Vivian James Rigney is not any informal traveler.
The manager coach and speaker has visited greater than 80 international locations and lived on three continents.
He is additionally climbed the very best mountains on all seven continents, the so-called Seven Summits.
It is a feat that took him 14 years — one, he estimates, that fewer than 1,000 individuals have accomplished.
And he did it regardless of being “scared of heights,” he mentioned.
In an interview with CNBC Journey, Rigney talked about what he realized — and the way a lot it price him — to succeed in a number of the highest factors on earth.
The associated fee to climb
Rigney estimates he is paid between $170,000 and $180,000 to climb the Seven Summits, he mentioned.
“Everest is, by far, the most costly,” he mentioned, including that he paid about $80,000 when he climbed it in 2010.
“It’s a must to save and construct a plan,” he mentioned. “That is why it took me years. I began, then I went to enterprise college, all my cash was gone into that, then I began once more, acquired a brand new job … Piece by piece, I step by step acquired by way of it.”
However there’s one other price — the time away from work, mentioned Rigney. Fortunately, he mentioned his employers supported his objectives.
“When you have a very good employer … they will see [personal goals] as one thing which may help elevate the spirits of the corporate,” he mentioned.
From ‘straightforward’ to ‘excruciatingly painful’
Along with prices, the Seven Summits range significantly when it comes to climbing problem, mentioned Rigney.
He mentioned Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro is “straightforward,” calling it “technically not difficult in any respect.”
However it’s excessive sufficient to really feel altitude illness, he mentioned, which stops some climbers from reaching the highest.
Kilimanjaro could be climbed in per week, he mentioned. Antarctica’s Vinson Massif can take two weeks — “in the event you’re fortunate” — and North America’s Denali three to 4 weeks.
However Mount Everest is a “huge logistical operation” that takes about two months, he mentioned. It is by far essentially the most tough and harmful climb, he mentioned, calling the expertise “excruciatingly painful.”
“Each cell in your physique is saying you should not be right here,” he mentioned. “Your instinct goes nuts.”
Rigney climbed Mount Everest for about 4 to 5 hours a day. The remainder of the time “you are recovering in your tent alone … no units, no web … nothing.”
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He mentioned he arrived “bulked up and tremendous match.” Regardless of consuming 7,000 to eight,000 energy a day — primarily potatoes, pasta and dry meals — he mentioned he misplaced 20 kilos through the Everest climb.
Staying heat takes an incredible quantity of vitality, he mentioned. Every part freezes, he mentioned, together with LCD digital camera screens.
“We’ve got what we name a pee bag. You pee on this bag, and also you seal it and you set that into the sleeper bag with you as a result of it is heat.”
There are solely about three to 5 days within the climbing season that climbers can attain Everest’s summit. In the event that they do, it is a fast victory, mentioned Rigney.
“Folks do not cling across the summit for hours,” he mentioned. “You get the heck off the mountain as fast as you’ll be able to.”
From climbing to teaching
Rigney is now an govt coach and speaker, educating company executives classes he realized from pushing himself, mentally and bodily, to the restrict.
He is additionally the creator of “Bare on the Knife’s Edge,” a ebook about how he is used a number of the most harrowing moments from his Everest climb for skilled success.
Climbers do not stay lengthy as soon as they attain Mount Everest’s peak, mentioned Rigney. “You get the heck off the mountain as fast as you’ll be able to.”
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He mentioned he helps “overachievers… [with] tons on their thoughts” obtain steadiness and break habits “which pull us alongside … as if we’re on a conveyor belt.”
For instance, concern — whether or not it is of public talking or his personal concern of heights — could be overcome utilizing tips of the thoughts, he mentioned.
And leaders should be taught to simply accept issues which can be out of their management, be it an damage or a pandemic, he mentioned.
He mentioned he nonetheless laughs when he thinks about arriving at a small airplane hangar in Kathmandu one hour earlier than he was scheduled to fly to the foothills of the Himalayas.
After climbing the “Seven Summits,” Rigney mentioned he’s intentionally selecting journey experiences which can be much less dangerous. He mentioned a number of years in the past, he discovered a interest that’s each difficult and enjoyable: scuba diving.
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“I keep in mind going as much as this gentleman … and I mentioned ‘Hey… what time do you assume we’ll be leaving?'” mentioned Rigney. “He mentioned: ‘Perhaps immediately, hopefully by tomorrow, possible by the top of the week.'”
Ten minutes later, one other climber, who acquired the identical reply, exploded with anger, he mentioned.
“Ultimately this man appears over, pink with steam popping out his ears, and we’re simply howling. I believe it lastly clicked — like that is the place you might be. That is about climate within the Himalayas!”
It is simply one in every of an extended record of “issues we are able to management and issues we can’t,” mentioned Rigney.