Everest 2018: Interview with Ricky Munday, focused on the Summit
This interview with Ricky Munday is one of an ongoing series I do each season with Everest climbers. Not the famous, sponsored ones who get plenty of publicity but the regular people, who often have full time jobs, full time families and climb for the love of the climb. I welcome suggestions for anyone climbing in 2018 I should interview. Ricky is strong, determined and dedicated. Watching his twin uncles, Patrick at age 58 and Michael at 69 taken by cancer set Ricky on a path that would change his life. Through climbing, he has found a way to give back. He has climbed four of the seven summits, and attempted some of the world’s most iconic peaks, including Khan Tengri, Mont Blanc, Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya, Matterhorn, Aconcagua, Elbrus and Damavand. In his home country, he has completed solo ascents of several Grade II winter routes in Scotland and Wales, a solo ascent of Mont Blanc and an unguided attempt on the Matterhorn. This guy dreams big. He talks bout the “Triple Seven Summits” See his blog for those plans! Everest has become a mission for Ricky, a serious rugby aficionado. Last year, he was stopped by poor conditions and a risky summit push that he and his teammates narrowly escaped. This year, he has taken lesson from his mountaineering and marathon running to attempt a safe and successful climb from the North side. Please meet Ricky: Q: As we covered in the intro, you turned back on you summit push during your 2017 attempt on Everest. Please walk us through your decision process in that moment. I climbed strongly up to 7,000m. On my second rotation we slept at the North Col without O2 and I could neither eat, nor sleep. My oxygen saturation in the morning was pretty low (52%). On the summit rotation I really struggled again to eat at the North Col, and felt very nauseous. Moving up to C2 the following day was tortuous – I felt completely drained of energy and my team-mates began to overtake me on the snow slope up to 7,600m. We were on O2 at 1L per minute, but I was able to take just a few steps before stopping doubled over to catch my breath. The fingers on my right hand were starting to get cold due to conduction from the ascender, despite wearing BD Guide gloves, wrist warmers and chemical hand warmers. I spoke briefly to the leader and we turned my flow rate up to 2L per minute. This had an immediate effect and I was able to reach the top of the snow slope and up the rocky ridge to our camp, which was the highest of all teams at 7,900m in a very exposed position. That evening, I was still unable to eat and I was worried about three things. I was deeply concerned about moving above 8,000m with such low energy levels and without being able to replenish them. I wanted to be certain that I could get myself down off the mountain and not put my life in someone else’s hands. I had struggled really badly to reach C2 and felt I would get worse as we moved higher. I was climbing without a personal Sherpa. Secondly, that I had used more oxygen than planned just to reach C2 (I had 5 bottles in total) and I had a nagging concern about what might happen higher up with O2. Finally, I was also concerned about the weather, as our window had forecast 40mph winds and when we reached camp the leader indicated the forecast had worsened and we would spend two nights at 7,900m. This combination of factors felt too risky. I made the difficult decision to descend the next morning – a decision I have not regretted for a single moment! Q: At what moment did you know you would return? I was hoping to return in 2019, but a change in my personal circumstances meant that an unexpected opportunity arose in late February. I had long planned a repeat trip to Ojos del Salado in February but the local agent cancelled. I found myself with free time and started looking for expedition options. Out of the blue, I heard that Adventure Peaks were running an Everest north trip with just one member, and this felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. A small team means a higher ratio of support and the ability to move swiftly to take advantage of small weather windows. Q: You are recently engaged. How does Camila feel about your return? It’s fair to say that she would rather I was spending time and money on wedding planing at this point! However, she respects my long-term objectives and understands that I feel compelled to follow my dreams. She was a superstar last year and really helped me engage with people on social media above BC as my satellite wifi hotspot only allowed me to send emails – I couldn’t post directly to social media and she ran my facebook account. Camila climbed Kili with me and we reached the summit on New Year’s day this year, and I popped the question – she tells me she has now officially retired from mountaineering, so it was a short but sweet career. Q: You competed the Marathon des Sables, a marathon in the Sahara Desert that some people call the toughest footrace on earth. How do you translate the lessons from that experience to your climbing? Completing that event changed my life forever. I had recently been made redundant from my Chartered Accountancy training program for failing my tax exam twice, and I entered it because I needed something really positive to focus on to help deal with some significant mental health challenges. I had previously allowed self-doubts or fear to hold me back from following my dreams. Running 150 miles across the Sahara seemed impossible – it was mid-rugby season so I was rugby training twice a week and playing on a Saturday, which left little space to complete long runs.