Everest Base Camp · 15 days · Spring 2028
Everest Base Camp,
without the gamble.
5,364 metres. You'll still earn it — you just won't suffer for it. A high-comfort expedition for executives over forty: slow acclimatisation, private rooms, eight peers, and a preparation protocol you can measure.
Land-only · 8–10 per cohort · Two departures a year
The honest part
Two fears stop most people over forty.
Neither is about the mountain. Both are about uncertainty — and uncertainty is an engineering problem.
“I won't be fit enough.”
You are running a company, not a training block. Weekends disappear, the plan slips, and suddenly the departure is eleven weeks away.
So we start six months out, with heart-rate zones, pack weights and a readiness review — before you pay a deposit.
“Something will go wrong up there.”
Altitude, weather, a guide who vanishes at Namche. Most packages are priced to fill a bus, and it shows at 4,000 metres.
So the group is ten, not twenty. Private rooms, an extra acclimatisation night, a medical protocol, and daily check-ins home.
Why this is different
Built slowly, on purpose.
Slow by design
Fifteen days with extra acclimatisation nights. The schedule is the safety system.
Comfort as standard
Upgraded teahouses and private rooms. Warm, clean, quiet — the three things nobody sells you.
A cohort, not a crowd
Eight to ten vetted peers, all over forty. No mixed-age dynamics, no competition.
Measured, not guessed
Zone 2 base, loaded pack work, a readiness review, and a medical plan for AMS, HAPE and HACE.
The shape of it
Fifteen days, three movements.
Go up slowly, come down often.
Extra nights at altitude, short walking days, and the discipline to turn around when the numbers say so.
Days that feel like work, not punishment.
Steady hours, unhurried pace, private rooms at the end of it. You should arrive at Base Camp with something left.
Base Camp, without a summit to prove.
No icefall, no summit push, no heroics — just the Khumbu at 5,364 m and a group that arrived intact.
Fit
This is not for everyone. That's the point.
It's for you if
- You're between 40 and 60, and time is your scarcest resource.
- You'd rather be prepared than optimistic.
- You want the mountain, not the bravado.
- You'd pay for a room of your own and a slower schedule.
It isn't if
- You want a summit certificate, or a race to the top.
- You're optimising for the cheapest seat.
- You want a party, and a group of twenty.
- You'd skip the medical review.
Who runs it
Twenty years of systems, twenty years of altitude.
I've spent two decades building software and running IT operations for companies where failure is expensive. The mountains taught me the same lesson: the summit is decided months earlier, in the planning.
Patrick Collins — software engineer from 1996, later senior IT operations leadership at Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly. Two decades trekking in Nepal, with the local guide relationships that make the difference at altitude. Mountain Leader training and an advanced wilderness medical qualification are in progress for 2028.
Free · 25 pages
The 40+ Altitude Protocol.
The exact preparation framework: heart-rate zones for a 50-year-old body, pack-weight progression, acclimatisation rules, and the medical red flags that end expeditions early.
One email, then the PDF. No sequence unless you ask for one. Unsubscribe in a click.
Check your inbox — the protocol is on its way.
Questions
The things people actually ask.
How hard is Everest Base Camp, really?
It's a long walk at altitude, not a climb. Most people who fail don't fail on fitness — they fail on acclimatisation, pace, or a schedule that was too aggressive. Fifteen days fixes the schedule.
What if I'm not fit enough today?
That's what the six months are for. We review your readiness before a deposit, and we'd rather tell you to wait a season than take you up unprepared.
What does “land-only” mean?
Flights to Kathmandu aren't included. Everything on the ground is: permits, transfers, accommodation, meals on trek, guiding, and the medical protocol.
When is the first departure?
Spring 2028, two cohorts. The preparation window opens six months before each.
Can altitude sickness be prevented?
Not eliminated — managed. Slow ascent, hydration, daily checks, and a medical plan with the authority to descend. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.