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Al Hamed

Seven Mountains, One Red Hat

By 29029 Everesting

November 15^th, 2024

I’ve lived my life in the weight room - bodybuilding, powerlifting, arm wrestling… you name it, I’ve done it.

Cardio? Not so much.

Endurance events? Those weren’t really my thing.

Then in 2021, that all changed.

A buddy of mine reached out.

“Hey dude, I think I’m going to do this event,” he said as he told me about 29029. “Want to join me?”

Now normally I’m not a spur-of-moment kind of guy. I like to research, prepare, and analyze (maybe over-analyze) but 2021 was different. I was just coming out of a phase of personal and professional development, where words like misogi were top of mind.

I wanted to choose my hard, and I knew if I didn’t try this, my regret would probably be worse than whatever physical pain I’d go through trying to climb 29029 Snowbasin.

I said yes.

Snowbasin 2021

What I had failed to consider was that my buddy was a freak athlete. What might be easy for him was going to be hard for me, but it didn’t matter. I was standing at the base of Snowbasin, completely unprepared and clueless about what I was in for.

Snowbasin’s first section? I can only describe it as gangster. If you've been there, you know what I mean! After my first ascent, I thought, “Well that sucked… I don’t really want to do that again.”

But I did. I started my second climb, and barely 50 yards in, my legs locked up. Not a small cramp, more like the worst charley horse you could ever imagine.

I was stuck. If I’d tucked and rolled back downhill, I’d have been back at the base in seconds, but I didn’t want to be the guy who turned back after 50 yards.

Coach Brent and Coach Dawn came across me as they started their own hike up the mountain. They coached me through, and four hours later, I reached the summit. That was my 2nd of what would be 4 total ascents in 36 hours.

I was dead.

But my 29029 journey had only just begun…

Snowbasin 2022

On the flight home from my first 29029, I took notes. I love reviewing my ‘game film’ - what went well, what went poorly, and what needed to change. I knew I could do better, so I signed up for Snowbasin again in 2022.

This time, I completed 9 ascents.

Was I happy with that?

Not really.

I had completed 5 ascents in just 12 hours at another event that summer, so 9 in 36 felt like going backward…

Stratton 2022

I hit the start in Stratton with a renewed motivation, putting my climbs at Snowbasin behind me. I’d learned from them, and I was ready to summit.

By Lap 15, I realized time wasn’t on my side. Everest - 17 laps - was out of reach, but if I left it all out there, I could finish 16.

Just one shy, with 30 minutes left on the clock, I finished my final lap, earning my Red Bib.

So close, but I had destroyed myself in the process. I skipped dinner, awards… everything, passing out in my hotel room, completely drained.

Jackson Hole 2023

I wasn’t leaving things to chance anymore. I was so close to earning a Red Hat, and I didn’t want to leave 2023 having fallen short again, so I signed up for three events: Jackson Hole, Snowbasin, and Stratton.

I was serious!

Two-a-day training became the norm: my usual weightlifting workouts in the morning, followed by the 29029 training plan in the evenings. I didn’t skip a single one!

In Jackson Hole, it was hot - 95 degrees hot during the day - but by 6 pm, as the trees lining the course started to provide some shade, I began shivering uncontrollably. It wasn’t until later that I realized my soaked cotton shirt had cooled me down too much, causing my chest to chafe raw in the process. I lost a lot of time dealing with the aftermath of that.

Rookie mistake. In the game tape review after that event, I’d make a note to only wear technical apparel - just one of the many lessons I'd learned over the past 4 mountains.

Despite that, I had finished 15 of the 19 ascents. Not what I wanted - especially since I had been so close in Stratton the year before.

But that right there was why I’d registered for 3. No stress, I’ll just get it done in Snowbasin.

Snowbasin 2023

2023 Snowbasin was the biggest gut punch. My progress went the wrong way, and not just a little bit.

My previous high was 9 ascents there. This time? Six.

Only six.

It was a gut punch.

I felt defeated.

Why Keep Climbing?

Some people asked me why I kept going back to 29029 after multiple failed attempts. You didn’t just try it once, you’ve tried it five times now… maybe it just isn’t for you. You did your best...

I’ve seen people try something hard and keep trying a few times - twice, three, or maybe even four times. After that, if they haven’t succeeded, some move on.

It might sound cheesy, but my reasoning as to why I wasn’t moving on - why I wasn’t throwing in the towel - was simple.

I was going to keep climbing at 29029 because I said I would. When I say I’ll do something, I do it.

I was staying true to my word.

Stratton 2023

By the time Stratton came around, I decided I needed another change-up - some outside support.

With my wife and kids in tow, we arrived in Vermont, and for the first few hours, it was perfect - literally the best fall conditions you could ask for.

Then, the rain started.

And it quickly became torrential.

My ascents slowed as I fought my way through heavy rain and mud, and each time I reached the summit, I realized I was falling further and further behind schedule.

This is when I realized my poor wife and kids were also out there, cold and wet, waiting for me on every ascent.

I was soaked and stressed - worried about them, and frustrated by my pace.

I finished 8 ascents.

Improvement? For the second time of the year, no.

I had fallen behind from my previous high mark yet again.

The Red Hat felt further out of reach than ever before…

Is This Worth It?

A lot of people navigate their day-to-day based on how they feel, not their commitments. To me, I’ve always thought that’s a slippery slope. If I didn’t do things because of how I felt, I wouldn’t do much.

I wouldn’t work out much, I wouldn’t develop much, I wouldn’t grow much.

That mindset was part of why I felt so strongly about doing what I said I’d do. That was why continuing to climb until I finally pulled on that Red Hat was so important to me.

But for the first time I can remember, after Stratton in 2023, I thought to myself, “Am I chasing something that wasn’t meant for me?”

I mean, I’d tried to Everest six times, and hadn’t done it yet.

I’d spent so much time, put so much effort in, gone wire-to-wire, and given it my all on these mountains...

Maybe it wasn’t meant to be.

I went down a rabbit hole with my mindset.

Did I still want to do this? Should I be embarrassed that I’d tried and failed 6 times? Will I ever get a ‘win’ if I keep on this path?

Then, one day I woke up and it was all clear again.

If I quit on 29029, that sets a precedent. If I give myself permission to quit climbing, where else in life will I quit? What other commitments will I quit on if I set this precedent?

It wasn’t happening.

I wasn’t stopping.

Failure was fine, but quitting wasn’t, and I knew deep down, that if I kept failing, it was only a matter of when, not if.

Because in every failure, I learned a little more about what not to do. And eventually, if I kept failing, I’d run out of things that I was doing wrong.

And if I did nothing wrong, I was finally going to get that Red Hat.

Jackson Hole 2024

I signed up for Jackson Hole in 2024, and this time, it felt different.

That new mindset had relaxed me: I let go of the pressure to succeed, and instead embraced the learning.

If I didn’t earn my Red Hat here, I’d learn something that would help me earn it later.

Each lap - whether great or terrible - was just part of the process.

All that was left to do was climb, and that’s exactly what I did. I won’t bore you with the details, but there were good laps, and there were bad ones - just like every mountain.

There were ascents where I felt amazing, and there were ascents where I thought I couldn’t go another step.

It didn’t matter - I rode the waves, and I kept climbing.

4 Years & 7 Mountains in the Making

As I finished my 18th ascent, I paused briefly. I’d earned my Red Bib again - 2 years after the last one, but this time, something was different. I was climbing in it - one final ascent wearing Red, taking in every moment.

No rush.

No pressure.

Just me, the mountain, and years of hard-fought lessons to get me to this moment.

When I finally set foot on the Red Carpet, the waves of every emotion came flooding in. Tears, thankfulness, gratitude, pride… you name it.

I must have taken at least 5 minutes to get through that Red Carpet, because I wanted to make sure to not only take it all in, but thank every single person who was there cheering me on.

After 4 years and 7 mountains, I’d finally done it.

I'd earned my Red Hat!

The Next Mountain...

Now, wearing that Red Hat and looking back at my journey, I can confidently say that it’s not about the result - it’s about the journey.

People outside of 29029 would ask me why I kept going. When I started to do worse on the mountains in 2023, they’d wonder when I’d finally give in. Why spend all that time and money?