Climbing Mont Blanc, Aconcagua, Aoraki Mount Cook, Kosciuszko, Snowdon, Scafell Pike, Ben Nevis and Observation Hill in Antarctica from sea level.
Nice and simple concept, isn't it? So I thought when my partner Sarah and I decided to climb Mont Blanc from the Mediterranean in 1995 as our final blast in the European Alps before heading to the smaller but wilder hills of the South Island of New Zealand.
The theory was that it would be a one-off soft trip but it didn't feel all that soft when the top was reached in a storm 29 days and 28,030 metres of cumulative ascent later. It wasn't a one-off either, since then it's provided the predominant theme for my journeys into the hills.
Maybe it was the combination of culture and climbing, making it a journey rather than just another route. Maybe it was that unique sense of validation you doing something nobody else had ever thought worth doing before. Then again, maybe my six years in London had imbued me with that English penchant for projects of poetic pointlessness?
Whatever the reason, in 1999 I climbed Aconcagua in the Andes from the Pacific (with the help of Lan Chile and Macpac). Then over the 1999/2000 New Year, I tackled my local hill - Aoraki Mount Cook.
In August and September 2000, I climbed Kosciuszko from Wilsons Promontory, a 763km journey linking the southernmost and highest points of the Australian mainland via the Australian Alps Walking Track. This trip was assisted by Mainland Great Outdoors Centre in my home town of Christchurch, New Zealand, Fairydown, One Planet, and Karhu. That trip involved 16 days of rain in a row, 12 days of carrying skis without using them, and - worst of all - up to nine days between cups of decent coffee.
It took until June 2002 to nail the next but that was the original sea-to-summit event: the Three Peaks Yacht Race. This involves climbing the highest peaks of Wales, England and Scotland from the sea in one near-continuous journey. It also involved all the reliable leitmotifs of a British summer -- rain, snow, sleet, and hail. Thanks go to Cathay Pacific for getting me there, although they thought they were sending me to QEII's jubilee.
After years of trying, I made it to Antarctica and managed to climb the most modest (but at least historic) peak, Observation Hill, where Robert Falcon Scott looked south to the pole and where his colleagues looked in vain for his return in 1912. I'm still creating this page so bear with me.
You can read about each trip by clicking on the links. Each one contains about 200kb of photographs so if your bandwidth is in short supply, access the text-only versions on the links below.
Thanks for stopping by. I'd like to know what people think of the page so drop me a line - especially if you're a potential sponsor!
John Henzell
Mont Blanc text Aconcagua text Mt Cook text Kosciuszko text Three Peaks text