LOCAL dentist John Moorhouse is feeling on top of the world after conquering the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest, as he bids to become one of just a handful of people to complete the three poles and seven summits!
John from Lymm, Warrington, had to overcome ice falls, huge crevasses and blocks of ice the size of a house which could topple without warning, on his way to the summit, as part of the 60th anniversary expedition following in the footsteps of the late Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to conquer Everest.
John (pictured right) is no stranger to adventure having already climbed Carstenz pyramid (Australasia), Vinson (Antarctica), Elbrus (Europe) while also being
forced off the summit by bad weather on Aconcagua (S America) and Denali (N. America).
Having now conquered Everest and skiing the last degree to the North Pole in 2006 and the South Pole in 2009, he is one of less than 30 people to have stood on all three poles – and he still has to climb Kilimanjaro – and attempt his two failed summits again before achieving his dream!
John trekked to base camp with his partner Karen McGibbon before taking on the summit.
He said: “The hardest challenges were going five times up and down the ice fall between basecamp and 1, crossing the huge crevasses in the ice fall on ladders tied together with two small ropes to hold onto for balance, with blocks of ice the size of houses above the route, with the constant danger of avalanches from the steep slopes on either side.
“This on top of the attrition to the body of spending weeks above 5000m with the average man losing 15% of their bodyweight.
“The best part was reaching the summit and getting a photo with my eldest daughter, Natasha’s, hat she specially made for the trip and getting back to basecamp safely through the icefall for the last time!”
Not content with his achievement John is now lining up his next challenge – to run the Ultra Trail de Mont Blanc in Augus, which is a single stage race of 104 miles and 9600 m of positive altitude change. The race starts in Chamonix, goes around the Mont Blanc massif through Italy and Switzerland to finish again in Chamonix.
He is no stranger to these races having done the Marathon des Sables, Amazon Jungle Marathon and Lakeland 100 mile race.
Next up will be to attempt Denali, Aconcagua again and then Kilimanjaro to become one of a handful of people to have completed the three poles and the seven summits.
