Thousands of New Zealanders pay good money and trek over one hundred kilometers (in wintertime, in sub-freezing temperatures) seemingly to visit a collection of rocks and prayer flags at ‘base camp’. Granted, in the climbing season EBC is the staging point for summit attempts of the tallest mountain on earth, however interesting fact, trekkers to EBC never actually step foot ‘on’ Mt Everest. Why bother then?
Adventure Magazine talks with Robert Bruce, founder of Got to Get Out who just completed his fourth group trek to the region, this time leading thirty (mostly) Kiwis to EBC return while also navigating some drama at 5,000m above sea level. He explains the draw card and why he believes EBC is an educational and cultural rite of passage for Kiwis, if you are prepared.
Where did your interest in Nepal first come about?
Got To Get Out (GTGO) is a social enterprise adventure group I founded in 2015. The group is designed to get Kiwis (or people living in New Zealand) active, outdoors, getting healthy and making friends. The whole premise of the group was to get people outdoors on safe and well-organised events, that ‘got people off the couch’. I never set out to become a particularly extreme outdoors operator, I just wanted to make it easy for people to get moving.
As I recall, back in 2015 no-one was really arranging free organized trips, so I guess GTGO was unique when I started writing on Facebook “who’s #gottogetout with me this weekend?”
It was while trekking through Nepal to Mt Everest Base Camp, my first trip to the region, that the idea of arranging group trips came about; I had recently left the corporate/ marketing world, not exactly by choice, but looking back it was exactly the change I needed.
Esta historia es de la edición February - March 2020 de Adventure Magazine.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición February - March 2020 de Adventure Magazine.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Papua New Guinea
Four reasons to add Papua New Guinea to your bucket list
The benefits of being a Multi-Trick Pony
"A broad skill base and how you can draw from one platform to the next – women often pigeon hole themselves"
The RELUCTANT adventurer
An eighteen-year-old princess, who paints his (yes, his) nails and dyes his hair bleach blonde, embarking on an adventure trip with his family, sounds like a plot for a bad 80s movie.
The Meaning of Tramping
What does tramping mean to you?
Keala Kennelly owns Red Bull Magnitude
The North Shore season of 1957 is recognized in the surfing world as the start of an era. When Greg Noll, a young Mickey Munoz and company went out and rode Waimea for the first time, it was a glimpse of what could be in the world of big-wave surfing.
North West Circuit Stewart Island
I found myself in limbo during the winter of 2020, in between jobs in a strained covid economy. And so, I did what any outdoors person would do with a large amount of free time on their hands. It was time to pack up my belongings and hit the road. It was time to leave behind home comforts and go adventure-seeking.
Emilie's adventure to Angelus Hut
“I want to be the leader!” Miss Six announced, pushing past me in her determination to be in front. Momentarily off-balance with my heavy pack, I narrowly avoided twisting an ankle on the sharp rocks and silently swore while cracking a bright smile.
Nancy Jiang Breaking stereotypes
I recently watched a youtube movie entitled, “Her Way” (check it out on the Adventure Website) which introduced a woman who had an overwhelming passion for running. The preface at the bottom of the clip, read as follows:
Adversity at Altitude
The wind and snow is whipping at my face. I’ve readjusted the stiff frozen fleece buff around my neck and mouth, desperately trying to protect myself from the -20 degree bitter wind. Adrenaline is still pumping through my body but I know I’ll start to get cold soon.
Last Great Mountaineering Challenge
Ground-breaking mountaineer Nirmal ‘Nims’ Purja MBE has attained an incredible new world record by submitting K2 as part of a collaborative team in the depths of winter. Until now, it was a record that was believed to be impossible to accomplish and was famously known as the ‘last great mountaineering challenge’.
