Vivian James Rigney is not an occasional traveler.
The executive coach and speaker has visited over 80 countries and lived on three continents.
He also climbed the highest mountains of the seven continents, the so-called Seven Peaks.
It’s a feat that took him 14 years to complete – one, he estimates, that less than 1,000 people have accomplished.
And he did it despite being “terrified of heights”, he said.
In an interview with CNBC Travel, Rigney opened up about what he learned — and how much it cost him — to reach some of the highest points on the planet.
The cost of climbing
Rigney estimates he paid between $170,000 and $180,000 to climb the Seven Summits, he said.
“Everest is, by far, the most expensive,” he said, adding that he paid around $80,000 when he climbed it in 2010.
“You have to save and build a plan,” he said. “That’s why it took me years. I started, then I went to business school, all my money went there, then I started again, I found a new job … Bit by bit, I got out of it bit by bit.”
But there’s another cost — time away from work, Rigney said. Fortunately, he said his employers were supportive of his goals.
“If you have a good employer…he can see [personal goals] as something that can help boost company morale,” he said.
From “easy” to “excruciatingly painful”
In addition to cost, the Seven Summits vary widely in climbing difficulty, Rigney said.
He said Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa is “easy”, calling it “technically not difficult at all”.
But it’s high enough to experience altitude sickness, he said, which prevents some climbers from reaching the summit.
Kilimanjaro can be climbed in a week, he said. The Vinson Massif in Antarctica can take two weeks – “if you’re lucky” – and the Denali in North America three to four weeks.
But Mount Everest is a “massive logistical operation” that takes about two months, he said. It’s by far the toughest and most dangerous climb, he said, calling the experience “excruciatingly painful”.
“Every cell in your body is saying you shouldn’t be here,” he said. “Your intuition is going crazy.”
Rigney climbed Mount Everest for about four to five hours a day. The rest of the time, “you recover alone in your tent…no devices, no internet…nothing.”
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He said he arrived “puffed up and in great shape”. Despite consuming 7,000 to 8,000 calories a day – mostly potatoes, pasta and dry foods – he said he lost 20 pounds while climbing Everest.
Staying warm takes a huge amount of energy, he said. Everything freezes, he says, including the LCD screens of the cameras.
“We have what we call a pee bag. You pee in that bag, seal it, and put it in the sleeping bag with you because it’s hot.”
There are only three to five days in the climbing season to reach the summit of Everest. If they do, it’s a quick win, Rigney said.
“People don’t hang around the top for hours,” he said. “You come down the mountain as fast as you can.”
From climbing to coaching
Rigney is now an executive coach and speaker, teaching business leaders the lessons he learned from pushing himself, mentally and physically, to the limit.
He is also the author of “Naked at the Knife’s Edge”, a book about how he used some of the most heartbreaking moments of his Everest climb to succeed professionally.
Climbers don’t stay long once they’ve summited Mount Everest, Rigney said. “You come down the mountain as fast as you can.”
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He said he helps “overachievers… [with] tons on their mind “achieve balance and break habits” that drag us along…like we’re on a treadmill.
For example, fear – whether it’s public speaking or one’s own fear of heights – can be overcome using mind tricks, he said.
And leaders must learn to accept things beyond their control, whether it’s an injury or a pandemic, he said.
He said he was still laughing when he thought he would arrive at a small aircraft hangar in Kathmandu an hour before his scheduled flight to the foothills of the Himalayas.
After climbing the “Seven Summits”, Rigney said he deliberately chooses less risky travel experiences. He said that several years ago he found a hobby that was both challenging and fun: scuba diving.
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“I remember going up to this gentleman…and I said, ‘Hey…what time do you think we’re leaving? ‘” Rigney said. “He said, ‘Maybe today, hopefully by tomorrow, probably by the end of the week.'”
Ten minutes later, another climber, who got the same answer, exploded in anger, he said.
“Finally this guy is looking over, red with steam coming out of his ears, and we’re screaming. I think it finally clicked – like that’s where you were. It’s about the weather in the Himalayas!”
It’s just part of a long list of “things we can control and things we can’t,” Rigney said.