Altitude acclimatization : how going backwards is the only way forward

I watched a documentary about climbing Mount Everest last Sunday night. I learnt you don’t just climb the mountain in one go. You have to go up and then down again several times. This is called a rotation.

If you are climbing from the Southern side, the following is an example of the climb up and climb back down schedule required in order to scale the highest mountain in the world.

• Arrival BC (Base Camp) April 1
• Climbing Camp 1 April 7
• Back to BC April 8
• Climbing Camp 2 April 11
• Back to BC April 13
• Climbing Camp 2 April 17
• Climbing Camp 3 April 19
• Back to BC April 20
• Trekking down April 21
• Back to BC April 26
• 1st summit attempt May 1-7
• Trekking down May 7-12
• Back in BC May 13
• Last summit attempts May 16-30

The reason you do this is to acclimatize yourself to the altitude. Unless your body gets used to lower levels of oxygen gradually, you can become sick and even die from altitude sickness. In order to scale the summit, you need to give yourself time to get used to the different environment outside your comfort zone.

When we embark on any journey, whether it be healing from an eating disorder or recovery from trauma, we are often disappointed at the two steps forward, one step back experience. Perhaps we need to look at it differently.

In order to conquer our hardest challenge, to scale the highest peak of our experience we need to acclimatize to the altitude and to do that we must spend some of our time going back down the mountain.

It is not failure, it is not a sign of weakness, it is an important part of the journey designed to keep us safe. We have time to rest, recover, heal and celebrate the advances we have made. It energises us to take on the mountain the next day.

So the next time you find yourself bingeing when you thought you were done with it, or bursting into tears when you thought your grief was over, know that you haven’t failed, you’ve just returned to Base Camp. It’s not where you want to be, and you won’t be staying there long, but it is where you need to return to at times in order for your summit attempt to be successful.

Going backwards is a mandatory requirement when scaling a mountain. It empowers you to climb again the next time with more confidence and more skill. 

The next time you feel like you’ve gone back to the beginning and you have to start all over again, just tell everyone you’ve gone back to Base Camp. It’s what all successful climbers do.

→ {photo source}

Tagged as: eating disorder recovery, loss