You Have to Try ‘Everesting’

The sun is still below the horizon and the temperature barely above freezing when Jesse Itzler gears up to ascend a black diamond ski slope. “We’re going into the clouds!” he exclaims, eyeing the snow-covered summit of Vermont’s Stratton Mountain, which is ominously concealed by dense fog.

The challenge: Follow a winding trail up to the summit. Catch the gondola down. Repeat 16 times. That adds up to a little more than 29,029 feet of elevation—the equivalent of Mount Everest, without the altitude sickness and oxygen tanks—spread over 23 miles of trekking.

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