I climbed the vertical height of Mount Everest in 36 hours—what I learned
What’s your hobby? An innocent question, but one that has plagued me.
I’ve always been a curious person who was interested in learning new things and struggled to pick one or two areas to focus on. After years of frustration, I finally decided that my hobby would be “collecting new experiences” and devised a plan: Every year I would commit myself to a few new experiences that would challenge and change me.
In 2025, I decided to climb Mount Everest. Well, almost.
I signed up for an endurance event called the 29029 challenge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The idea was to scale a smaller mountain 19 times within 36 hours, climbing a total of 29,029 feet: the vertical equivalent of Everest. Imagine a line of 300 people hiking up a sheer slope, taking a chairlift back down from the top, and then repeating the loop continuously for a day and a half.
As I registered, I felt both excited and nauseous. I had never attempted anything close. What would it take? Could I dig deep enough when the inevitable pain and doubt came? How would I find time to do the training with a consultant’s travel schedule?
I’m proud to say I earned the coveted Red Hat, awarded to participants who finish the event. But that was never the real prize. The real win was learning how to be a different version of myself — one who could commit fully and keep going even when my body (and mind) begged me to stop. That new version of me now shows up better at work and at home.
I write down my commitments to help me follow through
As a consultant, I travel a lot, so there would always be a reason not to do my training. I found that the more I wrote down exactly what I was committing to and why, rather than holding all that in my head, the easier it was to find a way to fit it in.
Over the course of 20 weeks, I trained in the snow, rain, and heat. Across multiple countries and states over early mornings and late nights. No matter what the conditions or how I felt, I kept showing up. By the time I stood at the base of that mountain in Wyoming, I knew no matter what happened, I had put in the work to be prepared.
“The real win was learning how to be a different version of myself,” Ellmer says, who “now shows up better at work and at home.”
Courtesy of Kristy Ellmer
I now write all my personal commitments down and revisit them regularly to ensure I keep them top of mind. Over the winter, for example, I had a goal to improve my skiing and start doing blue (or intermediate) runs. By writing down that goal and looking at it every week, I succeeded in scheduling more time to actually ski and watch videos on how to get better.
I learned specific tactics to keep my discipline
One technique I discovered was to narrow my focus to the steps immediately ahead of me — just the next workout, or just the next half mile — rather than thinking about the larger, more intimidating end goal.
Another technique I discovered was to find value, and even enjoyment, in the process of training for its own sake. During hard moments, I convinced myself they represented free opportunities to build my mental toughness and resilience.
Since this experience, both techniques have helped me get through other hard but necessary tasks at home and in work.
This year, I’m taking on the 29029 Trail, which is three mountain marathons, completed back to back to back over three days. It’s an audacious goal for a marathon and trail running novice.
Every week, I review my goal and training plan and put it all in my calendar, so all I have to do is execute the next step in front of me. And when the work gets hard, I remind myself to be present and value the experience and the ways it contributes to my growth.
I discovered invaluable fuel sources to keep me going
I surrounded myself with coaches and mentors who had done the Everesting event before and spoke with them often. By tapping into their wisdom and experience, I learned new skills, built my confidence and regained motivation when I was at low points.
“When we embrace the climb, it changes who we are and what we believe we are capable of,” Ellmer says.
Courtesy of Kristy Ellmer
I also found any reason to celebrate wins along the way, no matter how small. One time, I celebrated with my husband because I didn’t get blisters on a training run.
Most importantly, I created a few simple, specific sentences to repeat to myself about why I had taken on this challenge and repeated them to myself often. One of my favorites was, “Let the hard make you stronger.”
I relished the transformation
Transformations, whether personal or organizational, are never easy. When we embrace the climb, it changes who we are and what we believe we are capable of.
I encourage everyone to pursue an experience that will challenge and change them. I met a new version of myself after scaling that mountain 19 times in 36 hours. My identity now includes endurance athlete and bestselling author, because of the work I did and discipline I maintained in both endeavors.
Now I’m ready to take on challenges I couldn’t have imagined a year ago.
Kristy R. Ellmer is a managing director and senior partner at BCG, a former chief transformation officer, and co-author of “How Change Really Works: Seven Science-based Principles for Transforming Your Organization.” She leads BCG’s transformation practice and co-founded BCG’s Behavioral Science Lab. Her TED Talk on navigating change with confidence has been seen by over half a million people, and she has spoken at companies such as Kroger, Valley Bank, Whirlpool, Aetna, Hershey, BHP and J.Crew.
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