Is that your home that you're in now, Kenton? Is this, your home 

this has been home for the last month or so. Yep

And that looks like a pretty sort of standard tent to me. I was expecting you to be, you know, in some kind of base camp palace tent

Yeah, well compared with what they used to be, I mean, there's, like this area here, which I use for all my packing. I've got a desk, then next door we've got

next door.

bed, like little cabinet, et cetera, et cetera. it's all beginning to melt out now, so it's all on a bit of an angle. these are pretty good compared with what they were even 10 years ago

Well

Yeah, it does look pretty smart, to be fair.

Oh.

Okay

So Kenton, you know, am I told you're about to climb it for the 20th time or you've scaled Everest 20 times? Which one is it?

Yeah. well, we leave about one o'clock in the morning my time, and I will up [00:01:00] to, camp two on Everest. I'll miss out camp three with a view that if the weather allows us, be Friday, I think, hopefully stand on the summit and that will be my 20th ascent of Everest. 

Mm-hmm.

I mean, I said, I don't know whether I'd call it silly. I mean, it's incredible, that's for sure. I mean, you know, like, the thought of scaling Everest once is incredible, but 20 times, is, is remarkable to say the least.

Well, yeah. I mean, it comes down to a couple of things. one, it is work. I'm an Everest guide. This is one of the ways I pay the mortgage. you know, I also work in the European Alps. In theory, I'm a ski guide, but yeah, I do love Nepal and I do like being on this mountain.

it is super colorful for all the right and wrong reasons. and to work with my Sherpa friends and to hang out here, and it's relatively... I should be careful saying this 'cause I'm about to go up onto the mountain, but it's relatively, gentle on your body. It's not like working on the Matterhorn and you're [00:02:00]doing like 20 ascents of the Matterhorn a year which is up and down and really abuses the knees. guiding in the Himalayas is relatively gentle physically on the body. So, it's an amalgamation of things which keep bringing me back

What about the altitude? I mean, you're hanging out at the moment at base camp and then you go up to camp two. What's sort of that's what, 6,000 meters

Yeah. so we're at 5.3 here, 5,360. which, you know, if the audience are used to skiing in the European Alps, that's higher than anything in the European Alps by 500 meters or so. and then Camp 2 is about 6.3, 6.4, so it's about 1,000 meters higher.

Hmm

if one scales a 6,500-meter peak, that's a relatively good thing to do.

loads of people climb Kilimanjaro, that's what? Five... Hmm, I forget what it is. 5.8, 5.9. So again, significantly higher than that, and that's Camp 2, and that's arguably our launching point. From [00:03:00] there, obviously Camp 3, Camp 4, and then summit, which is

yeah, 'cause you're hanging out there for a few nights. I mean, for your clients, for example, I mean, you know, that acclimatization process, you'll... I guess, you know, you can't just arrive at base camp and then go, "Right, off we go."

No. I mean, I think everybody uses an acclimatization profile of some description. You have to let the body physiologically change. now that, I mean, in the press recently, there's been quite a lot about, xenon gas and the hypoxic system where, you end up sleeping in a tent where they essentially pump nitrogen in to expel the oxygen. but in reality, you can't really get away from letting the body adapt over time. and that does take a bit of time, and that's one of the reasons why an Everest expedition takes to five to six weeks. I mean, we're not climbing for four to five to six weeks. most of the time we're hanging out playing cards and going for walks and, then letting the body do what the [00:04:00] body needs to do

And you were in Kathmandu, very recently because we were gonna

You

to you on Friday. 

have no idea. You have no idea.

end of the weekend. How do you get back and forward from Kathmandu to base camp?

Anyway, so yeah, I'm quite a big advocate about climate change and, the effect on our glaciers and things like this. So I'm gonna be lambasted for saying this, but we use choppers.

Right.

Yeah

so it would take about 20 minutes maybe from here to Lukla, which is the gateway to the Khumbu region, the Everest region.

you normally gotta change choppers there and hang around for a bit. and then from there it's about another 50 minutes, 55 minutes to Kathmandu. you can actually do the shuttle relatively quickly. It's pretty expensive. but my client wasn't very well, so we went back to Kathmandu.

It was obviously lower, and then he made the somewhat painful decision to go home, which was definitely the right decision. A hard decision, but the right decision. and I decided to come back in.

No.

so yeah, here I am.

So

I

Right.

should have just gone home.

we've [00:05:00] kind of launched into this, Kenton, but looking at your background, I believe you grew up in High Wycombe, which is about four miles from where I'm sitting right now. 

Oh, where are you then

I'm in Great Missenden.

Oh, okay. Yeah,

No

yeah. I, I, I went down to the... Is it the Hughenden

Yes. Yeah.

to do a geography project down there in the river. I was actually born in

Oh, nice

grew up just outside Denham, but went to school in Wycombe.

Oh, very good. To John Hampden.

Yeah

Oh, wow. How did you get from John Hampden and High Wycombe to Everest? what's that potted history?

suppose, my father was a scout leader, so I was exposed to the scouts and everything that the scouts give you. Camping, hiking, whatever that may be. And then one of my mates at school, he came from a very adventurous family. His dad was a professional rally driver. and the family were always doing these, amazing adventures and I just said to Andy [00:06:00] one day, who I knew that climbed, I just said to Andy one day, "Will you, will you take me down a climbing wall?" And Uxbridge at the time, Brunel University had possibly the best climbing wall in 

I 

in

to

the area.

there

Yeah.

back in the day.

Wow 

Yeah, I mean, possibly it was... I mean, it's antiquate now. I think, in fact, I think it's gone. I think they've knocked it down, but that's where it started.

Yeah

and then it very quickly we went to the Alps after my A levels. then I think my second year at university we went to Pakistan and it just snowballed from there.

Hmm. Wow.

Yeah. 

yeah, it's all

and so were you, I mean, we're a skiing podcast, were you big into skiing? Were you skiing as a kid?

No,

No?

definitely not. I did a couple of taster sessions at a dry ski slope at Hillingdon, if anybody remembers Hillingdon, dry ski slope.

place I ever put skis on.

skiing for me came about because climbing became my passion, and I wanted to climb in wintertime in the Alps. And to get around in the Alps in winter, you've gotta be able to ski. [00:07:00] So it was a rather, sight of wearing climbing boots, wearing Slavina bindings on beg, borrow, stolen skis, with rather large rucksacks to get in and out of the climbs. so that was my touch point to snow skiing. And then when I decided to become a IFMGA qualified mountain guide, of course, skiing is part of that, qualification. So I had to double down on my skiing relatively late in life. I was mid-20s, maybe late 20s. myself off to Chamonix, bought a pair of, were they called? K2 Apaches or K2,

Oh, yeah

they banged some Dynafit... not Dynafit, D- Dynafit, whatever bindings on. And, yeah, just hung out in Chamonix, skiing things way out of my comfort zone. skiing with a bunch of very good skiers. I think Guy Willett, who was my business partner at the time and very close friend, who was an amazing or still is an [00:08:00] amazing skier. he said, there's three rules to skiing. Turning is for learning. speed is your friend, and if in doubt, point them out." And then

Just listeners, don't take this advice.

Love that. yeah, that is lovely. I really do

Yeah.

a lot

I mean, hanging out in Chamonix will do it, won't it? 

Well, it's either gonna kill you, or, or you're gonna learn pretty fast. And I think I learned pretty fast. And, know, I, I was doing a ski event in Jack- was it Jackson? somewhere like that, for the YPO. I was skiing with, I forget what his name is now. He was an American down- Tommy Moe.

Tommy Moe,

yeah, I was-

champion 1994 Lillehammer,

we're like looking after some guests and basically we're there just a source, be the, the talent, the entertainment. But of course, I can't ski very well compared with Tommy Moe. and he was looking at me skiing and he's like, "Hey, G man, you ski pretty agriculturally." 

So

Oh [00:09:00] my goodness. Thanks for

agriculturally

but it worked really well. But it got me down stuff. and, you know, it was full on survival mode in Chamonix back in those days 'cause everybody else was so much better than me. so, so

Do you ever get your skis

my skiing today is still pretty bad

on Everest? Do you get skis... I mean, is that part of what you do with

Yeah.

or do you just avoid,

I mean, I know Everest got skied twice in the autumn. Once by the, Polish skier, Andrzej Bargiel or something his name is, and then on the north side by Jim Morrison. but really it's not a logical ski peak.

Okay

a lot of rock, very high. and then Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world, that got skied only the other day by another Polish guy. amazing.

Okay

it's only the second time that's been skied after, Hillevi Nissen and, Jim Morrison did it, about 10, 12 years ago. so that was pretty cool. But no, skiing doesn't really feature here. I have skied 8,000 meter peaks. [00:10:00] in fact, I was the first Brit to ski an 8,000 meter peak, I think, with Cho Oyu back in 2006.

Okay.

But it's not great skiing. Now if it's good for climbing, it's crap for skiing. If it's good for skiing, it's crap for climbing. So th-

right

they don't balance out very well

wanna remind our listeners, that if you, go to YouTube and, are talking to you, Kenton, from Everest Base Camp. You are

at Everest Base Camp right now. We can see you in your tent, and at some point, hopefully you can show us what's outside your tent

Yeah.

well. Can we actually

see

I'll tell you

which would be really amazing.

Well, it's pretty cloudy out

we're gonna do that now.

today.

Just

The weather's not great.

the weather's not great. Well you're, you're five and a half thousand meters up a Himalaya mountain. Looks okay, actually. Looks better than it is here 

Yeah, it does

now in the middle 

There's

Mm.

Piz Hoy there. Everest, you can't see Everest from base camp here, but Everest is kind of up there somewhere. And then that's the west flank of Everest. And if I turn round, [00:11:00] the cloud there is a 7,000 meter peak called Pumori. And if people trek to base camp, they would trek up the valley behind me here come up this way.

And

And

see your tent there 

behind us, behind us there would be, Tibet. This is the tent

That's the tent. and is that pretty standard for people that are arriving in base camp to stay in a setup like that tent? It looks fairly comfortable

Has ever come around. So we're in a big tent set up here. 

Oh, it's a l- like a village, isn't it? 

Yeah, 

village 

so these are the mess tents and the storage tents. These are, like, all the members' and clients' tents where we sort of all hang out. loo tent. those are shower tents, I think. it's, yeah, 

Is 

pretty comfortable here

is there a bit of an apres scene going up there, like an apres ski scene? I mean, does it all sort of go off after everyone's got down 

No,

"You know what? I'm gonna crack the beers open."

I suppose it does a little bit. I go teetotal on expeditions. [00:12:00] my celebration is normally in Kathmandu. And because the way that the weather the season unfolds, the summits are normally drip, drip-fed over eight, nine, 10 days. So people are kind of departing all the time. yeah, there'll be little celebrations,

Yeah

when people come down, it's certainly not the party scene that you might find in Dick's T-Bar or something like that

Where is?

Yeah,

I mean, what is driving you on though, Kenton? what, you know, is it just the fact that it's become a job for you? Or is there still a sort of, I wanna be the man that did 20, or I wanna be the man that did 40 climbs of Everest? I mean, what, you know, what's pushing it on?

for me, summits are kind of irrelevant. Lhakpa Rita summited yesterday. So he's a Sherpa with the most number of summits. He's got 32 summits. So I mean, 20 compared with 32 is neither here

Chicken feed

for me it's work to an extent. this is one of the ways I pay the mortgage. I'm a full qualified guide, so I would do [00:13:00] the Eiger and, Matterhorn, and I would go down to South America or Antarctica, looking after, my clients. I'm kind of known as Mr. Everest and, clients keep coming to me on this mountain, and I can charge a relatively good wage doing so. Added to that, I love the country of Nepal. it's absolutely fantastic. And there is actually a heli-ski operation here anybody's interested. I think Craig Cloninger, runs a heli-ski operation here over in the Annapurnas.

Hmm

I love the people, I love the culture, I love the food, so throw all that into the mix and for me it's pretty much a no-brainer to come back year upon year.

Hmm

the number is irrelevant. it's more the environment that I get to, be in and working. I think it's great

Hmm. 

Kenton. I think people are fascinated by Everest. I mean, you've climbed the same Sherpa team members for years. I mean, I've got, Dory, Dorje,

Dorje Geljen Sherpa, he's got [00:14:00] 24 summits. little tyke only started here 2007, so he started climbing three years after I started climbing here, he's already overtaken me. no, I mean, he, he, he's phenomenal. And he now... So if any of the listeners ski in the Arlberg, he goes and works in the Arlberg each year in, one of the restaurants a- above Zürs.

is it, Trittau, Triftau or something it was, and he's there serving pizza. know, he's got 24 summits of Everest to his name, and he's there serving pizza to,

incredible

yeah, to skiers. unbelievable. And he learned to ski this year, which is great

And I mean, those kind of relationships then, you build these up. how important is that? I mean, for as a team and when your client comes to you, is that's obviously part of the package presumably

Yeah, no, But it's like anything we do. I mean, you're going skiing somewhere, you have a close of friends that you would go skiing with, because A, you trust them, B, you enjoy their company, C, they're good at what they're doing and you know you're gonna have [00:15:00] a great time. and it's exactly the same here. I mean, Dorje, we've worked together on this mountain 13, 14 years. we've pretty much done everything and seen everything together. it's a very tight relationship that we have and, I love him to bits and we were in Pakistan together last year. We were in Pakistan in 2021 when we climbed K2 and, generally when I'm doing stuff with clients, certainly in the big mountains, I would not consider doing it without Dorje. he's definitely a right-hand man. he's phenomenal

need to go and meet him in the Albergue and, have some pizza with him, that's

for sure. 

absolutely. It,

fantastic

so, so, I mean, he's been there two seasons now. so I, I sneaked up on him a couple of years ago. So my wife and I went across there and sort of surprised him. then I know that a, a friend of mine, Conrad, Conrad Bartowski, he, 

Oh, 

he always goes across, to that area.

So I said to him, "You've gotta meet up with this dude." and bugger me, he did. You know, he actually went out of his way, went and found Dorothy, got a photograph [00:16:00] taken with him, and sent me the photograph, which I think was just lovely. Yeah, 

well, Conrad's a great guy. Yeah, we know Conrad very

No, it's

he's brilliant. we talked about some of the climate change stuff that we all see. as skiers, we experience climate change firsthand. we see the effects. I've been skiing in the Alps for 40 years of my life and, in places like Chamonix, and we see the changes with our own eyes.

That's kind of like it impacts us maybe, more than anybody. I think you've done some work with, Professor Duncan Quincy on glacier research.

Yeah. 

what sort of changes have you seen around Everest and, and the Himalayas over the years?

Well, I mean, the interesting thing with the Himalayas is because it's so much higher and the glaciers are that much bigger, it's harder to actually see the change with the naked eye. I mean, are indicators, things like, you can come here at the start of the Everest climbing season, and there'd be running water coming through base camp.

there's a pond, sort of just behind me, that's hardly frozen. whereas say 10, 15 years ago, it would freeze quite hard. 

[00:17:00] Right. 

up in Camp 2 even, there's like running water. this is 6,400 meters. There's running water coming through the tented site, which we all use there. but it is quite hard to discern with the naked eye, unless you put some sort of, measuring system in. one of the things that Duncan's been doing is, they've been boring down to see how deep the glacier is here, they've also been looking at, what the undersurface temperature is.

And it's nowhere near as cold as we would like it to be, or we would hope it to be. but the biggest thing that Duncan ever said to me, I went up to Leeds University, which is my old university, where he is a professor, we were walking down to the train station together, and, we were just chewing the fat about stuff.

And he said up to this point, the modeling looking forward to the end of the century, he said, "We think we got the modeling wrong, and we think we've underestimated it." And by the end of this [00:18:00] century, his best guess, and he's a professor of glaciology, said there won't be a single glacier left in Europe

Hmm. By the end of the century.

By the end of the century. Now, it's not gonna affect, you that much, Rob, or me, or maybe even our children. They might just get away with it. all those times you're skiing in like teen up on the glacier or in Hintertux or, you know, wherever you may be, glaciers aren't gonna exist anymore, and that's really scary. That's 

Yeah, it is. I mean, I'm not surprised about that comment. the changes that I've seen in alpine glaciers over the last 10 to 15, 20 years, is huge. and if it continues like that, then yeah, What Duncan's saying is very sad, but not particularly surprising.

Yeah.

yeah. And well, how does that

with this kind of respect, it kind of makes you worried about the ski industry in... I mean, how many ski resorts are gonna be viable? I used to own a house in Mont Saxonnex, about [00:19:00] 40 minutes down the road, where it's above Cluses. so down the valley from Chamonix, above Cluses. And when I first bought that house in, like, 2005 or '06 or whatever, it's got a really beautiful, cute little ski area. It's got three lifts. It's got, like, what, you know, a quad and two pommers or

Yeah,

something like that. But you could have a really good day skiing there, and I could ski back to the house. that little resort does no longer exist. It doesn't open anymore.

Yeah,

Yeah, and that's in ten

I mean, ski resorts will... are adapting and will have to adapt further to deal with, the snow and where it's... I mean, obviously when glaciers disappear doesn't necessarily mean that snow will disappear from the Alps,

No. No, it doesn't

But obviously snow is changing, and the climate is changing and ski resorts are already adapting to that and they are already doing things, putting things in place that are gonna,

Yeah

help to deal with that.

But it is, yeah, for those little ski resorts, yeah, it's really sad to see those, disappear in terms of their skiing.

Yeah

what about climbing Everest though? Does that change, [00:20:00] does it change the way you have to approach a climb because of what's happening?

on Everest we like snow. I know it sounds ridiculous, but quite often Everest can be pretty rocky. so if it's snowy, on the ridge, on summit day, that really helps with the overcrowding, which some of the audience might have heard about or seen pictures of. So it really helps with that it's much easier for the inexperienced to walk on snow than it is to walk on, complicated sort of rocky terrain.

So, we do like snow. it's been pretty snowy season here actually. we had snow low down the valley. It's been snowing almost on a daily basis here. so that's generally a good sign. I mean, pictures that I've seen from people that have summited in the last couple of days, looks snowy.

That generally makes it safer. It can make it quicker. so fingers crossed that's good. So a big tick in the box for that one.

what's your favorite mountain in the Himalayas to climb? I mean, if it's not Everest, is there [00:21:00] another

Oof.

Or are there just so many?

yeah, I mean, there's bloody hundreds over here. I mean, I think

you've climbed, I mean presumably what you've been up Lhotse

Yeah. 

and

yeah.

and

Yeah, exactly. I mean, I've not climbed Annapurna. I've climbed Annapurna III. I've been up Lhotse. I've been up Nuptse. I've climbed mountains in India, in Pakistan, and, you know, all over the place. I suppose if you were gonna pull out one, Yeah, it's kind of difficult, isn't it? Because it, it's, it's

Ah,

it's not necessarily the mountain. it's like who you're with and how it's unfolding and what the expedition is like. Let me give you an example. I was with, a client in Pakistan last year, and we were trying Leila Peak, which is this super amazing, like very sharp-looking peak. and we turned around about 100 meters from the top. So we didn't actually climb it, but that's one of the best expeditions I've ever been on. we had just such a great time. It was Dorje, myself, and the client, and his little Pakistani team, and it was [00:22:00]absolutely fantastic. which I think just goes to show, you know, I know it's a cliché, you know, it's not about the destination, it's not necessarily about the summit, 

Yes 

and, you know, and I, I am very fond of Pakistan. I mean, it's a brutally difficult place to exist and to climb and everything else, but that's one of the reasons why I like it so much, I think.

is that? for political reasons or for

Oh, everything.

reasons?

Yeah, it's just like it gets bad weather, it's really hot. You know, geopolitically it's a bit unstable, which makes it quite exciting.

Yeah

it's definitely not as developed for the tourists as say Nepal or even parts of India are. but because of that, I think you get a raw experience of what Pakistan is like.

and the people there are fabulous. 

'Cause my wife

it-

me from a few countries, to go skiing in, and Pakistan at the moment is one of those. And we had literally a discussion the other day about [00:23:00] it, and I said, "I really wanna go to Pakistan, and I think it's gonna be okay." And she's like, "No, it's, that's one of the banned... It's on the banned list at the moment."

Yeah, no, I mean, I think it's pretty safe. 

hmm

like to try to guess what the skiing is like. whereabouts were you thinking about going?

Well, I don't know. I just know a couple of people that have been, and obviously you've got Gulmarg, which is a million miles away from that side

Yeah, in India.

haven't you, in Kashmir.

Yeah

So it would've been sort of Kashmir and then maybe into Pakistan. 

Yeah. 

entirely sure, to be honest 

mean, I, I can't think of any... I mean, there's no s- as far as I know, there's no ski infrastructure. so we'll be, you know, sweating

and...

it up, up- uphill. But, I mean, in terms of scenery and, and I mean, God, it's amazing. 

Yeah, I can imagine.

amazing

And when you abandoned that climb 100 meters from the top, presumably that's a minuscule amount of, vertical compared to what you'd already done to get to that point. I mean, what was the decision process there?

I mean, as a team we were slowing down. I think the client was really struggling to breathe. we think he was having an asthma attack [00:24:00] retrospectively. yeah, and it was actually a really easy decision to make. It was like,

Yeah

I think we need to go down now." 

Okay 

ended up having a, like a 19-hour day from the top camp to our high point to the top camp again.

So yeah, we gave it a bloody good go and, you know, so sometimes these things aren't meant to be. and, you know, when you make these decisions and if they're easy decisions to make, then you know you're making sound decision

there's been a lot of talk this season in the Alp with, a lot of avalanche activity and unfortunately, quite a lot of avalanche deaths compared to the average for a season. I

think it's pushing like 140 people or something in the Alps this winter.

and there has been quite a lot of talk about mountain guides and instructors and the decision-making process that they have to deal with, all of the time and also the kind of pressure that a client might put on

Yeah

in that situation. And I suppose, for you, when you're leading people in the Himalayas especially, do you feel that kind of pressure or is [00:25:00] it just not even an issue for you?

Yeah. I mean, you do feel it. I mean, if you turn somebody around on Mont Blanc or the Matterhorn, that's one thing. to say to somebody that their Everest ambition dream is over, I mean, that's a bigger thing. I mean, there's more money involved, there's more time involved, but arguably it is more dangerous. and it is interesting, because there was over 100 deaths in, was it March alone? Something like that, when we had the big snowfall. I think it's the second deadliest season the Alps has ever seen. and I think it would be really interesting to get the statistical breakdown when it's finished.

how many deaths occurred under the, umbrella of a guide or a, ski instructor compared with, amateurs. But also sometimes professionals going out there to ski lines. especially in Chamonix, there's a huge amount of pressure even, if you're not there in the first 15, 20 minutes, all the lines have gone.

They're skied out. so there's huge amounts of pressure put on individuals. and I do [00:26:00] feel it here. when with Tim, my client recently, it was heartbreaking. we did it collectively. It wasn't just my decision. We did it collectively. but for him to down his long-term ambition of climbing Everest, that's a really hard thing to do.

and there is pressure on the mountain guide, whether it's here, whether it's in, climbing the Matterhorn, whether it's, skiing the Vallee Blanche or whatever it is. we do feel pressure from clients. 

Yeah

never cloud decision-making, but I think I'd be naive to say that it doesn't sometimes.

I mean, I guess, there's two sides to it, isn't there? you want to give people the best experience possible. You wanna keep them safe, and I suppose that goes for anybody. what are the most important qualities you have developed as a guide over the years?

is it patience, leadership, reading people, decision-making under pressure, all of those kind of things?

Yeah. I mean, I, I, I look back. I mean, when did I qualify as a guide? [00:27:00]2006, I qualified as a full mountain guide, IFMGA guide. and I look back to the younger me 20 years ago and I'm like, it's utter despair and like so arrogant, so gung-ho, so like

Okay.

Whereas now is a lot more considered, a lot more patient, and I don't really have too many issues about saying no. and you know, that can be a really hard thing to say sometimes, and it can really upset clients sometimes when you say, "No, we're not gonna ski this," or, "No, we're not gonna climb this." but ultimately we are employed as guides for a reason, you know, to, to be the decision maker. and sometimes as a decision maker, you're there to make life absolutely amazing and find the best powder sash or find the best like, route up whatever mountain it is or, or show somebody like this really secluded place in some Swiss valley that do the best like, you know, whatever it may be, [00:28:00]fondue.

sure

but ultimately we're paid to keep people safe. and if, if we don't think that's gonna happen, then we've gotta say no. and it's gotta be presented in, in, in, in the right way. And certainly when I was younger it wouldn't have of always been presented in the right way. 

Yeah, of

yeah, we, 

No, I, get that 

think, all guides mature

Yeah, yeah, of course. mean, I suppose y- you know, that's normal in life, right? You know, we learn from some of our experiences and, it molds us, into who we are. But I mean, if anyone listening to this would be interested in taking that pathway?

I mean, as a mountain guide takes years. what would you say to anyone maybe, I don't know, around

it. Just do it

I guess you've gotta start that journey pretty young. You know, if you're in your early 20s or something like that and you're already into climbing and you're maybe into skiing and you think, I think I wanna become a mountain guide," you know, what would you say?

just do it because it's the best thing I've ever done. My only [00:29:00] regret is that I didn't do it a little bit earlier. but you know, within the UK there are parameters, I think, I think you've gotta be 25 or something like that. I forget what it is. you gotta have the prerequisites and things like that.

But no, I'm not a millionaire, but I live a pretty nice life. I've got two great children who ski and, they go to little prep schools, which cost me a fortune and, you know, it's... I live in the Cotswolds and I've got a great wife and everything else, and that's through guiding. so 

right 

you can live a comfortable life, and you can travel the world and do amazing things and in whatever you wanna do. I mean, some of my friends are dedicated ski guides, some are dedicated rock climbing guides. Some, like me, are high altitude mountain guides. Some just focus on ice climbing. I mean, personally, I think it's a fantastic way of life. you gotta be careful when you're first qualified. That's where all the mistakes happen. you know, if you're into the outdoors, you know, whether you wanna be a ski guide, [00:30:00] ski instructor, rock climbing instructor, whatever, just do it. You know, if you're passionate about it,

Nice.

it. Just do it

And what about the next generation of climbers and mountaineers? I mean, is there anybody that stands out for you right now? Anyone you're looking at and going, "Wow, these guys are pushing," men or women o-

Yeah.

they're really pushing the boundaries."

in the UK we've got Tom Livingston. he's doing some pretty cool climbs. there's, Fay Manners. she's an epic skier as well as a sort of climber and a mountaineer. she's doing some pretty cool stuff. But, some of the French guys at the moment, some of the ice climbers are just unbelievably good. the mind boggles to, what they're doing. And, the Polish dude that I mentioned earlier, the guy that skied Everest in the fall, Andrzej Barecki or

Mm-hmm.

Baranski or I'm not sure how to pronounce his name. he skied K2, he skied Everest. He's like, you

Yeah

I mean, it's next level. Yeah, it's [00:31:00] just incredible. And then, you know, there's a whole host of young rock climbers coming up in the UK and in Europe, and they're like 12, 13, 14, climbing AA,

Mm-hmm. Right

just incredible level these young boys and girls have taken it to. it's nuts.

brilliant

Yeah.

the future's looking very healthy

That's good to know. Kenton, we always ask this question to anyone that, comes on to our podcast. it is basically, you could ski in any ski resort, only one ski resort for the rest of your life, what one would that be and why?

Shit. 

know we sprung that one on you.

No, yeah, I didn't know that you did that. 

No, we don't, we don't tell people that.

so, I lived in Chamonix for six or seven years. It would not be Chamonix.

Okay.

I don't think it's a ski resort. we skied as a family this year in Solden for the first time. [00:32:00] I was rather taken by Solden. I thought

Hmm.

Solden was amazing. I'm a big fan of St. Anton. I thought Jackson was pretty good. I skied that years and years and years ago. And I thought the backcountry in Jackson and the accessibility there was pretty good. But we're very excited. So I promised my daughter, this like three or four years ago, that we would go to Japan, so next year we're going to

Okay.

Japan. and I've heard nothing but amazing things about Japan. But if you put a gun to my head right now, if I had to somewhere, one ski resort, am I allowed to say the Arlberg or do I have to say St. Anton or Lech or Zürs?

hmm, no, I can give you the Alberg.

That's fine. Yeah, I can give you the Alberg. 

Yeah. 'Cause it's, it's, it's high, it's huge, it's got generally pretty good snow.

There's huge amounts of off-piste. can slap your skins on, and you know, and away you go. I've never experienced it over busy. Oh, well, there's Andermatt. I'm quite fond of Andermatt. no, no, I'll stick with the Aarberg. I'll stick with the Aarberg

I [00:33:00] love the history of skiing in that region as well, 

Yeah

Christoph and the history of it all and where things started off. you kind of oozes alpine skiing, doesn't it? The Arlberg region.

Yeah. and there's so much there and you can go and explore these little pockets and, it's great. it's great.

Okay. All right.

I do like it there

thanks, Kenton. I mean, it has been an incredible, pleasure to speak with you live when you are actually sitting in your home at

Very much, 

and actually to see that as well to when you walked out the door and you can see it. I mean, it's, amazing, isn't it?

It's absolutely incredible that we're having this conversation. I'm sitting in Hereford in the UK, you're sitting in Nepal, and, we're having this live conversation with video as well, and if listeners can go onto YouTube and see this. yeah, I, I mean, yeah, just, I hope you enjoy your 20th, ascent of Everest,

Well, I hope so too.

yeah.

I hope it's safe.

nice for you

Yeah, it looks like it might be a bit windy. [00:34:00] but, yeah, it's looking good and, you know, if all goes well, Friday morning, Nepalese time, so very early UK time, we should be on top. it'll 

All 

be George's 25th summit, which is pretty incredible really. Yeah, pretty incredible. So-

follow your tracker. you do have a tracker so you can see where you are

Yep. 

I'll, 

yeah. I 

that 

anybody want, if anybody want, wants to follow that, just go to my Instagram account and just, you know, it's in the bio and you can just hit the tracker and it all uploads. yeah, so fingers crossed it all goes good. So, but the burning question for me is, Rob, how are you gonna stop this podcast?

That is a really good question because we've lost Dom, who is the technical wizard of the podcast. I think you just have to leave it,

and I will stay on, and I will deal with that.

Okay.

deal, I'll deal with that problem. You have enough to worry about

yeah, well, I need to pack for tonight. I'm gonna need to find some of my stuff as well. so yeah, so just leave it running, do I?

Just leave it running because it needs to [00:35:00] download. You've obviously got pretty good Wi-Fi 'cause the sound and video has been brilliant. So hopefully that doesn't take too

long 

he's a Marmite character, but what he has done very well is put a load of satellites into orbit and Starlink is just down there

Okay, really? Right. Okay. Well, okay, well,

Pretty amazing

occasion, we'll thank the man for doing that.

Yeah. No, absolutely. Absolutely. Right then, I'm off to, go and find some equipment 

Okay.

well, hopefully speak to some of you in Hereford. You're not that far away, so we, 

not far from you guys. Yeah, that's true.

Yeah. 

right 

the children basically learned to ski on Gloucester dry ski slope,

Did

I believe is up for sale

I've heard that.

now

up for sale, yeah. And I hope someone buys it. I mean, it's one of those dry slopes that's managed to endure over the years.

Yeah

I did a little thing. I think I've worked on half the dry slopes in England at one point or another, or in Britain, and I did a little bit there.

It's a great setup. Brilliant place.

it's nice. no, well, I say it's nice. It's,

Oh,

[00:36:00] yeah. 

it serves a pretty good purpose, yeah.

is what it is.

I've had many a beer on a Sunday evening watching the children hit gates there, so it's been-

daughter put skis on for the first time at Gloucester actually when she was three or something, so yeah.

Yeah.

It's, yeah, long, long may it continue.

Yeah, absolutely

all right. Well, it would be great to meet up at some point. Great to have a ski together.

Yeah

may be in the Alberg 

there we go. go, go, go see Georgie. Yeah, that'd be great. I will just leave this running for now.

Yeah.

how do I know when it's uploaded? 

Well, I think you just need to press the leave. I think it should, you should have something that says leave

on your screen 

that could be the person that you needed to speak to. Was that Dom's wife? we just went across the thingy.

maybe. I might just text him. But I think you should just be able to... I'm just gonna text him. He might be able to rescue us And that does look like Deb's walking out the door there.

Debs, come back.