Deana Kingsbury

Red Shorts

By 29029 Everesting

January 14^th, 2022

My 29029 story started in 2018 at Snowbasin, Utah.

The event was a novelty to me. I’ve always been a free spirit. I’ll try anything. It doesn’t even have to be athletic. If a friend invites me to do something, I’m in. I’m always in.

A friend invited me to 29029, and you can guess what I said.

I had a kind of arrogance about my ability to hike up a mountain 13 times.

I am a crossfitter - I can do 100 burpees in three minutes - how hard could walking up a mountain be?

My friends compounded my confidence, going on about how I was easily fit enough, athletic enough, and how conquering the mountain wouldn’t be a problem.

When my first attempt started, I was full of energy. I was taking selfies, making friends, being goofy, and doing handstands.

This is fun!

My mindset was way off. Honestly, I was more focused on taking Snapchats with goofy filters than I was about getting to the top.

After a day of fun on the mountain, I went to bed with no real plans for when to wake up. I didn’t even set an alarm. And when I got up, I felt fine. Until the first few footsteps up the mountain.

That’s when I started doing the math on how much further I had to go, and how much time was left.

I have 6 more laps to go, and they’ve been taking me this long… Shit. I am out of time.

Finishing all 13 would be impossible. Just like that, the fun had stopped.

Sure, I had time to finish 11 or 12, but I didn’t bother. I didn’t empty the tank.

Before the event even ended - while I still could have been hiking up the mountain - I started talking myself down.

You were just here to have fun. You just wanted to try something new. You experienced what you needed to. This is fine.

But it wasn’t fine. As I boarded the plane home, it hit me: I had shown up and treated 29029 like some sort of entertainment thing - some novelty adventure to do for fun. But it wasn’t that.

I was humbled. Embarrassed. It was the biggest ego-check I’d ever had.

Failing at 29029 stuck with me. I didn’t go more than 3 days without thinking about it for the next 3 years.

At first, I was resigned. I told myself it just wasn’t for me. I was trying to let it go.

But it kept nagging at me. The failure was hanging over me and I was too scared to tackle it.

What if I try and fail again? Maybe I should just let that first one go. I can’t let myself down again. It can be a lesson in ego and I’ll leave it at that.

I couldn’t let it go. I felt stuck, and I had unfinished business.

After 3 years of waiting - 3 years of fearing another failure - I finally went back to Utah in 2021, looking for redemption.

And this time I trained. I trained hard. I did big hikes. I woke up at 4 am to go climbing. I was going to show up to Utah prepared this time. I didn’t want to fail again.

Early on at the event, Marc [co-founder] saw me on the slopes and asked; “Are you having fun?”

No. I’m working right now. This is business time.

I put my head down and pushed on. I didn’t want to be in any pictures. I didn’t want to socialize. I just wanted to make it to the top.

During the night, on my 9th ascent, things started to get hard. I was at the bottom of the mountain, and I must have looked bad, because one of the volunteers started walking towards me.

In their hands was a folding chair.

Oh shit, why are they doing that? Is that for me? Do I look that bad?

I guess I looked that bad. They placed the chair in front of me and encouraged me to sit down.

A medic came over and took my vitals. I was okay, but my blood pressure was low. I clearly needed rest.

But I hadn’t hit 10 ascents yet, and that was my goal before going to bed. I didn’t want to negotiate my goal. I didn’t know what would happen next - if I went off plan now, did that mean I wouldn’t make it to 13 tomorrow?

Was I going to fail again?

Nervously, I packed it in for the night. And by packed it in for the night, I mean I slept for about 45 minutes. But it was rest - much needed.

At 4:45 am, I woke up, and I did a body scan. All systems were a go! I felt fine. I felt ready. I had the biggest smile on my face as I started up the mountain.

Only 4 ascents to go.

For the first 9 ascents, my head had been down. I had shut out all distractions in pursuit of my goal.

Don’t make friends out here. You made friends last time, and look what happened. 100% of your focus is on getting to the top.

But now I was feeling so much better. The weight was lifted off my shoulders - I was going to finish! I started talking to people on the mountain - learning their stories - learning their why.

After my 12th ascent, I went back into the lodge to change. I wanted to be fresh for my last hike up the mountain. I pulled on a pair of brand-new shorts I bought just for this occasion.

They were red.

The perfect pair of shorts for the last lap.

Failing once is hard. Going back with the chance of failing again is even harder. But none of that matters if you believe you can handle more than you think you can handle. I learned that at 29029.