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Geordie Stewart
In the Spring of 2011 Geordie Stewart became the Youngest Brit to climb the 7 Summits. Having got painfully close, a mere 120m, in 2010, he returned to the Northeast ridge but this time even more focused and even better prepared! Over Christmas 2010, he climbed Vinson Massif in Antarctica before completing the 6th mountain in his 7 Summits attempt, Carstensz Pyramid, in Indonesia in March leaving just Everest to conclude my dream.
Ever since reading Bear Grylls’ book ‘Facing Up’ at the age of 17, it has been his passion to climb to the summit of Mount Everest as well the highest point in each of the other 6 continents – a challenge known as the 7 Summits. In 2008 he had a year out between school and university, which was the first opportunity he had to embark on my ambition, and decided to attempt climbs in Argentina, Tanzania and Russia.
He has funded all of his climbing expeditions himself by working in a variety of jobs including waitering, marquee erecting and football coaching. It was as a result of his Scottish family that he gained an interest in mountaineering and a love for the hills, leading to completing the Three Peaks Challenge in 2007. However it wasn’t until February 2008 that he first attempted one of the Seven Summits – Aconcagua.
He became one of the youngest Britons ever to summit Aconcagua – the highest mountain in South America standing at 6962m – before climbing Kilimanjaro solo in May of the same year which he summited on his 19th birthday. My final expedition before starting at the University of St Andrews, where he is currently studying for a degree in Theology, was to Russia where he reached the highest point in Europe by summiting Mount Elbrus.
In July 2009 he climbed the highest mountain in North America, Denali. Our twelve person team was fortunate with the typically unpredictable weather as we summited under clear blue skies after two weeks ascending the mountain.
All of the above were preparation for Everest, and in March 2010 he flew to Kathmandu to climb precisely that. After 7 weeks on the mountain, he got to within 120m from the summit of my dreams before turning around, despite still feeling strong, because time was at a premium. He was heavily delayed on the ascent after helping a Sherpa and two teammates who were all suffering from severe altitude sickness.
As if he hadn’t been completely aware before, human life is far far more important than the summit of any mountain. These delays however, compromised my summit attempt.
