Once again the OneAdvanced flag has flown high at 5,364m at Everest Base Camp! 🗻🗻 What an adventure it’s been sharing it with my soulmate Tim Ellis! 🧡 Getting to Base Camp was no mean feat! What this picture doesn’t show is the three days of no eating, migraines, altitude sickness, and having to get a horse to finish the final leg from Lobuche to Base Camp - but I’ve ticked off a bucket list I didn’t even think I needed which is riding a horse in the Himalayas at this altitude! Win! But we did it!! And this is what I learnt: 🔶 The mountain takes no prisoners. It doesn’t discriminate, and lives by its own rules - ultimately nature always wins, as it should be, we are ultimately just passing by… 🔶 Altitude sickness hits everyone differently if at all. After doing Kilimanjaro (at 5,895m) earlier this year and not having any issues, we thought this would be a breeze, but altitude decided to keep it real for us - respect! 🔶 I am in awe of the Sherpa people! Their rich history, culture, and just pure human and mental strength is superhuman! And always done with a smile and kindness - something the world needs more of 🔶 The beauty of the Himalayas is truly unique based on my experience - and we only scratched the surface of it. Every view was better than the other, every sunrise and sunset hit differently - just nature at its absolute best! 🔶 Huge thank you to OneAdvanced, Simon Walsh and the rest of my exec team and legal & compliance leadership team for letting me truly switch off (although the lack of internet might have helped 🤪), to be in the moment and recharge and reset! I can’t wait to be back and continue to serve our customers and achieve our mission! We’re on to great things! 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 I can however confirm that future adventures will be at very low altitude… 😂😂 I think we’re done with being over 5,000m for a while! To anyone thinking of doing it, it’s definitely a once in a lifetime adventure. We’ve met amazing people along the way with incredible life stories! Would you do it?
The sickness and the pain, for inner peace with a beautiful vista. A lawyer, who’s domain is managing risk, pursues a dangerous feat to scale the Himalayas. Life is often paradoxical. 😉 Xavier, you’re one helluva of human. 🧡🧡
Congratulations Xavier, an incredible achievement! You’ve officially set the bar (and altitude) high for the business now! 🏔️🚀
Amazing work Xavier! Although when I've just shown my son he did say "it looks quite tiny really" 😄
Well done pal! What an achievement! I don’t think anything beats the warmth and grace of the Nepalese people and the Sherpa Titian’s of the big mountains.
Huge congratulations X, this is incredible!(plus the fact you look like you’ve just done a stroll around the park is even more impressive!)
I remember speaking to you about Kili last year - way to go on another accomplishment! This is on my list too :) although you're scaring me with the altitude sickness (which I also did not have on Kili). Congrats again!
Congratulations, Xavier! That’s an amazing achievement. Well done!
Congratulations Xavier, that's an incredible achievement. I'm obsessed with following climbers on social media do the full summit each year in April & May, and have seen from their experiences just how hard it is to get to base camp. You need a holiday now!
General Counsel
3wThank you everyone! 🧡🧡