The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Man versus nature
As the only person to have both climbed the highest mountain on every continent and cycled solo around the world, Geordie Stewart credits growing up in Scotland with preparing him for the challenge. Gayle Ritchie finds out more
Afreezing, damp, drainage tunnel for a bedroom. Doesn’t sound like much fun, does it?
But that’s exactly where Geordie Stewart found himself sleeping – or at least trying to – when he ventured into the volatile Chinese border region of Xinjiang during his epic solo cycle round the world.
“I had several nights sleeping under motorway bridges there,” recalls the 30-year-old.
“Politically, Xinjiang is a highly contentious and controversial part of the world.
“The motorways had barbed wire on either side to stop me leaving the road and being unaccounted for, so the only option for sleeping was in the drainage tunnels underneath.”
Thankfully, Geordie, who spent his childhood exploring Scotland’s harsh wilderness, is made of sterner stuff.
Aged 22, he conquered the world’s Seven Summits – scaling the highest peaks on each continent, including Mount Everest – becoming the youngest Briton to do so.
After graduating from St Andrews University with a degree in history and theology, Geordie – who grew up idolising adventurer Bear Grylls – served as an Army officer for five years with the Light Dragoons.
The day he left the Army, in August 2018, having saved up every penny he could lay hands on, he set off on his solo world cycle.
It would be a gruelling journey that would take 430 days, see him cross 24 countries and four continents, and pedal 22,500 miles.
Living on less than £10 a day, Geordie spent more than 200 nights wild camping and endured temperatures ranging from a teeth-chattering -40C cycling through Siberia, to a sweltering 44C in the USA.
Wild animals were a genuine concern in some countries, particularly in Kazakhstan, so Geordie armed himself with a wolf animal – a bike light with a high-pitched noise to warn off the creatures – and a knife.
He never had this misfortune of having to use either, but he found the alarm offered an effective deterrent for barking dogs.
Highlights of the trip included travelling through the lonesome and beautiful steppes of Kazakhstan, “hilarious and random” nights out with cowboys in the USA and ranch workers in the Australian Outback, and hooking up with an old pal in Laos.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, his Xinjiang experience turned out to be the worst part of his journey.
Not only was he forced to suffer nights in depressing accommodation (if you can call a drainage tunnel accommodation), but he also found that the authorities in the country massively restricted his freedom.
“Getting stopped up to 10 times a day
Death and big climbing expeditions have been intertwined forever; to pit ourselves against nature and try to survive.
for passport checks, as well as having my phone and passport confiscated, having fingerprint scans and police interviews rather drained my morale,” muses Geordie.
“I found what was happening politically and socially appalling, with more than a million people being imprisoned for their religious beliefs.”
Having completed his challenge and returned to the UK in October, Geordie has been writing a book about his exploits, which is due for publication later this year.
SEVEN SUMMITS
Ever since he was a teenager, Geordie had dreamed of scaling the highest summit on each of the world’s seven continents.
Aged 18, he became one of the youngest Britons ever to summit Aconcagua, the highest mountain in South America. He then attempted to make a solo climb of Mount Kilimanjaro in May 2008, and reached the summit on his 19th birthday.
He first attempted to climb Mount Everest in 2010 but was forced to turn back just 150m from the summit, having been heavily delayed during his ascent after helping a Sherpa and two teammates who were suffering from severe altitude sickness.
His failed attempt came just days after a fellow traveller and Scot Peter Kinloch had perished on its forbidding slopes. The 28-year-old IT specialist had fallen ill and died shortly after reaching the top.
“I got to know Peter at base camp and so hearing of his death, in circumstances that could have been very similar to my own, was horrible,” reflects Geordie.
“While he decided to push on to the summit, I turned back.
“That was a difficult decision for me, but it probably saved my life.”
Geordie reasons that the tragedy was an example of the “fine margins” in highaltitude climbing.
“Each climber, every time they go to the mountains, has to weigh up what’s ahead and rationalise their own decision in their own way,” he says.
“Death and big climbing expeditions have been intertwined forever; it’s part of human nature to pit ourselves against nature and try to survive. Nature, however, is cruel and unforgiving.”
Still coming to terms with what had happened, Geordie took a year out of university and set off on his Seven Summits challenge the following year.
This time, he made it to the top of Everest, but he was faced with the distressing ordeal of having to pass the bodies of other climbers – including that of his friend.
Although he knew Peter would be lying there, when he found him, he was quite understandably traumatised.
“When you see a body you don’t know, you can slightly remove the human emotion to it,” he ponders. “But when you see someone you do know, it’s much harder to deal with.
“I’d spent time with Peter and even knew he supported Inverness Caley Thistle FC.”
Geordie filmed a documentary, The Ultimate Climb, for Discovery Channel, which aired in 2012, and a book he had written about his incredible exploits – In Search of Sisu – was published in 2018.
Both the expedition and the book have been endorsed by two of his heroes – Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Bear Grylls.
Sir Ranulph described In Search of Sisu as: “Powerfully written and compelling... a must-read for anyone with an interest in adventure”, while Bear said it “touches on key elements of human psychology, overcoming adversity and difficult decision-making on an intensely personal journey”. What does Sisu mean, I ask? Geordie laughs: “It’s one of those wonderful Scandinavian words that can’t be directly translated into English,” he explains. “But it roughly translates as grit, determination, courage and resilience.”
While the trip opened Geordie’s eyes to the immense generosity and kindness of strangers, it also helped him cope with a debilitating eating disorder.
“It helped put my bulimia into perspective,” he reflects.
“When in an extreme environment, your own survival and that of your teammates has to come first.
“I don’t have bulimia anymore but, in the same way an alcoholic would never call themselves fully recovered, you can’t be complacent.”
TOUGH SCOT
Born in London, Geordie spent much of his childhood and indeed his studenthood in Scotland, where his father had grown up.
He fell in love with the Highlands, scaling the highest peaks and exploring the vast wilderness.
Indeed, Geordie credits Scotland and its rugged landscape with teaching him his craft and toughening him up for his future expeditions.
“Dad grew up in Banffshire and lives in Edinburgh now, so Scotland is ingrained in our family,” he says.
“I’ve spent a lot of time exploring and hillwalking in the Highlands so, in many ways, I suppose my love of the outdoors was inspired by early adventures in wet and wild Scottish weather.
“I was a very active child.
“I spent many hours climbing huge trees, perching as close to the top as possible, watching the people and the world go by – and then working out how I was going to get down!”
While studying in St Andrews, Geordie regularly went climbing across Scotland, especially around Ben Nevis, as well as in the Trossachs or Cairngorms, using this as training for his Seven Summits challenge.
“The unpredictable weather and terrain provided ideal mental and physical preparation for future challenges,” he adds.
Geordie also spent an “enormous” amount of time exploring St Andrews and the rest of Fife, both on foot and by car and bike.
“I even trained for my Alaska expedition – a self-sufficient sledgepulling expedition with a small team
– by buying a small wooden sledge and dragging friends up and down West Sands!” he reveals.
“It was a unique sight for locals, but it helped get the job done.
“I also attribute much of my Everest training to hacking ungracefully around the golf courses on St Andrews links. People laughed at the time!”
Currently living in London (but with trips galore to Scotland), I wonder if Geordie is planning any other major expeditions?
“That has yet to be confirmed!’ he laughs.
“But right now, I’m happily catching up with friends and family.
“For me, the best way to reflect on what really mattered on my trip is to write a book about it.
“My understanding of the world in terms of other cultures and religions was vastly improved but also my empathy with how other people live.
“It’s easy to portray a trip in terms of beautiful photos, but it’s the people that change your perspective.
“Conversations with locals open your eyes and force you to think about your own country.
“Overall, I was constantly amazed and humbled by the lengths people went to all over the world to help me.”
Geordie’s book, In Search of Sisu, is available on Amazon. Visit www.geordiestewart.co.uk