2020 was a year for sportsmen where a lot of their competitions got cancelled because of covid. This was also the case for me. When in spring was announced that the TDS ultra trail 'Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie' was not gonna be held in 2020 my big sports goal of the year fell away. The TDS equals 145 kilometers of running in the mountains and adding on top of that 9000 meters of elevation change. A huge challenge where I didn't know if I was even capable of finishing the distance, let alone the massive vertical gain.
'the most difficult climbing challenge in the world'
Through a podcast I heard about the Everesting challenge for the first time. This challenge, initially started by cyclists, was soon adopted by runners as well. The concept of Everesting is pretty simple and straightforward: take any hill and run or bike up and down untill you have reached the height of Mount Everest. 8848 meters of elevation in one single activity and without sleep. Because the TDS ultra trail, wich I initially was going to participate in had a similar amount of elevation this seemed like a good substitute. On the Everesting website the challenge is described as: 'the most difficult climbing challenge in the world'. In the hall of fame I saw there were only a handful of Belgians that had succesfully finished a Everesting attempt. This could only mean 2 things: either this really was the hardest challenge, or there haven't been a lot of other Belgians crazy enough to attempt this big feat. Wichever of the 2 it was, my mind was set. This would be my replacement for the TDS of 2020.
I went on a search for a fitting hill, and looked at a few options in the municipality Heuvelland (this would translate to english as land of the hills). I started looking around the Kemmelberg, with its 154 meters the highest point of the county of West-Vlaanderen. There were a couple of beautiful trails, but when I started to make the calculation how many kilometers I would have to run to reach the 8848 meters I quickly knew to look further. Since with the Everesting the focus is to get the vertical meters keeping the horizontal distance as short as possible is the way to go. The steeper the hill the better. This brought me to a forest on the flanks of the Rodeberg. As a kid I had played in these woods and I remembered there was a steep hill with some stairs. After going for a recce on both the stairs and trails I figured out a good segment where the challenge looked possible.
I named the segment on strava with its 40 meters of elevation change ' Everesting climb'. A short and easy calculation that made me dizzy would reveal how many times the segment would have to be repeated...
8848 ÷ 40 = 221 repetitions!
This sum confirmed what I actually allready knew but was afraid to face up until then. The challenge would not only be physically hard, also the mental part of it was not to be underestimated. No lush alpine meadows or snowcapped peaks to let the mind wander, but big uneven steps on an old set of stairs in a dense forest. Regardless everything I was content with the chosen spot. First of all there hasn't been an Everesting attempt been done here, so the badge of first ascent would be mine. It was conveniently close to home and the whole segment was covered in shade. The sun wouldn't be a limiting factor. All I had to do now was get my wife up to speed of my crazy plans and I was good to go. After explaining what the challenge was she declared me crazy a couple of times, but she would support and cheer for me. Time to begin the preparations and planning.
I went ahead and made my food plan that I kept quite simple. A bunch of gels to start the attempt and when I would no longer be able to stomach those I would switch to solid foods. Thai rice, nuts, bars, candy and some ginger to keep the stomach happy. Hydration wise there was coconut water, chocolate milk, sports drink, coke and water. I knew after a couple of hours into a attempt like this that you don't feel like eating or drinking anymore, so variety will be key.
July 28th became D-day. The plan was to start at 5o' clock in the morning and use a maximum of daylight. In the night before, the Everesting played through my head so much that I was laying completely awake at 2hr30. Well... let's start a bit earlier then! Gently I slid to the edge of the bed to leave the comfort and warmth of the matras and covers behind. My wife had woken up after my failed stealth attempt, and before I left the bedroom she whispered 'good luck'. Coffee and breakfast didn't go down easy during the drive to Heuvelland. Strange to have the pre competition nerves whilst I would be the only participant today. I parked my van close to the trail and started to put on the trail shoes in the back when... 'You are not allowed to park here! these are hotels, what are you thinking' Well somebody clearly wasn't happy with my early arrival. From a balcony I was told to pack my stuff and leave. Not in the mood to start an argument, let alone to start explaining what had brought me there so early in the morning, I parked a bit further along the road. Damn that's already a great start, the challenge hadn't even begon and I was already doing extra distance. Loaded as a donkey with all the food and drinks I started walking to my basecamp. A small table with some lights and the buffet of sweet and salty. A couple minutes before 4 o' clock I was ready for it.
No starting arch, big crowds or a starting gun that went off, but a simple push on the button of my watch as a light beam illuminated the first meters of the trail. You could describe the whole scene as serene yet in a certain way also epic. On my way for the first descent of the 221! During my reconnaissance runs I did multiple times an hour or more of repetitions on the stairs. Each time without having to push myself too hard I was able to gain about 500-600 meters of vertical gain. 500 meters an hour would set me on course to finish the whole ordeal before sunset. The first hour flew by in an instant and I was happy when the sun started to rise. The daylight and the sun rays through the leaves gave me energy. Without much problems I was able to keep my projected pace of 500meters/hour. Though not as fast as the kilometers, the vertical meters were ticking up bit by bit.
Meanwhile I had gotten a visite from a couple of supporters, my wife and 2 daughters. I couldn't give them a lot of entertainment. As soon as I reached my basecamp to draw a line on my paper I was allready flying down the trail and on to the stairs. My daughters made a couple lines for me on my shedule and even did a couple of climbs with me. However when the first drops of sweat started to appear they called it quits. I could not blame them. Despite that the whole segment was in the shade, it was quite warm. Apart from the cheering of the supporters I also enjoyed the folding chair they had brought along. I didn't want to sped to much time in that chair, but a change of clothes and shoes did wonders! It felt, even if only for a short while, that I had just started.
A finish before sunset looked achievable...
Many hours went by, and to be honest. There is not much to write about those hours. The challenge is what it is: the hill up and down, up and down, up and down... eat - drink - draw a line after each climb and continue. Audiobooks, podcast and music couldn't bring much distraction against the monotone climbing - descending and repeat. I changed climbing with trekking poles against climbing without, but apart from that there is not much remarkable to write up until reaching around 7000 meters. It looked like a finish in the daylight before sunset was possible...
But then the long and many descents started to take its toll. The legs started to become heavy and running without pain was no longer possible. My style went from flexible and supple to laboriously. Especially going down the stairs was hugely taxing on the knees and quads. Climbing was still somewhat ok, but also there the speed and strenghth took a big dive. I felt through my whole body that the many hours of effort started to take its toll. The joke that is made sometimes goes as follows: ultrarunning is about 90% mental... that could be about right from now yes. Oh and that other 10%? That's also mental! From the start of an ultra you should be ready to suffer. I was 16 hours into this trial and could already see myself finish before sunset, when all of the sudden the finish seemed to get further and further out from me.
No matter how hard I tried to keep pace, it felt like something had snapped inside of me. Mentally I felt tired and drained. Why would I continue to put myself through this suffering? The easiest would be to just quit now, pack everything in and drive home. Enjoy the comfort of a warm shower and a good nights rest... But then the day after the unavoidable question would come. From my daughters for example: why did you quit on the challenge? Were you no longer able to continue? Was it really too hard that you had to stop before the finish?
Is it really so hard I cannot continue?
It got really really tough, that was for sure, but was the challenge and finish unreachable? No it wasn't. I just had to regroup mentally and come up with a plan for the final meters. In the meanwhile my good friend Ben had arrived at basecamp. He had to work the whole day, but was now ready to provide me with some much needed support. When I arrived there I crashed into the folding chair. Mentally and physically exhausted, I felt drained and empty. I was finished, but that was not what my watch was showing. There had to be a 1000 more meters added to the counter. But Ben would not be Ben if he didn't bring something with him. From his cooler bag he flashed me a couple of cold cokes, and some fresh beers... Bingo! During the whole day I had downed already a full bucket of mixed sportsdrink, water, chocolate milk, warm coke and coconut water. A fresh beer that sounded like heaven. This divine sports drink went down effortless. After this I followed the advice of ultra runner Damien Hall: Low mood - eat food!
Slowly but certainly (but certainly slow) I finished the last vertical meters. Without any succes I tried to get some kind of tempo for the last couple of repetitions, but those efforts were in vain. Meanwhile I had my sight set on a finish before midnight. This would give me a global time of 20 hours total. Even this new goal seemed out of reach, and it was 00hr20 when Ben marked the last line on my shedule. YESSSS! Done! I was completely finished and my legs picked up the signal that I was done, so these also stopped working. I was laying in the folding chair, exhausted but content. My friend opened a second beer to celebrate the Everesting achievement. The taste was one of fulfilment and pride. Was this now really the hardest challenge I ever did? I find that hard to say, but for sure it would make the top 3!
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