{"id":16426,"date":"2017-06-21T08:14:07","date_gmt":"2017-06-21T15:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=16426"},"modified":"2025-11-20T19:31:54","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T03:31:54","slug":"sea-level-to-everests-summit-sea-to-summits-origin-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/sea-level-to-everests-summit-sea-to-summits-origin-story","title":{"rendered":"Sea Level to Everest\u2019s Summit: Sea to Summit\u2019s Origin Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

How a record-setting Everest expedition spawned an outdoor company with a ground-up approach to gear.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The name Sea to Summit has a great history which began in 1984\u00a0when co-founder Tim Macartney-Snape summited Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. It\u2019s a feat that less than 200 have ever attempted, let alone achieved. But afterward, friend and trip filmmaker Michael Dillon wasn\u2019t impressed. Tim remembers him saying:<\/p>\n

\u201cLook mate, you did a pretty good climb, but you didn\u2019t climb it properly. \u2026 The mountain is measured from sea level, and so to climb it properly, you\u2019d really have to climb it from sea level.\u201d<\/p>\n

A seed was planted. Six years later, Tim found himself returning to Everest to climb the mountain, properly this time. He would start with a swim in India\ufffd\ufffd\ufffds Bay of Bengal, walk over 700 miles across the Indo-Gangetic Plain, through the Himalayan foothills and climb every single one of Everest\u2019s 29,029 feet. By starting at sea level, Tim added hundreds of miles and close to an\u00a0extra 10,000 feet of elevation to the typical Everest expedition, which usually starts from Lukla at 9,383 feet.<\/p>\n

\"Tim<\/p>\n

He began walking clear across India on February 5, 1990. It was a trip of a lifetime in and of itself. Endless road miles, blisters on top of blisters on top of blisters, diminished personal space and less-than-comfortable roadside camping were just some of the difficulties. The biggest obstacle was the lack of bridge across the two-mile wide Ganges River. In order to do the climb completely self-powered, he had to swim, and became nearly hypothermic in the process.<\/p>\n

After walking close to 500 miles in four weeks, he reached the border of Nepal. But the border crossing he arrived at was closed. In order to make it to basecamp in time, he did the unthinkable: He ran nearly 200 miles over 5 days to get next border checkpoint. That\u2019s an average of 1.5 marathons per day for five days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was on a mission. \u2026 I was kind of inspired by the fact that it was going to be a change in pace, and maybe it would improve my aerobic fitness a bit,\u201d he chuckled.<\/p>\n

When he reached the foothills of the Himalayas, the journey changed. He encountered rural villages, varied terrain and cooler temperatures. A week later, he finally saw the summit of Everest from afar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re in that tepid water in the Bay of Bengal, it\u2019s really hard to visualize or even concede that by your own effort you\u2019re going to walk out of the tropics into the temperate zones through the foothills and end up in the so-called Third Pole,\u201d he said. But when finally face to face with the mountain, it became clear.<\/p>\n

\"Tim<\/p>\n

Back on schedule after his \u201clittle jog,\u201d he had a month to acclimatize by carrying gear and fixing rope higher up the mountain. He climbed from basecamp alone\u2014deciding he wanted to discover what it would be like to take on a big mountain solo. He originally planned to summit via the West Ridge, but heavy snowfall made the route too risky as a lone climber. He changed tactics, climbing the South Col with nearly 40 pounds of gear, including a seven-pound video camera to capture his journey.<\/p>\n

At 9:45 am on May 11, 1990 he reached the summit. He expressed his relief and the sweet realization that there was no more up. This time he said, \u201cThe place felt familiar. In \u201984, it felt totally wild.\u201d<\/p>\n