Climb Every Mountain

Colorado teacher Matt Tredway heads to the top of the world and plans to do a little research while he's there.

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Matt Tredway braves an icy climb. —photo by ROB GRANTHAM/VINCENT PHOTOGRAPHY

Ever wish you could get away from it all? This month, Tredway, a Steamboat Springs High School science and math teacher, will take a leave of absence and mount an intense vertical journey up the south face of Mt. Everest in Nepal—a climb of 29,035 feet. (And you thought your stack of assessment tests was high.)

Tredway began climbing as a boy. By the time he was in high school, he had scaled many of Colorado’s highest peaks. In the early 1980s, he became an instructor, specializing in climbing, backpacking, and winter mountaineering. Tredway translated his enthusiasm for climbing into teaching outside of the classroom, too, founding and directing Everything Outdoors Steamboat, an outdoor education and recreation program.

After a roughly 23-hour flight to Kathmandu, Tredway and the five other members of his team will begin a week-long hike to Mt. Everest’s base camp. They plan to make various climbs and descents to base camp at first. Then, May 8–13, they’ll attempt one of the most coveted climbing goals among extreme athletes: Mt. Everest’s summit. Hypoxia and unpredictable weather—common impediments to extreme altitude climbing—will be constant worries.

While on the mountain, Tredway and his teammates will research the effects of high altitude on the blood, in collaboration with the University of Alabama School of Medicine. They are also using the climb to raise money for the American Lung Association.

Follow along with Tredway and his team , as they plan to share written and audio dispatches and photos from the Mt. Everest climb.          

—JEANNE BEYER