Ex-Saints WR Mark Pattison planning for ‘Seven Summits’ at Everest
Mark Pattison done his closing test Friday before leaving for the closing trek of his journey up the mountain.
If all goes nicely, the previous NFL vast receiver will reach the summit of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the earth, and neighboring Lhotse. That feat would set him in an elite club of hikers who have arrived at the “seven summits,” indicating they have climbed the optimum peak on all 7 continents in the earth.
“My self esteem has been developing enormously, trying to check off the packing containers of the unknown, of what’s ahead,” Pattison instructed Usa Today’s Tom Schad on Monday from a tiny village in Nepal.
“My brain, the way I’m wired, I’m really much the optimist. And so I do not see a scenario where by I don’t see myself on top rated of the two Everest and Lhotse.”
What are the 7 summits?
Only about 500 men and women have strike all seven peaks, according to NPR, and Pattison would be the second previous NFL player to pull that feat off, for each Usa Now. Previous defensive lineman Craig Hanneman did so in 2019.
The seven mountains on the listing are:
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Australia | Mount Kosciuszko — 7,310 ft.
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Antarctica | Mount Vinson — 16,050 ft.
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Russia, Europe | Mount Elbrus — 18,510 ft.
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Tanzania, Africa | Mount Kilimanjaro — 19,341 ft.
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Alaska, North The us | Mount McKinley (Denali) — 20,310 ft.
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Argentina, South The united states | Mount Aconcagua — 22,841 ft.
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Napal/Tibet, Asia | Mount Everest — 29,032 ft.
There is no appropriate get in climbing the seven mountains, and no time limit. Just one must merely make it to the leading of each and every mountain in their life span.
Pattison, per Usa Now, very first did Mount Kilimanjaro in 2013. He then went to Europe, Australia and South The united states. Denali was upcoming, even though that took him two attempts thanks to temperature, prior to he went to Antarctica in 2019.
Everest ‘throws all the things at you’
Pattison invested 3 seasons in the league from 1986-88, and expended time with he Los Angeles Raiders, Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints. The former University of Washington standout recorded 12 profession receptions and 152 yards about 18 game titles.
The 59-year-previous now serves as an executive for Maven and Sporting activities Illustrated.
Now on the cusp of his purpose, Pattison is experiencing by far the hardest journey of the seven climbs.
In accordance to The New York Instances, two climbers died Wednesday on the mountain’s “death zone,” which sits previously mentioned 26,000 ft. They marked the very first fatalities of the climbing period. Per the report, 11 persons died attempting to make the trek in 2019.
“It throws every little thing at you — from avalanches to crevasses to ice partitions that you have to climb, to altitude,” Pattison reported, by using Usa Today. “You have just bought to be on your recreation, and you have received to know what you’re accomplishing, in buy to have a productive final result.”
Being aware of how perilous the climb is, Pattison and his crew are using it slow and have been at it systematically for months. Although which is grueling, he understands tolerance is the most effective way forward.
“I’m going again to people corny school football and expert football cliches,” Pattison explained, by means of Usa Right now. “One action at a time. 1 game at a time. Do not glimpse [too far] ahead.”
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