Science on Mount Everest

Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?

I just think it’s fascinating. It’s the highest point on the planet, so that makes it geographically interesting, and because of that people have wanted to climb it for a long time, so it’s historically and culturally interesting as well.

When I was just out of university I went trekking in the Annapurnas in Nepal but I never went to Everest base camp, because I kind of knew I didn’t want to go to Everest until I was ready. It sounds weird now because back then Everest was just an incredible dream – I would never have even considered actually climbing it.

And then, by 2013, I’d done some more climbing and some expeditions at altitude, and suddenly I realised this was something I could actually do. I had the chance to do something incredible.