Altitude Centre – Deano's World

With just 20 days to go before I leave for the Everest Rugby Challenge everything is slowly falling into place. I have finally bought all my kit and if anyone owns shares in RAB: You’re welcome! The extreme cold weather kit has arrived courtesy of LMAX Exchange and I have started packing to work out what I will have to leave behind to hit the max weight for luggage of just 23Kg.

I am now sleeping in an altitude tent which simulates the oxygen levels of somewhere around 3500m. You are probably thinking that this simulated altitude is the reason I am doing this but you would be wrong. The real reason for anyone in our expedition using an altitude tent is that it simulates being unable to sleep as the compressor makes almost as much noise as Paul Watkins does when he snores. The worst thing about the tent is that I have had to set it up in the spare room because of the noise meaning that Buffy and I are in separate rooms for the first time since we got married which is really tough.

In other altitude tent news two of my cats are also acclimatised to 3500m after claiming their own spots inside the tent every night. It is going to be a pleasant relief not being woken up every couple of hours for attention by needy cats when I get to Everest.

This month I am pushing it at the gym trying to shed the last weight I think is possible in the time left until we go. I figure that at this point every pound I can lose before I go gives me a better chance of succeeding when I get there. It is however getting to the point where I will have done all I can in the time available to get ready. I don’t think it will be enough to make the trip anything other than a struggle from start ’til finish. I am trying to mentally prepare myself for what will be a significant challenge at altitude when the reality is I genuinely may not be able to cope.

I am trying to focus on the positives and the fact I am now fitter than I have been for almost a decade. Coming back from an L5 disc extraction and a serious case of ITP is no easy thing and only 18 months ago I was weighing in at between 24 and 25 stone. The fact I am worried about my performance on the mountain and not just about the fact I am going speaks volumes about my progress so far.

The BBC and other news outlets have been doing their best to scare the shit out of me with a series of seemingly unending articles about people dying on Everest or mountains in general. These articles are in addition to coverage of real life tragedies on Nanga Parbat, Ben Nevis and the Alps this year and have not helped with the nerves particularly given they happened at altitudes below where we intend to set the record.

It has been great to receive good luck messages from around the rugby world from various members of the #SamuraiFamily. I found the picture below particularly helpful in understanding exactly where everything is on Mount Everest, although it doesn’t show the cable car or lounge bar I was definitely promised!

With the huge push by Wooden Spoon to help disabled and disadvantaged children overcome their own Everest it makes everything the Challengers are doing for fundraising all the more important. With a fantastic amount of help from a great many people I have hit my target of £10,000 for the charity. The focus is now on getting everyone across the line so as a team we can hit the magic number of £200,000 and hopefully get as high as £250,000 to help fund the incredible works carried out by Wooden Spoon around the UK.

As for #MyEverest? it seems at this point it is, according to Rob Vickerman, actually Everest.

Lastly if you want to get your school or club involved with the #EverestRugbyChallenge take a look at the video below and get in touch with team at Wooden Spoon.

Come and do a training session at the Altitude Centre they said. It’ll be fun they said.

As usual I forgot to look before I leapt.

So before the send off for the Everest Rugby Challengers at the Wooden Spoon Rugby Ball at the Hilton on Park Lane I joined the other challengers for a “quick” training session at The Altitude Centre.

Now I have never used a Watt Bike and if I am being honest I’d not actually heard of them before this session. It is fair to say that my little legs and them do not get on. Add to that this the training session is in a room where the Oxygen content is controlled to simulate being at 2700m/12,000ft and I am seriously struggling.

Matt Mitchell asked if anyone else had found themselves “breaking wind” more in the session because of the altitude and I replied that I hadn’t been able to fart because I was using that particular orifice for breathing through.

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Riding a Watt Bike at a simulated atmosphere of 2700m is horrid but trying to walk uphill in a mask which simulates an atmosphere of 5000m altitude with no acclimatisation is a whole new level of “outside my comfort zone”. It is fair to say that at that point my muscles, such as they are, were in spasm so badly I was shaking like a shitting dog. This challenge is now very real, I have work to do and I am well and truly on the raggedy edge. I am also loving every second of it which I put largely down to the group of people involved.

Suitably knackered we went off to the Hilton to meet our respective partners and families and to help Wooden Spoon raise as much money as possible at the charities annual ball. The event also served as a send off for the challenge and the support from those gathered at the event was amazing. For sure they all thought we were bonkers as well but then almost everyone I’ve spoken to regarding the challenge thinks that anyway.

The event was top notch and certainly puts my fundraisers into perspective. Sarah, Jules, Laurie and the rest of the team put on one hell of a show and it is truly incredible how many legends of the game they get to willingly support the cause.

There are legends and then there are legends and Willie John McBride is the latter, a true great and an icon of the game. The sort of man that inspires awe in everyone who has played the game and is respected by all he played with or against. He has 17 test caps for the British & Irish Lions. To be clear that is test caps and not just match appearances. Or to put it another way he has more test caps for the Lions than any other player in the history of the side and more than most players get for their nation. During the Wooden Spoon Ball that night in the auction when an auction prize dinner with Sir Bill Beaumont and Jason “Fun Bus” Leonard, themselves bonafide legends, at a Michelin star restaurant stalled at £2500. Willie John spoke to auctioneer Jon Gould and offered to pitch up as well to see if that would help raise more money for the charity. The dinner went for £5000 around 30 seconds later. I think it speaks volumes about the work of Wooden Spoon and the standing they have within the rugby community that they have someone like Willie John McBride involved with the charity

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I would just like to thank the team at The Altitude Centre for the time they gave us – very much appreciated and no doubt I’ll be back to try and squeeze a few more sessions in before I go.