A:Â We’ve always been active people, hiking in the U.S. and various places around the world, including summiting Mount Whitney (Molly), hiking the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim multiple times (once for Molly and three times for Randy), and river rafting in the Grand Canyon.
A: Since we met in 2014, our first adventure together was hiking the Great Glen Way in Scotland. Since that time, we have hiked the Milford Track and Hadrian’s Wall together (pictured above). Molly has summitted Mount Kilimanjaro, and Randy has hiked Offa’s Dyke in Wales and swam across Lake Balaton in Hungary.
A: We’ve read many books about Everest over the years. Coming from Texas, we knew it was unlikely we would ever become mountaineers, and for a long time, the hike to Everest Base Camp was completely unappealing because it was so dirty with such a high likelihood of getting sick. With the coming of tea houses and more places to stay along the way, it looks totally doable now, and we are very excited about giving it a try.
A: We are excited about seeing the Himalaya in person. Randy went to Nepal with a friend in 2012, so he has seen some of Nepal, but Molly has only read about these great mountains in books. Last year, Ed Viesturs, the first American to summit all the 8,000 m peaks, came to Austin and gave a wonderful talk and showed some amazing photographs. After hearing his talk, we were more excited than ever to see Everest and the surrounding mountains for ourselves.
A: We are a little nervous about mountain sickness. Molly experienced mild mountain sickness when summiting Kilimanjaro, and Randy has never been at really high altitude. We live in a very hilly neighborhood, so we have lots of places to practice hiking steep grades. But of course, Austin is only 900 feet above sea level. We have a good plan for training though, that includes Mount Lassen, Mount Shasta, Guadalupe Peak, and Big Bend.
A: We found [Mark Johnson’s] book, “Doofus Dad does Everest Base Camp,” which we both really enjoyed. We thought it was pretty impressive that a chance meeting with a taxi driver led to the creation of Hobnail Trekking, with trips around the world, which was pretty brave! We are very interested to hear more about how you find local guides in each of the places you run trips and ensure that the hikers have what they need to be successful.
To learn more about Hobnail’s EBC Classic trek and to join Molly and Randall’s group, go HERE.
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