Don’t be afraid to fail! Failing is good! #fail - Video

Don’t be afraid to fail.

Last time on Mera Peak, I pulled a full Simone Biles for many reasons. This time, I went back with revenge on my mind :-) In a good way.

I could have just left that mountain as an unfinished story, but I didn’t. I had to finish the last 500 meters - the summit.

So this time, I didn’t mess around. I had one goal: summit.

Last time, I followed instructions and failed. This time, I did everything they told me not to do:
- I took a shortcut and instead of 12 days, I summited in 8.
- I skipped acclimatization days.
- I skipped base camp and went straight to high camp, then 12 hours later straight to the summit.
- I ate meat. Lots of it. Even yak steak. They tell you not to eat meat on the mountain. I ignored them.
- I chose my own summit clothing. Last time they overdressed me, and I lost a lot of energy because I was overheating.
- I also figured out that I am around twice as fast on the mountain as my climbing mates. This time I went alone because I wanted to see my speed.

The result?
- No altitude sickness.
- No struggle during the summit - I actually enjoyed every minute of it, and that usual moment of “I don’t want to do this” never came.
- A pretty good summit time of 4 hours and 18 minutes - the average is usually 5–6 hours, and some people push even 7 hours.
- My Sherpa said I’m ready for my first 7000-meter mountain :-)

So if you fail at something - your role, marriage, friendship, goal, whatever - don’t get discouraged. Do it again.

The second time, you have a head start but only if you’ve actually learned from your previous mistakes. I certainly did. And this 6,470-meter mountain wasn’t even that challenging. I won’t say it was easy!!!!!! But when I reached the summit, I still had maybe 70% more to give.

That only happened because I spent 18 months thinking about where I went wrong the first time.

Maybe failure is not there to stop you. Maybe it is there to insult your ego enough that you finally stop listening to everyone else and start paying attention to what actually works for you.

Sometimes the first attempt is not the real climb, it is just reconnaissance. The summit belongs to the second, third or even the fourth version of you.

PS: Behind me - Mount Everest (8,848m), Lhotse (8,516m), Makalu (8,485m), Cho Oyu (8,188m), and Kangchenjunga (8,586m), Ama Dablam, Baruntse, Nuptse and more. Oxygen level on Mera 44%.

But the best part? I hung out with the Everest summiters as they acclimatise on Mera. That is always very special!