-higher simulated altitudes.

We make sure you peak your specific training block (high volume) earlier and maintain your fitness through the pre-acclimatization phase.

Mental Training

Consistency in physical training is the number one way to build mental toughness. Confidence in your fitness and skills is crucial for handling the stresses of an Everest expedition.

Technical Skills

Proficiency in technical climbing skills is essential. Practice using crampons, ice axes, and moving up and down fixed ropes until this is second nature. Efficient technique conserves energy and improves safety.

Training Summary

1. Aerobic Self-Assessment: Determine your heart rate training zones.
2. Aerobic Training: Engage in four to five days of mostly zone 2 weekly training.
3. Strength Training: Incorporate a progressive, periodized strength routine twice a week.
4. Re-testing: Reassess your training zones every eight weeks.

Conclusion

Training is the most controllable aspect of your preparation for Everest. Embrace the struggle as part of your journey because the point of climbing a mountain like Everest is to become the person who can climb Everest. Consistent, progressive training will be the cornerstone of building you into someone with that rare physical and mental resilience. Structured training with a good training plan crafted for Everest is hands down your best tool for success.

Steve House
Founder and CEO