Winter Solstice Everest

27 laps of the same climb, to reach the elevation gain of the height of Everest, on one of the longest nights of the year.

GripGrab Test Rider Millie took on the gruelling Everesting challenge on the winter sosltice. A ride completed in under 20 hours with its highs and lows, totalling 285km and 9000 metres of elevation.

A winter solstice successfully celebrated proving that we really can ride all year. Those big challenges don’t have to wait until the summer.

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A ride to remember

Read through Millie Gibbons's impressions of her Everesting:

"I left home around midnight, with an aim to finish within 20 hours. Rogue time to start for some, but a few friends said they would support and that would be between 3-5 in the afternoon. So aimed to be the most tired then. When the end is in sight I knew I’d get the beans but laps 20-24 I concluded would be the best for some support. And going into the night tired is exhausting but riding through the night, when the sun rises it’s like that was all a dream and the day just starts.

The sun started to rise around lap 10 and it was insane. This climb has an open view towards to sea, so the colours in the sky started turning orange. Truly amazing. And then when the sun popped up at the top of lap 11 I had a new lease of life. The temperature rising and all those kilometres clocked feeling like a dream. I think it is one of the best sunrises I’ve ever seen, the slow change in the crazy colours or maybe the situation has something to do with that.

At 6,500m elevation gain I was in a bit of a low but that soon went as I was greeted by Max, with Aquarius and sweets, it was just what I needed. The top of the next lap I was joined by Lawrence, Sammy, Mads and Klara. Again another great morale boost. And Lawrence bringing the Aquarius goods too. The elixir of life I call it. All having had a big ride day too but very aware they couldn’t say anything about being tired given the feat I was undertaking."

"9,157 metres climbed over 285km covered; 16 hour ride time totalling an 18 hour day. 1 hour and 40 minutes faster than I thought! Looking at the stats every climb (except two) was between 26-28 minutes. Consistency really is key and I sure know the one pace I can sustain.

It was a great challenge and one I’m mega-glad I’ve ticked this off the list, and one I’ll surely do again. It’s a different sense of achievement compared to an ultra race or riding far from A to B. It’s much more controlled, the snacks you take with you are the ones you have so you can be very prepared. I’m used to carrying everything I need, so it’s a luxury to be able to store things at the bottom. And the fact that people can come and support, I love riding alone, but being able to share these crazy things with people makes them special.

It’s hard to visually quantify exactly how far I have been, as I would normally look at a map. But I have this cartoon image of me cycling up Everest and thinking of that blows my mind. The sunrise was one of the greatest I think I’ve ever witnessed but there weren’t so many woah moments, as you know exactly what to expect. Exactly. What. To. Expect. I'm not sure when I’ll be riding up that side of Els again…"