I am NOT the first #Vegan in the world to climb Everest. That would come as a huge surprise to all you followers of mine. Read on.
Because - No Vegan has ever climbed Everest, yet! No Vegan had ever climbed any 8000 meter mountain for that matter, until I climbed Lhotse few days ago. Yes, I ate a 100% plant based diet during my Everest climb, and for that matter in last 16 years I have done the same - never slipped ever - even when I was at 26,000 feet, and had nothing to eat (more about Lhotse food fiasco in next post), not even then! However, in May 2016, when I reached the top of Everest, I wore a one piece suit made from Down, and mittens consisting of leather. Down is harvested by killing ducks/geese in the most cruel fashion, and leather is the skin of a cow, and should never be used by a human - period! Ever since that day, I spent my time in serious guilt about my actions, however guilt was not the solution. Solution was to find a reasonable alternative to both Down and leather that would keep me warm and safe while above 8000 meters inside the Death zone.
May 10th, 2.00am. It was time to get ready to cross the Khumbu ice-fall to kick-off the Lhotse summit push. But it was also decision time - should I take along the one piece suit made from Down with me as a backup? My family had been adamant that I should. They were super worried, and so were the folks at Save the Duck, who manufactured my synthetic suit. I was a little worried too. If something happened to me high up the mountain, I would definitely be a headline in newspapers across the world - "Vegan gets in trouble due to his Veganism". People love negative click bait news about Veganism. However, I was very clear. The down suit was staying at the base camp - unopened since 2016. It was now or never.
May 14th, 11.00 am, 24000 feet, somewhere close to yellow band. Our team was caught in a severe windstorm. Visibility was close to zero, and the wind gusts were incessant, sometimes hitting 70kms/hour. For a moment, I thought I'm going to get thrown off the mountain face. One of the sherpa and his client climber behind me also discussed abandoning the expedition. I was not going anywhere but up. High winds meant that the entire route had disappeared and everything was covered in powdery snow. My crampons were not getting purchase in the terrain. And for the first time in the expedition, I was worried that I'm going to get super cold super fast, and I'll have to turn around and go home. But that did not happen. The one piece synthetic suit from Save The Duck worked like wonders - it shielded me from both the wind gusts as well as the biting cold. Right there I knew I was going to make it to the top warm and safe.
May 15th, 4.00 am, 26,500 feet, somewhere below the Reiss colouir. We were on our final march to the top of Lhotse. It was bone chilling cold. But I was warm and toasty in my suit. Around noon, I took the final steps and I was on top of Lhotse! Frankly speaking this has been one of the hardest expeditions of my life. And I was quite knackered on the top. However, my biggest joy was that I climbed without using Down and leather - and became the first human to ever ascend an 8000 meter mountain as a Vegan! This year, I reckon there were more than 45-50 climbers who got frost-bite injuries. And possibly the death on Lhotse was also hypothermia related. So yes, I risked my life. I risked my fingers and toes. But it was a risk I took for the billions of animals that are slaughtered every year for food, clothing and recreation. I wanted to make the statement - NO animals need to be killed or exploited for humans to achieve the biggest dreams of their lives!
A Huge Thanks to Save the Duck team for building a world-class product that in my opinion WILL easily replace Down!
