Fearing heights, he climbed Mount Everest – and now he’s helping others overcome their fears too

Vivian James Rigney is no ordinary traveller.

The executive coach and speaker has visited more than 80 countries and lived on three continents.

He has also climbed the highest mountains on all seven continents, the so-called Seven Summits.

It’s a feat that took him 14 years—one, he reckons, accomplished by less than 1,000 people.

He said he did so despite his “fear of heights”.

In an interview with CNBC Travel, Rigney talked about what he’s learned — and how much it costs — to reach some of the highest points on earth.

Rainey estimates he paid between $170,000 and $180,000 to climb the Seven Summits, he said.

“Everest is by far the most expensive,” he said, adding that he paid about $80,000 when he climbed it in 2010.

“You have to memorize and build a plan,” he said. “That’s why it took me years. I started, then I went to business school, all my money went to that, and then I started again, and I got a new job…

But there’s another cost – the time you spend off work, said Rene. Fortunately, he said, employers supported his goals.

“If you have a good employer… they can see [personal goals] And nothing can help raise the company’s morale.”

In addition to costs, the Seven Summits vary widely in terms of the difficulty of climbing, Rainey said.

He said Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa is “easy,” describing it as “technically not challenging at all”.

But he said it’s high enough to feel altitude sickness, which prevents some climbers from reaching the summit.

He said he could climb Mount Kilimanjaro in a week. It can take Vinson Massif in Antarctica – “if you’re lucky” – and Denali in North America three to four weeks.

But he said Mount Everest was a “massive logistical operation” that would take about two months. It was by far the most difficult and dangerous ascent, he said, describing the experience as “extremely painful”.

“Every cell in your body says it shouldn’t be here,” he said. “Your intuition goes crazy.”

He said he arrived “plump and super fit”. Although he consumes 7,000 to 8,000 calories a day – mainly potatoes, pasta and dry food – he said he lost 20 pounds during the Everest climb.

He said staying warm takes a huge amount of energy. He said that everything freezes, including the LCD screens of the cameras.

“We have what we call a pee bag. You pee in this bag and you close it up and put it in the sleeping bag with you because it’s warm.”

There are only about three to five days into the climbing season when climbers can reach the summit of Everest. If they do, Rainey said, that’s a quick victory.

“People don’t walk around the top for hours,” he said. “You can get rid of the mountain as fast as you can.”

Rigney is now an executive coach and speaker, teaching corporate executives who he’s learned from pushing himself mentally and physically to the limits.

He is also the author of Naked at the Knife’s Edge, a book on how he used some of the most harrowing moments of climbing Mount Everest to achieve professional success.

He said it helps “high achievers… [with] Tons in their mind the “balancing and breaking habits” that draw us in…even though we’re on a conveyor belt. “

For example, fear—whether public speaking or his fear of heights—can be overcome by using mind tricks.

He said leaders must learn to accept things that are out of their control, whether it’s an infection or a pandemic.

He said he still laughs when he thinks of arriving at a small aircraft hangar in Kathmandu an hour before he is scheduled to fly to the foothills of the Himalayas.

“I remember going to this gentleman… and I said, ‘Hey… what time do you think we’re leaving?'” said Rainey. ‘ He said, ‘Maybe today, hopefully tomorrow, probably by the end of the week.’

Ten minutes later, another climber, given the same answer, exploded in anger.

“Finally this guy looked, red with steam coming out of his ears, and we’re just howling. I think he’s finally clicked – that’s where you are. This is about Himalayan weather!”

It’s just one of a long list of “things we can control and the things we can’t control,” Rainey said.