7 Everests, 7 days One man's ups with the downs

Chris Hall put it all on the line when he undertook a monster seven Everests in seven days. He speaks to James Shrubsall about exactly what it took, physically and mentally

- Chris Hall

Method fundraiser. If it wasn't a term before Chris Hall attempted to ride an Everest every day for a week, it ought to be now. In raising money. and awareness for men's mental health and the Movember charity, the personable 32-year-old rode himself into a void of emotional desolation, where the tears flowed as freely as the sweat.

Even as he did so, he listened to the stories of strangers who had turned up to ride alongside him, people who needed to talk about their struggles with mental health.

"The idea of [Everesting] seven times is that people who are struggling are struggling 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year," Hall explains. There's also a correlation, he says, between the ups and downs of such a challenge and mental health struggles.

"I've struggled with depression quite severely in the past, and there's a real synergy for me about descending and spiraling out of control a bit and then being able to climb out of that and how, actually, that climb and struggle out is really hard, but there is always a way out," Hall explains.

Hall, who now lives in the Peak District, is no stranger to hard days in the saddle. His other charity endeavours include 'Trenching' Box Hill in Surrey - 91 descents adding up to 11,034 meters, the same depth as the Mariana Trench- and riding 107km daily for 107 days. In 2018, he was eighth in the National Championship 24-hour time trial, riding an impressive 457 miles.

Seven Everests in a week though is another level up from all of these - not least because it represented uncharted waters of suffering.

Suffering in Snowdonia