Bailey Hinz had an Everesting in the back of her mind for some time — and she made it happen just south of Las Vegas.
She rolled out in the dark at 4:20 am, taking the first lap with her boyfriend (who completed his own Full Everesting back in 2022).
Almost 16 hours later, Bailey had climbed 9,080 m (29,790 ft) across 309 km, with the heat peaking at 38°C (110°F) in the middle of the day.
In her own words:
“Doing an Everest has been on my bucket list for a long time, but I’ve never had a concrete plan. I enjoy climbing, but my biggest day before this was about 11,00 ft (3353 m). Early this year, an acquaintance posted on Strava that this particular road would be a cool place to do one and that he was planning to do a half on 3/14. I was immediately in. Since the day happened to be “Pi day,” I reached out to Mumu Apparel (I’m an ambassador) to turn it into an event: Pi/ Pie Day to the Sky Day.
The ride took place just south of Las Vegas, NV (USA) at this little area called Nelson’s landing. Each climb is about 2700 ft and 8.5 miles (823 m/ 13.68 km), meaning a full would entail 11 laps and add up to 192 miles (308.9 km) and 29,789 ft (9080 m). Our spring weather is very unpredictable and usually windy, but thankfully the day was beautiful with just a mild breeze.
I started in the dark at 4:20 am, doing the first lap with my boyfriend (who did his full in 2022). It was a special treat to be out of the city and see the beautiful stars during this first climb; we even got to see the moon rise! Lap 2 was another dark descent, but the sun started to rise on the climb. The Colorado River flows by the bottom of the climb, so lap 2’s treat was to see the first hints of sunrise glinting off the water at the bottom of the canyon. Midway up, I started to see a few more lights of friends/ community members who came out to support or do their own goals (ranging from one to seven laps).
In lap three, the descents started getting faster and I was finally able to take in the scenery. The road is in the middle of the desert, climbing up from the river and through a canyon. About halfway up, there is a cool little old west ghost town that really broke up the monotony. The next few laps were much of the same with more friendly faces popping in and out for a few laps. After lap six (halfway), I celebrated with a piece of apple pie!
Lap 7/8 were by far the hardest. At this point, it was over 110 degrees F (38 degrees C) and it was hard to wrap my head around still having my previous PR to go. Fortunately I had ice socks and the moral support of my boyfriend who started doing the second half of each lap with me. For the record, he was the real MVP. Not only did he fill my bottles/ ice, but he ended up doing over a half Everest worth of climbing that day just to support!
Lap 9, my spirits turned around and my legs got their second wind as the temperatures started to drop in the late afternoon. I made my goal of completing the final descent before dark and headed up lap 11 as the sun was setting.
I was so happy to do this climb! In doing this ride, my biggest goal (other than to finish), was to get other riders out and climbing. I know that it can scare people to attempt a lot of elevation gain, so this format allowed an accessible platform. I had a few friends do their first 10k ft (3050 m) or half Everest and even more reach out about joining for the next adventure. It feels pretty cool to have been the catalyst for so many bike friends to set or hit a new goal.
Thank you so much for having this cool goal for all of us to go after, already looking forward to the next one!“