The Grey NATO – 249 – Kristin Harila On Her Record-Breaking Push To Climb All 8000m Peaks In Just Three Months

Published on Thu, 03 Aug 2023 06:00:00 -0400

Synopsis

The episode features an interview with Kristen Harila, a Norwegian athlete who recently set a record for climbing all 14 of the 8,000-meter peaks in just over 3 months. Kristen discusses the immense physical and logistical challenges involved in this feat, such as pushing through exhaustion, food poisoning, and unfavorable weather conditions. She shares insights into her preparation, gear choices (including her beloved Bremont watches), and the importance of her support team. Kristen also reflects on her journey from cross-country skiing to mountaineering and her future plans for a slightly more "normal" life, at least for a while.

Transcript

Speaker
Jason Heaton Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Gray Nato. It's a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 249, and it's proudly brought to you by the ever-growing TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support, and if you're listening and interested in supporting the show, please visit thegraynato.com for more details. Hey, Jason, not bad. That was one try. I am at optimal caffeination, I believe.
James It's a fine balance, isn't it? Totally. Yeah. I'm excited for the show too. I mean, what, I can't believe we were able to finally pull this off. You know, this, obviously the, if you've, if you've seen the title for, for episode two 49, you know what you're in store for. And, uh, it's, it was just a thrill for us. And, and it's been literally like a year and a half in the making, right? Because we, we talked about doing this last year when, when Kristen was, uh, made her first attempt on the, on the 14 peaks, but I'm jumping ahead.
Jason Heaton How are you doing? I'm doing really well. Yeah. I mean, kind of running on the high of just having talked with Kristen, like we just got off the line with her. Yeah. And then you and I were just catching up about some like dive logistics for a vacation coming up. So I've got to kind of like a lot of good things on my mind right now. Yeah. The chat was super fun. We'll get to it in just a few minutes. That'll be most of the episode today. Uh, but yeah, things, things have been really good on my end. Uh, I'm, I'm home for, I think then at least the next few days before going back up to the cottage. kind of endlessly rearranging my office and trying to decide about little bits of kit. I ordered some speakers. So if I like them, I'll, we'll talk about those in a, in a future, like some desktop monitors, uh, which I hope mean I could edit the show occasionally without headphones. Oh, wow. Nice. That's kind of all I was up to, you know, the, over the last, uh, two weeks or so I was at the cottage for almost all of it, which was really nice. And we did a ton of snorkeling, like I talked about on the last episode. And yeah, other than that, just getting some some kit together for vacation. We're taking a break. This will be the last episode for two weeks. We come back August 24th. And during that time, I'm going to swing down to Mexico with my wife for, I would say, mostly a vacation, but also some diving. She's going to finish her certification and we'll get some dives in as well. So you and I were just having kind of a prolonged, on my side, hand-wringing conversation about whether or not I bother to bring all my own gear. Uh, for the dives in Mexico, or if I just go with like a mask and a computer. So I'm still up in the air. I haven't decided.
James Well, I'm, I'm sure you, you'll probably be thinking about it right before the last minute. And there are plenty of opinions, you know, on the, on the Slack group and otherwise. And I, as I said, before we started recording, they're always pros and cons to, uh, to bring your own gear, um, depending on whether it's diving or anything else. Um, there's advantages to traveling light, but also the familiarity of your own stuff. So totally where you land on that.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I'm trying to decide if it's like is the vacation part of it the most ideal because at that point I could literally go with like a fanny pack. Yeah, and and a roller with our clothes in it. It's just and then not not worry about it or is the diving more the priority and in my mind it probably isn't. Yeah, I have another opportunity at least one more opportunity to dive in September and for that scenario, which you'll hear a lot about on the show coming up. Um, I will definitely want my own gear. It'll be fun to have it and use it for that. So I haven't quite decided yet, but the regs are all tuned up. I had the BC in the lake this weekend, uh, just making sure it held air, I guess. Um, and, uh, it seemed to do just fine. Minimal bubbles from the Ziegel. Otherwise, yeah. Contemplating fins that, you know, I'm back in the dive space. So you're just immediately talking about gear. Yeah. Yeah, totally. Yeah. I forgot how nice it was for those years when I was diving a lot in Vancouver where like once I had my kit, I was done. Right. You went to the, went to the storage unit, got it out and went going.
James Yeah. I'm, I'm kind of in the same boat, although I'm not debating whether or not to bring my gear. I've got a trip coming up. Actually it's the, it's the week we have an episode going live. I'll be, I'll be gone as well. I'm, uh, I'm going down to Ecuador for, for a week of diving with, um, the Manta trust. So this is a nonprofit organization that's, made up of, of researchers from all over the world who's, who study manta rays. And, um, they're underwritten largely by Carl F. Bucherer, the watch company. Um, and the place that we're going is, is an island off of the, uh, Pacific coast of Ecuador called, uh, Ila de la Plata, which, um, boasts the largest concentration of mantas every year in August and September, as well as the largest specimens. You know, they're like 30 feet across and Um, and it also happens to be humpback whale migration season right in the same area. So it's, um, I'm really excited. This has been in the works for, for several months and, and Booker has, uh, uh, sort of contracted me to, to do some, some content creation for them, uh, for their social media and blogs and things. Uh, and I'm just excited to kind of be on the ground with this research group where we'll be diving a couple of times every day with, uh, with mantas, uh, in the Pacific. So, um, Definitely bringing my own gear for that as well as an underwater camera rig and, and whatever. So it's a totally pretty excited for that. That's a, that's from the 19th through, I guess, whatever it is, the 26th. So, um, well, we'll, we'll, we'll certainly have to pre-record an episode to run, uh, the week that I'm gone, but, uh, yeah, we'll, we'll both be underwater, um, somewhat South of where we are now. Uh, I'll, I'll actually be in the Southern hemisphere, which is always a kind of a novel. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, where I'm told it's winter, uh, the guy who's organizing the trip said, you know, bring a fleece spring, you know, bring a cap. It gets a little chilly, uh, in the nights and on the dive boat on the, on the ride back. So, uh, yeah, that'll be fun.
Jason Heaton That's going to be great. I can't wait to hear more about that. And it links up with something that we might start doing, or we're hoping we'll start doing with the, uh, sub stack. So, uh, if those of you who are on sort of the paid side of the line, uh, look forward to, uh, some, something we have planned for probably, I guess, September. Yeah. Uh, would be kind of the first kickoff for that, but yeah.
James And in the meantime, it's been, it's been, um, packing and shipping bundles. Uh, you know, we, we announced, we announced last week on episode two 48 that we've launched our summer bundle for 2023. Sorry. It's a little late in the summer, but, uh, it's pretty evergreen gear. Um, we've got the orange baseball cap. We've got a new kerchief set from Ken Toneman with kind of a climbing theme, uh, this time around, uh, a pin and a couple of stickers, one of which is fully loomed and glows in the dark. So. Um, it's, it's a fun kid at the response has been amazing. We actually don't have that many bundles left. We're, we're well below, uh, I would say a hundred if not below 80 at this point. Um, and they're, they're going fast. And so, uh, you know, if you, if you've been debating whether or not to order, um, don't, don't wait too long cause they probably will be gone. That said, uh, if you have ordered, um, recently, you probably noticed you might've gotten an email with, you know, label created, uh, somehow in the, in the title. uh, from FedEx, um, we're waiting on a restock of the pins. That's kind of the missing piece to, to the bundle. We had a couple of hundred to start with and those orders did go out and people have received them and it's been fun to see caps on people's heads. But, um, those of you that ordered, Oh, I would say even since, uh, late last week, um, you'll, you'll be waiting a bit longer until we get the pins in and then we'll just quickly pack those up and ship them out. But, uh, yeah, it's been fun.
Jason Heaton Yeah, let me put it right on the record. A huge thank you to Jason for, uh, and Ghoshani for handling a lot, uh, all of the shipping and logistics they're in for the bundle. But, uh, I'm thrilled to have it, uh, uh, in hand. I've been wearing the hat a ton, uh, and, uh, it'll certainly come down to Mexico with me, get some, some good sunshine down there.
James Yeah. And, and just to throw this out there for those of you that did receive your order and if there was anything missing, uh, you know, I've, I've had a couple of responses saying, you know, the pin is not here or that didn't get a kerchief or something. I mean, apologies in advance. I'm, You know, I, I'm not going to make up any excuses. It's, it's just been a kind of hot and heavy, especially that first few days getting stuff in packages. We've had a very small number of kind of mistakes, but if you do run into that with your order or if you've ordered and you're still waiting and you need to change an address or do something, uh, just, uh, you know, you can either direct message me on slack. You can send an email to the gray NATO at gmail.com and let us know what's up or, you know, I guess, uh, plan C or kind of worst case you can DM me on, on Instagram or something like that. But, but just, just get in touch privately and I'll get you sorted out. So.
Jason Heaton Totally. You know, the, the one thing I wanted to quickly go back to, you were talking about this trip with the Manta Trust. I know for a fact that you've obviously been in the water with mantas and I've had that pleasure as well. They're one of the most fascinating animals to be in the water with. Yeah. It does feel like they have a, conscious, a soul, like they make eye contact, they seem to really enjoy divers, that sort of thing. Yeah. Have you ever done with a humpback whale? You've been in the water?
James Not in the water. No, no, that'll be, uh, that'll be new. That'd be a dream. And apparently they have sunfish, you know, the Mola Molas, those big giant, uh, Oh, one of my favorites. Yeah. I guess they see those occasionally. Um, so yeah. And, and it's funny, I was chatting with the guy, um, who, who's on the ground in Ecuador organizing this trip. And he was saying that, Um, you know, and, and you've experienced this as well with mantas is they, they really like to be around divers. Um, and they, they seem to be attracted to the bubbles. And he was explaining that, um, these giant Pacific mantas, sometimes they get 30, 40, um, remora fish that kind of stick to them. Uh, they're sort of, uh, not parasitic, but they, they kind of tag a ride, uh, hook a ride on, on a manta and feed off of any sort of debris in the water and things. And I guess it slows the mantas down and it makes them less hydrodynamic. And so the mantas try to do different things to kind of shake them free. Uh, one of which is to kind of scrape against rocks and things like that. But they also use divers bubbles or they think they can use divers, divers bubbles to disrupt the remoras. And so they like to kind of follow divers and swoop around in our bubbles. And so he said that, you know, on a few occasions when they've had rebreather divers along the, the rebreather divers are like, why aren't you coming over here and posing for me or getting, getting in front of my camera. Um, so I'm happy I'm, I'm going open circuit.
Jason Heaton Yeah, absolutely. I remember we dove with them in Socorro and on the, so at the, at the UNESCO world heritage site, which the name of it is slipping my mind. And then again, at the boiler, uh, there was a lot and they're just, they're a fantastic animal to be in the water with super fun. Uh, I remember I, that dive, I was so excited that the dive in, in Socorro that I went through my tank very quickly. Yeah. You know, I think they wanted us to go, the max we were allowed to dive was an hour. And so a lot of these divers were, just coming up at an hour with half a tank left and it wasn't especially deep. I think I went maybe 38, 40 minutes tops. Oh yeah. And, and was down to 500 and one, a big, a big, uh, uh, Manta followed me all the way up. Uh, was very interested when I did the bubble drop for the, the marker, the sausage.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton And, uh, and then once I got to the surface, like even the guy in the boat was like, man, there's one that just seems very, very much to be your buddy today. He's been around as, as, as I came in, I noticed him like just running circles around you. They're super fun animals, really exciting and just massive.
James Yeah. Huge. And, and apparently here this, this guy said, um, it's, it's not unusual to get, um, 30 to 40 on, on every dive, like 30 to 40 distinct specific, you know, separate mantas, um, in these, it's huge vortex, uh, on, on every single dive. So, I mean, it's, it's going to be, it's going to be amazing. And I hope, uh, hope, um, the photos I can take, we'll, we'll live up to it.
Jason Heaton Fantastic. Can't wait to see those for sure.
James But, uh, you know, we're, we're talking about diving, but we have, uh, a distinctly Alpine, uh, guest today and topic. And I think this is, this is just such a, a thrill for us, um, to have, uh, Kristen Harila on and, and a big thanks to Braymont for facilitating this chat. Um, we, we learned that, This is possibly, uh, Kristen's first international interview, uh, since returning to Norway, um, which, uh, you know, we're, we feel really honored to, uh, to be given this opportunity.
Jason Heaton And a huge thanks to Braymont for connecting that. And that actually kind of brings us to risk check before we get into the actual chat. Uh, as, as you can expect with a risk check with, uh, Kristen's, uh, a major sponsor. for this project and for the previous version of this project was Braymont. Uh, they came on early. You'll hear, talk about that a little bit in the, uh, in the chat that we're going to play in a moment. But, uh, for that reason, I think it's kind of obvious where Jason and I might've gone for risk check. So, uh, Jason, what, what have you got on risk today?
James Yeah, I put on my supermarine 2000. So this is, uh, it's coming up on, I think it's 10 years old or older. Um, I've got it on the original Velcro strap that it came with. Yeah. Had to wear it. I mean, you know, I think all three of us on the call were wearing We were super marines and Kristen will certainly talk about hers during the chat. But, um, what do you have on? I can, I can guess. Well, we all know. Yeah. Yeah.
Jason Heaton S three or two GMT. Uh, still loving it. It's on, um, it's on, uh, uh, like an Erica style elastic strap, which I enjoy. I think it's a great combo. And yeah, just, uh, as soon as I realized what we were doing today, cause we had, we were kind of in a holding pattern yesterday for the chat and, uh, and then today woke up No email yet. And then there, there came the email just after I woke up. And so we kind of had a timeline, a tight timeline, about 30 minutes notice to get the show together, which is of course fine. Uh, send a zoom link and we get going. But at that point I, I pulled out the S3 or two. I set the time to, uh, Kristen's time zone just so I could make sure I understood when she was done. Uh, you know, we had a limited amount of time to chit chat with her, but it was a perfect watch for this occasion, being a caller GMT and having to call. Yeah, very noteworthy Bremont ambassador on the other side of the world.
James So yeah, perfect choice Well, if you aren't familiar with Kristen Harilla Which is probably a bit surprising get your act together. Yeah, right she is a Norwegian athlete was a kind of an elite cross-country skier Competitively and then back in I believe she'll she'll even talk about this in 2019 she decided to kind of head into the mountains and start doing some some trips to Nepal and climbing some mountains and Uh, it didn't take long for her to, to decide that she wanted to make an attempt at climbing all 14 of the 8,000 meter peaks. Uh, you might remember that we interviewed, uh, Nimz Perja after he set a record for, for doing this, uh, similar feat, um, in over six months. And, and now we have, uh, Kristen, uh, who has, uh, basically halved the record. She, she did it in just over three months. Wild. Uh, largely sponsored by Bremont. Um, yeah, it's, it's a staggering feat and, and I still can't quite wrap my head around it, but, uh, we will certainly try to kind of suss out all the details and what it took, um, when we talked to, to Kristen Harla. So let's do that right now. And, and thanks again to Braymont and enjoy the show. All right, well, we are thrilled to have Kristen Harila on The Grey NATO. Kristen, you're back from Pakistan, from K2, just about 24 hours ago back in Norway. Welcome to The Grey NATO and thank you so much for joining us.
Kristen Harila Thank you so much.
James Silly question, but a logical one. How does it feel to be back home?
Kristen Harila It's very good to be back home. I haven't been back in Norway since February. And yeah, so it's very good to be back in Norway and to see my family and my boyfriend and friends here.
James And you mentioned your dogs are lying on the floor behind you. They must be thrilled. You know, first of all, congratulations, of course. What an incredible feat. And to do it over a little over three months, but in essence, it's been a couple of years in the works because you kind of pulled off the similar feat last year, but then you had a couple of these hiccups. I'm guessing that this was as much a logistical challenge for you as a physical one. Can you tell us a little bit about all the planning that had to happen to do this in such a short time?
Kristen Harila Yeah, it's a lot of logistic and of course it's not just me, it's a whole team to make this happen in such a short time. We have an expedition company and we have a base camp manager and people that take care of things when we are up climbing because if you're going to be able to summit one mountain every 6.5 days for three months, then you have to have someone that takes care of like weather forecasts and just like when we are moving and all those things. So it's a big logistical project also to do this and that's not just me, that's the whole team that's sharing this record.
James Yeah and to pull this off you had to stay healthy, I mean very healthy and fit to do this. Was that a concern of yours in terms of nutrition or injuries or even inflammation or anything like that?
Kristen Harila Yeah for me it's mostly the food poisoning because I get food poisoning like many times especially in Pakistan. Nepal has been good this year because I've been so much in Nepal but in Pakistan I know that I get a couple of rounds where I have to just adjust and of course we have a plan for like moving to next camp and when we're going to summit but we have to be flexible about whether and if we get sick or something but we have been also very lucky that we haven't had any serious injury or something like that we've been we've been fine just me throwing up a couple of times.
James It's good to get back to Norwegian food, or are you going to miss the dal?
Kristen Harila Yeah, I have like the biggest candy.
Jason Heaton Is that a local candy?
Kristen Harila Yeah, you know, in Norway we have this thing called smorgott. It's small candies, so it's like a mix of of many different like... Oh, sure.
Jason Heaton Yeah. So like gummy candies or for North Americans, maybe like a koala cone or something like that. Yeah.
Kristen Harila That's the best stuff. Nothing tastes that good. I did bring that to Nepal and Pakistan and I was like split it up in small portions so I could have a little bit. Sure. Also, my dad sent me dry fish. So I also have to eat dry fish and spread it out.
Unknown Sure.
James Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. I said before we started recording that you look remarkably fresh for someone who just, uh, not only climbed all of these peaks, but are just home, uh, for 24 hours. What, what sort of toll did, besides the food poisoning, did this take on your body? Have you lost many kilos? Do you have any new injuries?
Kristen Harila Well, 10, 10 kilo down from starting, but I knew that was going to happen. So I was able to put on some kilo before we left because you need some power to go on and you know, that you're going to have many, many hard days after each other, and especially the time in Nepal when we did nine mountains in 45 days. So we had one summit every 4.5 days. And you need to have something to go on. And I had a couple of episodes where I had to go to hospital. I wasn't like seriously like sick, but I was very dehydrated. And yeah, so it's, it's very hard to to summit so many mountains in such a short time. I'm sure.
James Yeah. And how did, how were you able to maintain momentum after last year's disappointment where you got within two peaks and then you couldn't get the permissions? Did you have a bit of a, not a depression, but sort of a low point and then you just had to sort of psych yourself up again?
Kristen Harila You know, when I, when I got the message that we didn't get the permit, we had a couple of weeks left, but we were running out of time. in the phone call, I decided right away to do it all over again this year. And I think that was a good thing because it kept me going and it kept me like, okay, it's not over. Just had to do it again. As we climbed this year, I was like, this mountain is so much harder than last year.
Unknown Oh, wow.
Kristen Harila I was wondering why it's so much harder. Of course, it's very hard to find these 8000 meters and to do them twice in two years. It's very hard. But I think from last year, I just remember all the other things that was hard and the logistic and all the other issues and visa problem and all the thing we had. So I didn't remember so much how hard the mountain actually was. But of course also we have summited many mountains in a shorter time. Last year we did 12 in five months. So of course it's different to do 14 in three months. So it was been a very hard year.
James And what was the official time for this time?
Kristen Harila Three months, 20 hours and something. I have got it but I don't remember.
James Close enough. Did you have that, was that a specific goal? Did you know exactly how long or did you have a window that you wanted to hit?
Kristen Harila No, you know, we knew that Nim's record was six months and six days and then Officially, he didn't have the record anymore because he didn't go to the real summit on Manaslu and Dalagiri. And we have known this for a long time. For us, it wasn't unknown. And then I officially got a new record for the 12 last year and Shishipangmang Choyu this year. And that was one year and five months. But as we climbed in the spring and we were able to do Shishipangmang Choyu first, after a while I saw okay there is chance that we can do all the mountains in Nepal and in Tibet in the spring and that means only the five in Pakistan left and that means it's possible in three months. So so midway in in the Nepal phase I realized okay three months is possible and we we tried and three months and one day it's like almost but but It doesn't matter if it's three months or three months and one day, it doesn't matter. It's very fast.
Jason Heaton Yeah. When you're considering that such a compressed timeline, the possibility that a human could do this, a team of people could do this in three months, what is the main limiting factor? Is it logistics from one mountain to another? Is it you need to rest? Like four days doesn't feel like enough time to rest for any mountain. Or is it the fact that if you waited any longer, you would lose some acclimatization or is it all of those factors?
Kristen Harila Yeah, it's a bit of all, but the main thing is the weather. So if you're going to do all 43 months, you have to push some of them in bad weather for sure. There's no way you're going to get good summit window on all the mountains in such a short time for sure. And of course we have to like, I was really tired and came to Manaslu and I was throwing up like hell. And after one hour sleeping in the snow, Lama said we have to go. And we just have to go. So, of course, it's a bit of that. And then the logistics have to work if it's going to be in such a short time. But we also knew that in Pakistan, we were actually waiting 12 days for permits. And at that time, when we came back to the mountains, I felt that I lost a little bit of my acclimatization. I had a little bit headache when we started to climb up. It wasn't bad. but just like a little bit. So it's, it's all those things. And I think if you lose too many days or if you spend too many days down, the next thing that would happen is that you lose a summit window.
Jason Heaton Yeah. You just, you, you miss what would have been the ideal push.
Kristen Harila Yeah. Yeah. And you cannot do that too many times in a project like this. You have to like take the chance and you have to, you have to put yourself in a position where you can go to the summit when it's ready.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And with this last push through the last 14, I assume several of those probably had bad weather. Anything stand out in your memory as exceptional?
Kristen Harila Yeah, it's like, I have done like now 28 8,000 meter. And, and what I can say now is that the mountain is very different, uh, from, uh, season to season, year to year, depending on the weather and the condition. And like we saw last year, many people believe that Manaslu is an easy 8,000 meter. Uh, but for us last year, it was probably the hardest. And last year K2 was one of the easiest we did, but this year, maybe the most challenging this year.
Unknown Wow.
Kristen Harila Um, so it's always like to remember that it's, it's, it can change so much depending on the weather and the condition in the mountain.
James Your, your background is, um, most people would know you from cross country skiing, right? Nordic skiing. Did you enjoy mountaineering or were you, did you have heroes that were mountaineers when you were growing up or how did you decide to switch from, from skiing competitively to, to mountaineering?
Kristen Harila Yeah, I always liked to be, be outside in nature and did my first mountain Kilimanjaro in 2050. And that was, I had just won a trip with my job. and then I quit my job in 2019 and had a planned trip to Nepal and did a 6000 meter and 7000 meter and, and yeah, since that it's just been mountains. So it wasn't something that I grew up with. And if you go to my hometown, we have like no mountains. The highest one is 500 meter and it's flat. So so it's very different. But But we always went out and spend a lot of time out. So, and we have very hard weather up in, in the Arctic. So I think that's good to have if you're going to do projects like this.
James What do you attribute your success? I mean, you personally, would you say that you have a extraordinary amount of stamina or cardiovascular fitness or mental fortitude or You don't have to be modest, you can brag if you want.
Kristen Harila It's a little bit hard to say, but I think that you have to be willing to have it very uncomfortable over a very long time if you're going to do this, because it's going to be. And it's very easy for us who spend a lot of time in the mountains, it's very easy for me to go, when we come especially to Everest, where you see normal people coming and climbing Everest, and you see how much more they struggle with going to the toilet, eating, sleeping in the tent and things like that. So I think like being comfortable with all of those things is very important and be willing to push. I think if you ask Lama, my Sherpa, he will say I'm a Sherpini. So yeah, of course you have to be very strong also to do this.
James this notion of climbing a lot of mountains quickly, um, is it feels like a relatively new, if you call it a discipline. Um, how would you say that this compares with something like, uh, a first ascent of a peak or something like that? Do you, and do you aspire to do that sort of mountaineering as well, where you find a mountain that nobody has climbed or a face that nobody has climbed? Or do you prefer what you, what you've done, this sort of record?
Kristen Harila I think it's very different and I don't see myself going and climbing and finding new routes than it must be something very low in Norway or something. I'm going to have a little bit more normal life after this, but I think it's different and I think we see a different change in the mountaineering world and how it's time now and we have these faces if we go back in the history and we see like It was about the first ascent, and then it was about new routes, and then it was about past. And so it's, yeah, it's just a movement in the mountaineering world that has been going in phases. And I think that's just how it is. And we have to live with that. Yeah.
Jason Heaton You know, I'm curious, you said that you're going to have a bit of a normal life after this. What is sort of what's the day to day stuff that you're looking forward to kind of returning to for a bit?
Kristen Harila Well, at least spend more time in Norway. I almost haven't been home the last or since 19. I've been home a little bit, but I have been most of the time in in the mountains and most of the time in Nepal. So I'm looking forward to be more home. Like I haven't spent like time home on the national day for three years and, uh, missed, missed so much home. So, um, for sure I'm going to be more home and yeah, hopefully I have kids and, uh, get married. That's great. Yeah. So, but I will do more running. in the mountains, I will still stay in the mountain, but in a different, different way. You know, if you're going to do this 8000 meter, it normally takes two months to do an expedition and you have to like put so much into it to climb. And now I have done 28. So I think I have done my climb. Yeah.
James So you won't be skiing to the pole anytime soon?
Kristen Harila Actually we were discussing, I promised my dad because he's skiing, so I promised him like one time we are going to do a fast cross of Greenland to see how fast we can do it. He will be the oldest and for me hopefully be the fastest. We were discussing to do the South Pole, me and my boyfriend, but we were discussing to do it now in Christmas, but we were like, no, no, I have to be home now. So let's see in the future what we will do, but it will be different things, but not so just into the 8000 meters.
James What will it take to beat your record? And do you hope it will be beaten or do you think it will be beaten anytime soon?
Kristen Harila I think, but it's very hard to, to, to beat it. So I will say good luck and be careful.
Jason Heaton Yeah, exactly. Right. Yeah.
Kristen Harila But it's totally okay for me if someone wants to try it for sure, someone will try and that's totally okay. But you know, if you're going to do it in, in three months, you have to be a little bit lucky also with many things. And, and yeah, of course not just lucky, but it's very hard to do it in three months.
James Yeah. And part of being a professional athlete or a mountaineer or, you know, tackling a feat like you did is what we're doing right now, which is doing interviews and media appearances and social media. And then, of course, your relationship with Bremont, which has been a really fun thing to follow over the past two years. How did that come about? You're a very enthusiastic Bremont ambassador. They must love you for that. I saw a lot of pictures of the watch and
Kristen Harila Yeah, yeah, no, I just contacted them before I started the project in 22. And actually, they were like the first sponsor that came on, first sponsor that I really felt believed in this project and me because I had been, I did everything, let's say in 12 hours, like the fastest female to do both of the mountains in 2021. And then I was starting to think about this project to do all 14 in one season. I was trying to get sponsorship and it was very, very hard. And I saw that like this clothes brand, they were supporting men in general. And I felt like many places I wasn't taken seriously, but then I made contact with Vermont and that was like the first company that actually came on and believed in the project and me. And yeah, so it's been super, super important and I would never have started project without them.
James And you wore a Bremont watch during the climbs. Was that the one you wore or is that a different one?
Kristen Harila Yeah, this has been with me this year and I have another one that has been with me on all the summits last year and this year.
James Wow. Which one are you wearing for our listeners? It's a white S300, correct? Supermarine 300? Yeah. Beautiful.
Kristen Harila Yeah, it is. So I actually did bring up to the summit, both of them. And yeah, it's very nice to have done that.
James Amazing. How do you handle critics, would you say? Like, is that something that phases you or bothers you? Or like when you see people making comments or things online or on forums and things, do you ignore that or do you?
Kristen Harila No, I bother. I wish I didn't.
Unknown But I do.
Kristen Harila And I'm like, why can't people just be nice? If you don't have anything nice to say, like, don't say anything. At least, like, that's how we grew up like if you don't have anything else to say, you should do it yourself. But I totally think it's okay with critics. But I think when people come with lies, and with comments that are not correct, and they are unfair, and it's lies, then I don't think it's okay.
James You know, you, you mentioned that you might want to settle down a little bit, uh, in the, in the coming months and things, but, uh, do you think you'll, you'll ever get back to sort of extreme sports or mountaineering, or is this a chapter that you're happy to close, uh, and sort of move on? You mentioned a family and being closer to home and eating more dried fish and.
Kristen Harila Yeah, at least for now, I think I will do that and not go out to climb this 8000 meters for a while, I think. But I think we should never say never about anything in life. Things can happen. I love Nepal and I love the mountains. And of course, I would like to spend more time there, but in a different way, for sure. Yeah.
Jason Heaton You know, I, I have a couple of maybe, maybe lighter, lighter questions in general, just about kind of life between the mountains. Yeah. What's your kind of go-to entertainment? You've got two days, maybe half of that's going to be spent in a tent. Uh, what do you, what was it music? Do you have a couple of movies on a tablet? How do you keep things charged? Like what is that? Or are you just reading books?
Kristen Harila Actually, it's been so busy in between also. So, And like now when we're going to leave K2 base camp, we had two days waiting for the heli out. And I was like, Oh my gosh, it's been so much waiting. And then I got a message from my manager home and she said, Oh, it's been one summit every 6.5 days. So of course it hasn't been much time waiting. And like when we came down from, from Broad Peak and was about to go up to K2, we had 24 hours in base camp and on those 24 hours, it sleeping and eating and drinking and drying clothes. So actually, I had a couple of movie downloads and some podcasts and I haven't had time to, and I'm knitting and I haven't had time to do like anything. So it hasn't been much time in Basecamp and when we have done, it's just been about preparing next time.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And is there a favorite, like, obviously we've got candy. You brought some along with you. You got to have that, of course. But was there a favorite meal? Do you have like a meal you like to have the night before you think you're going to make the push or, you know, it doesn't necessarily work out that way?
Kristen Harila Not really. It's when we are in base camp, we often like eat rice, pasta, pizza. And it's it's like the standard base camp food. So, yeah. It hasn't been much like eating and enjoying. It hasn't been.
Jason Heaton And then how do you handle communications? I'm sure every now and then the world has a great mountaineering documentary and we get to see whatever the latest generation of satellite phones or Garmin tech or whatever it is. How do you handle the communications? How are you able to stay in touch and keep up with family, but also with an audience and sponsors and the rest of it?
Kristen Harila Yeah. So sometimes we have signal on the phone and of course that's the most easy thing. And then we have this GPS tracker where we also can send the messages from so that we use. And also I have a satellite phone and I have been trying to call from all summit down to Norway and up to them. It's been to call a couple of times, but, but yeah, it's, it's good to have the possibility to call also when we are out of signal.
Jason Heaton For sure. That's got to be one of the most fun phone calls. Calling from the top of a mountain. One, that the phone works is hilarious. Yeah. And two, that somebody picks up.
Kristen Harila It's so windy and I have been screaming on the phone to make them hear me.
Jason Heaton Every now and then you see a picture of somebody standing at the top of Everest. Maybe it's in the 80s, like in the heyday of the junior alpinists hitting that mountain. And they've got a giant phone. And I always wonder, they called back And people didn't have cell phones. Like, did they just get the answering machine about 50% of the time, which probably would have been a pretty big letdown. But I guess then you would have had the recording, which is also kind of fun if you'd planned something to say.
Kristen Harila Yeah. Yeah. And of course, like now it's, we have been filming a lot during this time. We had a plan to get a cameraman to the summit on all the summit. It wasn't able to bring them to all the summits, but some of the summits had cameramen with us and they have been on the climb. So yeah, that's very nice. And there will be a documentary in the end.
Jason Heaton Oh, very good. Have any of the details for that lockdown? Is there a proposed time or a platform or that's all still up in the air?
Kristen Harila Yeah, we haven't figured out where we're going to send it or where it's going to be sold to. So the production company here in Norway is working on that. But I guess it will take two years or something until it's out. So much films from the last couple of two years.
James So yeah, I suppose there will be a Bremont watch somehow coming in the near future commemorating your your achievement. I'm sure. Yeah.
Kristen Harila Yeah. Yeah.
James Good. Good. Well, you'll have a lot of movies to catch up on now that you're back home movies and TV. You can sit and eat your candy and watch TV for two months in a row. Yeah.
Kristen Harila hopefully have more time for that in a couple of weeks maybe.
James Your partner, the Sherpa Lama who accompanied you, was he with you on all of the peaks for the whole project?
Kristen Harila All of the summits, yeah. So we didn't plan that from the start, but when I met Lama in March, he didn't speak a word English and I didn't speak very much Nepali, but we understood each other perfectly. and climbed the Choyu and Shishupangma, and then we decided, okay, let's try it, because we know that things can happen and one can get hurt or injured or something. So we were very happy that we were able to finish together all the 14 peaks.
James Yeah, and I'm sure climbing with just one other person that you get to know very well, you have a certain rhythm, you know each other's style and strengths and weaknesses and things like that, right?
Kristen Harila Yeah, yeah, it's so important. And we got such a good team together. And of course, that's the main reason that this end well, that we were safe. Yeah. So it's super important.
James And will he be coming to Norway anytime soon?
Kristen Harila We were actually trying to get him from Pakistan and he together with me, but we wasn't able because of visa. So now I'm going back to Nepal with him because he's coming from Pakistan on Saturdays. We were fly into Kathmandu together on Saturday to have a celebration there. Wow. And then back to Norway again.
Unknown Oh, wow. Okay. Wow.
James Wow. Traveling isn't done yet. And then you have all, I'm sure you have dozens of interviews that you're planning.
Kristen Harila Yeah. But that's nice. It's okay.
James Was there a certain peak that was particularly satisfying to you more than any of the others? You mentioned K2 was particularly difficult this time.
Kristen Harila And of course, K2 was the last one now. We were finished, so it will for sure be a little bit more special than some of the others. Yeah. So, yeah, maybe K2 this year.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I kind of have a question that goes in the opposite direction, and maybe this just isn't the way it works, but obviously you just set an unbelievable record. So I'm going to take it on the ear that you're ready for just about anything when it comes to the mountains. Were any of them just flat out easy? Like a beautiful day. The weather was great. You had a nice time. The wind wasn't too bad. The condition, like the snowpack was good and you just had fun up and down. Breeze.
Kristen Harila Yeah. Yeah. We had such a nice day on Gastebroom one and I summited without oxygen and it was like easy and nice weather that we stayed on the summit for an hour, flew the drone and yeah, just a nice climb.
Jason Heaton I love to hear it. That's great. You worry that all of them are, yeah, are a fight.
Kristen Harila Yeah. When you get like good days and it's nice like that, you just really enjoy it because you know, there's going to be days that are very hard and very challenging. So when things is nice, you just really enjoy it.
James Yeah, totally. Well, it's a nice time of year in, in, in Norway. Like I'm sure it is here. I'm in Minneapolis. Um, so we're similarly North and it's a lovely late summer. Um, do you, do you plan to just stay around for a while or are you going to, do you have a beach vacation coming?
Kristen Harila Oh, no, I don't think we have time for vacation yet. But maybe we are thinking about maybe something around Christmas or right after something to take a holiday. So let's see. Yeah, they will be a little bit busy before that.
James Well, we know you have a busy schedule. And we're just thrilled to to have you join us here on the Graynado. And big thanks to you and to Bremont for facilitating this From from James and myself, you know, congratulations and thank you so much for joining us.
Kristen Harila Thank you so much.
Jason Heaton Yeah, we have a lot of folks in the audience followed along and we're very keen on the progress. And then when it finished, it was a whole thing on our on our forum. And and so I think this episode is going to be incredible. So, yeah, thank you so much for the time. I know you're very busy and I'm sure you've got lots of fun stuff to do at home, but we really appreciate it.
Kristen Harila Thank you so much.
Jason Heaton Thanks, Kristen. And there you have it, a solid half hour with Kristen Harilla, an incredible sort of chat with a really remarkable person who's just done something that I find really hard to fathom. You know, it's certainly not helped by the fact that I've never experienced, even from a distance, an 8,000 meter peak. But I've read all the books and that kind of stuff, and I'm just blown away. And as Jason mentioned in the chat, she definitely didn't look like she just got off a plane from the other side of the world after tackling arguably the most difficult and logistic laden push in the mountains ever. Uh, I just, just so, so impressed and so much fun to chit chat with her and to find out that, uh, somebody at the absolute peak of athleticism also enjoys gummy candies really makes me feel better about, you know, my proclivities when it comes to certain types of treats, but that's a, that's a good one. A huge thank you to Kristen and to Braymont for making it possible and for coming on the show. We just had a blast and whatever she does next, uh, I hope she loves it. And you're just so, so impressive to see someone complete that in three months.
James Yeah. She deserves a, a good long break now. I think I put her feet up and binge a few shows and eat her candies. Although I have a sneaking suspicion. She's, she won't be doing that.
Jason Heaton Yeah. It's, it's, I mean, we, she brought up like that. She was possibly planning on skiing the South pole this winter. And you're like, yeah, you just can't, you just can't kind of help yourself. Right? Like if that's a mode you're in, that's the mode you're in. But I do also really respect the, like the intention was saying like, no, I did this. Yeah. It doesn't really matter what the achievement is, whether it's TGN or some other media where you're always kind of asking, like, are you thinking of something else? Yeah. And, and sometimes that feels like, like a rude question. I think it's a natural question, but I really enjoyed her response of being like, I am thinking of other things, but there, you know, there are other challenges and mountains to climb, but not mountains. Yeah.
James Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, um, with that, I mean, you know, what, what, what a great way to, uh, kind of end our little summer series and, and take a little bit of a break with, uh, with Kristin on the show. But before we, uh, kind of close things up, uh, what do you got for a final note?
Jason Heaton Yeah, this week is actually a fun one that showed up on the Hodinkee slack, which has kind of an active, uh, menswear contingent. So this is from standard and strange.com and it's the definitive guide to us Navy world war II chambray shirts. My wife passed this along to me and I have a deep fondness for denim and chambray shirts. I really genuinely love them. And certainly if you've seen my quote unquote professional outfit over the years, one is usually featured. So I've dug most of my way into this and it's very fun and nerdy. And if you enjoy these sorts of things or even just a trip down weird military issue esoterra, I think this could do it for you. I enjoyed it quite a bit. And again, that's from standardandstrange.com and it's just a nice photo laden report on World War II chambray shirts from the Navy.
James That is amazing. So niche. I love this. I love the look of the shirts. This gives me an idea for our next merch drop, you know, we'll do TGN chambray shirts with like a stenciled spray on the chest or on the back. Yeah. Love it.
Jason Heaton Very cool. Yeah. I like it for sure. I always joke with friends, I'm sure we have a lot of people in the audience who watch the show Yellowstone. Yeah. And our joke was always the lighter in color, like the closer to white that your chambray or denim shirt was, the higher in the rank of the family you were.
Unknown Oh, wow.
Jason Heaton Like, it's not true. It's just something I noticed. But like a lot of the kind of black swan sort of son, he wears a lot of like very rich indigo denims. And then as you move up to Costner, he's in like almost white denim, right? And Carhartt. And, uh, and I mean, it's a good show for denim spotting for sure. It's a bit of a blast, but, uh, yeah, this is a, this is a fun story. Very, very not, not silly, but very like, um, yeah, just nerdy and niche and fun. Uh, I would definitely love to snap up some, I mean, I I'm a sucker. Like if I see a, a chambray shirt or a, uh, my favorite one weirdly was from Uniqlo. I wore it for years and it literally went threadbare at the shoulders. Oh, wow. Like from a camera bag, my, the left shoulder basically disintegrated. Um, I loved it though. It had washed to the point where like only the edges were like actually the original color. Yeah. Uh, so they're, they're super fun. And if this sounds at all up your alley, uh, get in there and get nerdy with it. So enjoy, uh, Jason, what have you got for us?
James Yeah. So this one, I've got to give a hat tip to our buddy, Chris soul, who recommended a book to me called breathe a master divers survival tales. Um, actually he put it out on Slack. Um, and it was written by, uh, a former, uh, retired us Navy master chief, master diver, Rick Betua. And, uh, I listened to this as an audio book. I downloaded it before my long drive back from Chicago at windup. Um, you might remember a couple of episodes I recommended Aquanaut by Rick Stanton. And I listened to that book on the way down to Chicago, and then I needed something for the trip back. And so I downloaded this and, uh, it's a great book. Each chapter is a different story in this divers. kind of background and career. And it's not just, most of it is, um, dives that he did in the Navy, whether it was, you know, changing a propeller on a ship while it was underwater different. Yeah. I mean, just, just crazy stuff, inspecting halls and, and you know, towing submarines and things like this. But, uh, the book opens and closes, uh, it's kind of bookended with the story. He was a very avid spear fisherman and free diver, um, growing up in Florida. And then throughout his career, he would take every opportunity when he was stationed different places around the world to uh, go spearfishing and provide, you know, meals for, for, uh, different people, uh, commanding officers and things would come to him and say, you know, that, that fish is mine. Now go back and get your own sort of thing. But he was attacked by a shark and that's how the book opens, um, with him very near death from, from loss of blood. And, uh, I'm not going to tell you, well, obviously since he wrote the book, uh, you know how it ends up, but, um, it's still a harrowing tale. It's, it's really a fascinating book. I'm just full of good stories. It's like, it feels like you're sitting kind of just listening to somebody kind of tell a great dive stories. So, Again, thanks to Chris Soul for the recommendation and be sure to check that book out if you are interested. I listened to the audio book, but I'm sure a hard copy would be just as good. That sounds great.
Jason Heaton I might need that for sitting on the beach between dives. Oh, good one. Oh, perfect. Yeah. I've got a few books lined up. I'm looking forward to it, but I don't have one about diving, so I think that could be a good one. Yeah. Good pick and always a huge shout out to Chris, moderator extraordinaire for the TGN Slack and just an all-around great dude with great taste and stuff like books, certainly when it comes to diving. So great picks today. Yeah. And hey, there's an episode. I love these ones where we have somebody really amazing. These are, it's super fun here. Oh my gosh.
James Yeah, it really, it really was. Um, and yeah, thanks again to Kristen Harula and enjoy your well-deserved rest and to Braemont for kind of connecting us with her and making this happen. So. And to all of you, thanks so much for listening. If you want to subscribe to The Show Notes, get into the comments for each episode, or consider supporting the show directly, and maybe even grab a new TGN sign NATO, please visit TheGreyNATO.com. Music throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive.
Jason Heaton And we leave you with this quote from Michelle Obama, who said, The only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for them.