More or less, for the creators of this challenge, “the return is short.” They say that “it is nothing more than” choosing a hill, whichever one you want, taking your bike, whichever one you have, and going up and down that stretch of the planet as many times as necessary, activating the GPS and Strava and when you reach 8,848 meters of elevation you will have reached the top of Mount Everest. At the very least, you will be as tired as any climber who has been to the highest point in the world. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?

They call this nonsense Everesting, and to fulfill the maxim that says “there are people for everything”, more than 18 thousand human beings have already completed this challenge since it was officially created. The undersigned, that is, the person writing this note, wanted to understand where such a sporting activity came from, who came up with it, in other words, who did us the harm.

And the thing, says the Tus Desafíos website, began in 1994. George Mallory, preparing to climb Everest (the real one, the one in Nepal), thought it was a good idea to take the slope of this mountain on a bicycle to increase his aerobic resistance and prepare his physical form for the climb. It took him one day to do this training by riding Mount Donna Buang in Australia. He said, a year later, that Everesting was not as difficult as climbing the summit on foot. In his words , “ Everesting is physically more difficult than any other day on Everest.” 20 years after these statements, a group of 120 cyclists belonging to the Hell 500 collective took on this challenge. Only 45 completed it and with their achievement they set the world of sport on fire with this challenge that they have taken care of from the beginning until today.

Endless madness

From this story, ever more daring cyclists have emerged from the earth. Some have wanted to complete the challenge faster than others, some want to do it by jogging, and others, thinking that reaching Everest is no longer enough, have raised the stakes and increased the gradient to 10,000 meters above sea level. That's how it goes.

Alberto Contador is a good example. Three years after retiring from competitive cycling, he completed Everesting by doing the same climb 78 times, covering 148.7 kilometres and stopping the clock at 7 hours and 33 minutes, making it one of the fastest times to complete this feat. Months later, Sean Gardner recorded 6 hours and 59 minutes on a 1.1 kilometre section with a gradient of 15.5% to prove that when it comes to madness, humanity knows how to surpass itself.

The history of the homeland

In Medellín, in 2020, the first organized event was held to complete this challenge (some cyclists had already completed it individually). A handful of cyclists traveled to the Himalayas from Alto de las Palmas under the motto “Brutos, pero determinados”. On November 28, they met to complete the height of Everest from these mountains so far from the original, but as steep as the one that is so far away. In order to say that they had reached that Olympus, they had to climb the official Palmas segment (from the Country) 12 times. It should be noted that the original creators of the challenge certify those who complete it through a web portal where they must upload the Strava application session that testifies to their madness.

On September 11, 2021, there will be a new opportunity to do so. The 10,000-meter category will be entered, the traditional one will be maintained and there will be another for those who want to complete half the elevation and for those who want to make three ascents in a group. Whichever is done, it will be a way to turn Las Palmas into a bigger mountain by pedaling.

Cristian Marín - Alternating Current