Fifty and Climbing: My Road to the Explorers Grand Slam
Seven Summits + North Pole + South Pole. Nine objectives, one body that just turned fifty.
Last week I did something most climbers skip: I put the mountain aside and looked at the machine. A full blood panel, plus my BioAge scan. The headline: biological age 50, equal to my real age. The details were more interesting, and more honest.
The body audit
| Component | Reading | |
|---|---|---|
| Flexibility | 12 years younger | |
| Strength | On par | |
| Metabolism | Slightly behind | |
| Cardio | 10 years behind: my bottleneck |
That cardio number matters more than any other. Altitude is an oxygen-delivery problem, and delivery starts with heart, lungs and blood.
What my blood says
| Marker | Value | Reference | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hemoglobin / Hct | 14.7 g/dl / 43.4 % | 13.5–17.2 / 39.5–50.5 | Solid baseline |
| Ferritin | 225 µg/l | 22–322 | Plenty of iron stores to build red cells (CRP 0.9: not inflammation) |
| Transferrin sat. | 20 % | 16–45 | Low-normal; recheck |
| HbA1c | 5.8 % | < 5.7 | Prediabetes range (ADA) |
| Triglycerides | 3.3 mmol/l | < 1.7 | High; blood drawn 14:31, probably non-fasting |
| LDL | 3.1 mmol/l | < 3.0 | Marginal |
| Biotin | 0.85 nmol/l | > 1.02 | Deficiency “possible” |
| 25-OH Vit D | 29 µg/l | > 20 (goal 30) | Adequate; top up in winter |
| B12, folate, TSH, kidney, liver | all normal | Clean | |
The science, briefly. Altitude training raises hemoglobin mass by roughly 1% per 100 hours of exposure above ~2,100 m, though individual response varies widely. Rising red-cell production needs iron, and mine are well stocked. That is a genuine advantage. The weaker points are metabolic: HbA1c and triglycerides point to insulin resistance, which my metabolism age (52) echoes. Both respond fast to training and food. I will repeat the lipids fasting, and I will not take biotin before any blood test, since it can distort lab assays.
What the data doesn’t yet show
The panel covered vitamins, iron, liver, kidney, thyroid and lipids, and the rest were normal. Still missing before Kilimanjaro: fasting glucose, insulin and lipids (with ApoB), a stress ECG, a VO₂max test, resting SpO₂ and a few weeks of HRV and sleep tracking.
Where I am today
The programme: hypoxic training
I will work with an expedition partner specialised in hypoxic pre-acclimatisation. The approach is pre-acclimatisation at home: hypoxic tent sleeping plus active hypoxic training with a mask. Such programmes have been used for over two decades; a fast commercial Everest ascent in 2018 took a little over 20 days from leaving Europe, and a later team logged over 500 hours of hypoxic training beforehand, though that expedition also used xenon gas and supplemental oxygen. Providers stress the protocol is not DIY-friendly: SpO₂ is monitored continuously and the dose is individualised. Xenon in particular remains experimental and contested, so I treat it as a question for my doctor, not a plan.
Medication is a conversation with my GP and a high-altitude physician, not an internet checklist. Typical topics: acetazolamide (Diamox) for AMS prevention, dexamethasone and nifedipine as prescribed rescue drugs, and a stress ECG, VO₂max test and echocardiogram beforehand.
Weekly template: 3 × Zone-2 sessions (60–90 min), 1 × interval day (4×4 min hard), 2 × strength, 1 long hike with a loaded pack, 1 rest. Swap sugary snacks for protein and fibre; a 10-minute walk after meals blunts glucose spikes. With only five weeks, the realistic goal is to arrive fit, not transformed: start a shorter hypoxic tent block now (protocol set by my partner and doctor) and choose a slow 7–8 day route for natural acclimatisation. Retest bloods and BioAge in 12 weeks; target cardio age 52 or lower.
The mind is the summit
The brain is the other altitude organ. Plan for three things:
Before: anxiety is normal. A “pre-mortem” turns vague dread into checklists. During: set turnaround times in advance, when the mind is clear; hypoxia degrades judgement exactly when summit fever peaks. Sleep, breathing drills and a daily one-line journal keep mood data honest.
After: the post-expedition crash is real. Climbers often report low mood once the goal is gone, so I will schedule the next small project before the big one ends.
Kilimanjaro was first summited in 1889, Everest in 1953; today thousands follow thanks to better preparation and acclimatisation science. I am fifty, and I plan to arrive as prepared as the data allows.